Comments on: You Can Build This Cob House For $3000

By: Rotkalchen

Rotkalchen — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:10:32 +0000

Ziggy, Your project is great! Can you tell me the difference between cob and adobe? Having lived in the southwest for MANY years, and having lived in an adobe house, I’m very curious. I found the old adobe house to be easily warmed and pleasantly cool in the summer months. The New Mexico climate gave a good test! In my next 78 years, I plan to have either a cob or adobe dwelling! Keep up the good work of informing folks! The basics are BEST!

By: What’s in store for 2010 | The Year of Mud: Building a cob house

What’s in store for 2010 | The Year of Mud: Building a cob house — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:49:04 +0000

[...] another $400 on a piece of polycarbonate, which is a pretty big expense (especially relative to the cost of the cob house!), or try to find another piece of material to make a second pane. Either way, it needs to be [...]

By: sam

sam — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:01:07 +0000

kewl

By: munin_and_hugin

munin_and_hugin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:40:08 +0000

Nita is mistaken on the Iowa extremes of weather. (Lived in Omaha, Ne, both have a humid continental climate system.) The lowest temperature likely to come about is 0F. ( -45F is 45 degrees below Farenheit 0. Arctic Circle temperatures, not Midwest temps. I’m thinking Nita meant less than 45F.) The biggest threat to a cob structure would be the moisture in Iowa, so good drainage, an overhanging roof, and flood prevention would be essential.

By: MICHAEL

MICHAEL — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:07:55 +0000

Think you’ve got the right idea of what a house/home should be ziggy,very simple&easy to maintain.What a perfect way to get at least one leg fully out of the rat race.peace of mind comes with simpicity& a humble lifestyle,i bet it’s one of the best places for a good nights sleep.Well done to you sir&all all the luck of the irish too ya

By: ziggy

ziggy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:56:26 +0000

Nita:

-45F is very harsh for cob, since it has pretty much zero insulation. Are you saying that you would like to build a greenhouse with cob walls, though? Can you explain more?

By: Kay Graham

Kay Graham — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:28:59 +0000

I’ve just been reading about “tractor cob” which reduces the labor of building with cob by about 90%. Pretty nice if spending years building your home doesn’t work for you.

By: Nita

Nita — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:01:49 +0000

Ziggy, Great home made from an ancient method of building. I’d like to try this method to build a home greenhouse. My climate spans temperatures from 100+ to -45 F degrees, heavy snows, thawing & freezing cycles,t,ornadoes, & heavy rains. Do you think this construction would hold up to the extremes of northern Iowa weather? I’d use skylights, funnel-in water from the roof, and employ solar electricity. Would this construction support a small, solar roof system?

By: Cait

Cait — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:46:25 +0000

What a spectacular house!

I am falling in love with cob – I think I want to build a cob house someday, once I figure out where I want to settle down. How does it handle climates drier than NE MO?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:47:14 +0000

hey ziggy house look great and i bet it sleeps great …..quiet so reading all the comments i think some people are not understanding what you doing and the DR community …ie .. electricity running water ….. there all there but just i another building you have access to the them any time day and night but any way my question hows the living roof and problems come up the EPMD works well just what about the cardboard will it deteriorate over time .

bryan