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homestead - Re: [Homestead] Cob house - legal mess - country side story

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  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Cob house - legal mess - country side story
  • Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:34:28 -0500

Aren't there a lot of stucco structures where you live Bob? Our old house is made of D'Hanis block, which is sort of big and hollow like a concrete block only made of clay from a nearby brick foundry, then stuccoed. It's not made anymore, but was a cool product. My previous house was pure lath and plaster, so I'm used to it. Of course these are lime plasters. However, on the strawbales I helped build we used earth plasters on the inside and because of the rainfall around Austin, we used lime plasters on the outside.

I was one of the ten people that started the Strawbale Association of Texas, which has since merged with the Sustainable Building Coalition. Some of the members wrote and passed a strawbale building code for Austin. I got to work alongside David Isenburg on the first house, and became a 'straw boss' on the next two, meaning I headed the team that built one side of each house. My friend Marcia to this day says it's the only side of her house that's straight! I also helped a friend build a geodesic dome (the math is crazy). I love to design and build stuff and have most of the tools. I get this from my father who gave me a hammer, nails, and blocks of wood when most kids were just stacking blocks.

There was a guy from the Strawbale group that built a strawbale duplex. Not long after it was finished it was hit by a tornado while he was home. It was destroyed, however, beacuse of all the cattle pannels, wire ties, and rebar used in the support system, it collapsed on him very slowly and he was able to get out alive. He attributes it to saving his life, and said if he'd been in stick frame construction he would have been dead.

Anyway, I like that straw is very lightweight that almost anyone can lift it, and children can help sweep up the loose bits. There's something to do for anyone wanting to be involved. It goes up relatively quickly and you can live in it while you are still plastering. There's a guy in the hill country that converted a machine that sprays gunnite to be able to throw earth plaster instead. He is usually hired to do the first coat that must really stick to the straw. Lots of unskilled folks then smooth it out, and then as subsequent coats go on by hand the more skilled folks work on that. Often times professional plasterers are hired for the finish coat if the owner wants that kind of perfection.

--Sage

On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:01:46 -0700 (PDT)
bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com> wrote:
That's interesting Sage. I knew you were a plant person; I didn't know you were a builder.

I was interested in the personal side of the story, also. I'm glad those women were able to find acceptance in their community, I've seen them on tv or a video somewhere. I think they have actually started making a few friends.
I like earthbag construction. My fear is that if the engineering isn't perfect, you could have a collapse of a wall so heavy, the accident would surely be fatal. There was a real important man in alternative green and sustainable building, who died when one of his houses fell in. I don't remember his name, I had several of his books. Gene probably knows of whom I'm speaking.


I've seen strawbale out here. I'm not fond of stucco, but in most natural source walls, there isn't much alternative .....bobford




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