I wanted to talk to you about the different components of building a cob house. There are many components to a cob house or any kind of natural building. I specialize in cob walls and earthen walls. I don’t really specialize in the other components of the building like the foundations and the roofing and a lot of other things. For me, it’s more about how all these pieces integrate together. Like if somebody had a contractor for their building project I would basically come on a team and be the one who builds the earthen walls. I wouldn’t really build the whole entire building but I would know how to integrate each piece. Like, how does the foundation integrate with the walls and how do the windows and doors integrate with the walls. And how does the roof attach to the walls. Things like that.
So building a cob house is a lot more than just knowing how to build cob. So obviously there’s a foundation. You have to know all of the siting work, the pre foundation and obviously the the cob walls or earthen walls. Whatever you’re doing, and then as you build up you have to know how to integrate the windows, the window sills, lintels, how to install the windows and doors. It’s a lot of little details. And then once you’ve finished the cob walls, how do we install a bond beam, if you’re going to do a bond beam. And then how to attach the roof and build a roof and then after that there’s the flooring, there’s the plaster work, the finishing work. So there’s a lot of different components and not to mention there’s the utilities, electrical and plumbing, and a lot of this stuff has to be pre-planned before you start the construction project.
So there are a lot of different components that a lot of people kind of forget about, but it depends on how you want to do your project. If you’re going to be doing everything yourself, keep that in mind that you have to have some skills for every step of the way or are you going to bring in specialists for the different aspects of the project?
So I wanted to get you thinking about some realities of a building with cob, or rammed earth, or even straw bale. Any kind of natural building material or any conventional building style. It’s all the same. There are many components to a building. Are you going to know how to do all the components yourself as a do-it-yourself builder or are you going to know how to do certain aspects. Or are you going to bring in specialists for everything? And then, not to mention the costs involved. So if you don’t know how to do all this you have to bring in specialists that will raise your cost quite significantly. So, more to think about.
