by Alex | Mar 29, 2016 | Cob, Cob Ovens, Foundations
Start small and progress to larger projects as you learn. I always recommend for students to begin with building a cob oven. You know, those great little ovens for baking bread and pizzas in! This is a simple project that will teach you the fundamentals of cob...
by Alex | Feb 4, 2016 | Cob, General, Natural Finishing, Walls
I keep getting a lot of questions about humidity issues with cob buildings. So I want to speak a bit more on this topic with you today. Keeping a balanced level of indoor humidity is important to maintaining a healthy living environment and preventing mold and fungus...
by Alex | Jan 14, 2016 | Cob, Walls
Every time I hold a cob building workshop I have at least one student ask me if you can build cob walls by placing wet cob into formwork. They ask this question because they have an interest in keeping the walls straight and well formed. This technique is called...
by Alex | Aug 10, 2015 | General, Natural Finishing, Remodeling
Here is a simple, yet functional, way to start your natural remodeling by using a limewash paint. Unfortunately, we can’t all have our own naturally built home created out of materials of earth and straw. We can however implement certain natural building materials and...
by Alex | Jun 23, 2015 | Cob, General
Building a home is a major undertaking that will cost you a lot of money and time. It can be like putting together a large three dimensional puzzle that must also be able to interact with the environment and the conditions around it. Building a home is also a lot of...
by Alex | May 30, 2015 | Cob, Foundations, General, Materials
This morning, I received an email newsletter from a prominent Natural Builder explaining why they had chosen to build a stemwall foundation using earthbags. I was really surprised when I read this email! Especially when I saw that they were actually filling the...
by Alex | May 24, 2015 | Cob, General
I have a lot of people ask me… “How much does a cob home cost?” Or… “I heard cob homes are really cheap to build. How much does it cost per square foot?” These are good questions to ask, but they’re very broad and can’t really be answered in a general sense. The cost...
by Alex | Feb 22, 2015 | Cob, General, Materials, Walls
Beginnings of Earth Building Techniques Earth building techniques have been around for thousands of years. Since before our recorded history, people have been using the earth to build with. That’s why I tell people that earth building techniques are nothing new. In...
by Alex | Feb 2, 2015 | Cob, Services, Videos, Workshops
This is a comprehensive cob workshop that can be taken via the internet. This is what that means for you: You can learn from home at your own pace, You don’t need to ever take vacation days off, No travel required, You only pay a fraction of the cost!...
by Alex | Jan 14, 2015 | Cob, General, Travel
The east coast of the United States isn’t known for its abundance of cob homes and other natural homes, but there is actually a lot going on over on this side of the country. Some of this development has been recent and some of it has just been tucked away and out of...
