On July 11, 2009, I moved into my newly completed cob house. It’s now been over a year since the move-in, and there have been many learning lessons along the way. I’d like to present a number of those lessons here in my one year report of living in a cob house.
Here we go…
Posts under ‘winter’
The One Year Report: Life in a Cob House
Making a Brick Hearth For the New Woodstove
It’s been a long time coming, but the little Morso 1410 wood stove finally got moved into its final living place. I spent a day or so making this tiny little hearth for the stove, which was a pretty fun little project.
Information Wanted About Cob Houses in Cold Climates
This is a call for information from folks living in cob houses in cold climates – by cold, let’s say places that frequently have below freezing temperatures in the wintertime. If you live in a cob house in an area with cold and/or extended winters, can you describe the construction of your home and your [...]
Tiny Wood Stoves For Small Houses: My Choices
I’ve been researching small, efficient wood stoves that could replace the rocket stove in my house. Most home wood stove manufacturers’ smallest models heat 800-1000 square feet at a minimum, which is overkill for my less than 200 round foot home. However, the house will probably benefit from the extra oopmh with all of that [...]
The Tiny Temporary Wood Stove
Here are a couple of photos of the tiny, super ragamuffin wood stove April and I are using right now. It’s manufactured by the Buckeye Incubator Co. Our setup is extremely tacked together, as you can see — the stovepipe runs out the top half of a double hung window. We didn’t exactly have enough [...]
The Cone of Silence: Keep Warm in Winter With No Energy Costs!
In our journey back home to Dancing Rabbit, April and I brainstormed ideas of how we could better button up the house for winter. At the time, the house was in the 30s, the rocket stove was clearly not going to keep us warm, and we didn’t have plans in place for a temporary stove [...]
I proclaim the rocket stove “not working”
I have officially proclaimed the rocket stove “not working”. The stove simply does not draw on days without the right wind direction/intensity. It is unreliable. Even when the wind is right, the stove takes too long to heat up (even the barrel itself!) At times, it smokes into the house, which is added frustration.
Something is [...]
An update! (A brief one for now)
After a week of travel in early January, I returned home to Dancing Rabbit… to cloudy, gray, cold Missouri. After days of thick clouds, the Common House’s power system was depleted and we went powerless (for the first time on this solar system) for five full days! Whoa.
Anyway, I have a fair amount of news [...]
