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  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Cob house - legal mess - country side story
  • Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:47:27 -0700 (PDT)

stucco is very common here, just like red tile roofs. I like neither. Part
is just personal aesthetic preference. But generally, stucco is used to
cover shoddy building practices, then bugs and moisture get behind the stucco
into the wood. its just poor workmanship , I know.

I do like the stucco used on the old adobe houses, I don't know what makes
it different, but you can tell it is much higher quality. Today, you must be
very wealthy to have a new adobe house in phoenix, its funny because years
ago tyhat was the house or poor people.

My house is double bonded brick, with an unusual method of masonry that I
can't remeber the name. The inside walls are all very thick plaster (no
sheetrock). My house is almost soundproof <g>. It was built in the 1940's
when the WWII people started new communties. Its part of central phoenix ,
today; but not back then.

You have a lot of varied knowledge. Hopefully you have friends close by or
maybe family for whom you can teach . When people like you or susan or
james,and others, start talking about all of the things you have already
done, I feel very shallow in my plans for what I intend to do <g> .....bobford


--- On Sun, 10/12/08, eureka AT hctc.net <eureka AT hctc.net> wrote:

> From: eureka AT hctc.net <eureka AT hctc.net>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Cob house - legal mess - country side story
> To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Sunday, October 12, 2008, 12:34 PM
> 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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