Today, I’ve officially acquired my warren (read: space, plot of land). It was formerly leased by another member here who only gardened a couple of beds on the entire space, so the land is in very good shape. There are several garden beds at the north and south ends, and a single apple tree towards the back, as well.
The plot is longer than it is wide, with a maximum width of about fifty feet at the center, tapering to something like twenty feet up front. There is a very slight slope towards the north in the rear. I think that the entire space is something like 2,500 square feet. (Fun fact: this is roughly equivalent to the average size of the American house.)
I am very excited to finally have my own land, but of course it’s been very rainy and wet lately, preventing me from doing just about anything of purpose on the land. Rain is in the forecast for the next few days, so it might be a while before I can even start moving some of my lumber to the warren. We’ll see.
The days have been packed recently. A few days ago, I began cutting down pin oak trees for the living roof of my cob house. On Tuesday morning, Dan lent me a hand and we took down three trees in an hour and a half, despite the ground being quite muddy.
This morning, I went out alone and cut down a tricky tree more centrally located in a dense patch of pin oaks. It was very tough to bring down, since it was hung up in the tops of the trees. I walked back to the village, and thankfully Liat offered some help, and together we shook and pulled and dragged the tree down. This afternoon, I cut a smaller tree and easily toppled it. That leaves me with five total trees thus far. Hopefully I will be able to get at least two rafter poles from each. I need between twelve and sixteen of them.
The patch of land that I have been doing the cutting is very dense with pin oaks. Some are growing mere inches from one another. Pin oaks are tall and straight, making them appropriate for the reciprocal roof I want to build. The toughest part of the job is not so much the cutting, but the toppling of the trees, since they are so tangled with their neighbor trees. All of the cutting has been done with a bow saw, a hatchet, and a smaller saw for branches. It has been gratifying work.
Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a plot of land for my house. I have been in talks with another member here who is interested in letting go of his warren, since he has determined that it’s not worth the cost to him for the small amount of gardening he does on it. So there is that possibility. Because it’s not definite, I have not bothered with transporting the trees back to the village. (A damp ground doesn’t really help with that, either, though, which is probably the real reason I haven’t carted them back.)
In an earlier post about my cob cottage plans, I mentioned that I had some new design ideas. I’ve done some thinking about a new shape for the house, this latest (and perhaps final?) design being more like a spiral. (Or a scotch tape dispenser if you think about it.)
Check it out:
Originally, the design was more like a rounded rectangle, with the entrance in the southeast, opening directly into the room. This time, the door is in the northeast, opening into a curve of the house. This gives me a little space for shoes, jackets, etc., and it also means that people won’t immediately see the whole room upon entering. It’s a more gentle transition from outdoors this way. I’m pretty excited about this. It changes the feel of the whole building.
I also settled upon a reciprocal roof design. I don’t have an exact plan yet, but I have a good feel for how many beams I’ll need. I’ll probably get some oak wood poles from our land here if all goes well. Using a cart, I will transport these poles to my plot, and strip the bark before constructing the roof. I’m not totally sure what the layers above the poles will look like, but I’m still planning on having a living roof, probably with an EPDM membrane. EPDM is a type of synthetic rubber product, intended for waterproofing (ponds, for example). I should note that this product is the least exciting part of the roof construction. It’s a petroleum product. Unfortunately, I have not discovered any detailed instructions for creating a living roof without synthetic materials, but it must be possible since it’s been done in the past in places like Sweden. So instead of taking a gamble, I am going to be using EPDM, which is apparently very durable and has a long lifespan. Overall, I intend to use as few human-made, synthetic building materials in my cottage as is possible. EPDM is one exception, though.
I’ve been dwelling on (pun sorta intended) my cob house designs for a little while now, making plenty of sketches and reading lots of different books. As of yesterday, I thought I was fairly settled on a basic design. The roof has been causing me the most anxiety, since that is where I have no experience in either design or construction. But anyway, I had a salon/discussion last night to talk about my plans and to get feedback. I’ve been talking to a few different folks already, but I wanted to have a group discussion to get additional ideas. As a result of that talk, I am no longer so attached to my original design, and today I am doing some re-thinking, especially in terms of the roof I had in mind.
Originally, my plans looked something like this.
It’s a small cob house, with an 11’x13′ interior, rounded corners, with an urbanite foundation and a living roof. The walls are projected to be about 18 inches thick. A 6′ wide porch is on the west side of the house.
The south-facing wall would feature a large sliding window, about 4-6 feet wide for solar gain. The entrance is positioned in the southeast corner. Smaller double hung windows rest in the east and west walls, with a tiny fixed window in the north. Along the west wall is a rocket stove connected to a 4′ wide heated cob bed and bench that wraps around the northwest.
Bookshelves would be cobbed directly into the walls. A three foot deep shelf would be positioned above the cob bed for storage.
So. I’m now rethinking these basic plans a bit after learning about reciprocal roofs and seeing this incredible woodland home design. Originally, I kept debating between using standard dimensional lumber or pole wood for the roof construction. I was leaning towards dimensional lumber since I figured it would be easier to work with, and it would keep the living roof design more uniform and easier to build. However, I did not like the idea of depending on milled lumber. I thought it would be much nicer to find wood poles here on the land and incorporate them into the building instead. But I was intimidated by the prospect of using lots of uneven pieces of wood. How would that complicate the living roof?
However, after talking with Mark of Red Earth Farms I became inspired by the reciprocal roof design, which could easily be made using pole wood. I even made a couple smaller scale reciprocal roof models using chopsticks and oak wood scraps. After doing some web browsing, I have seen a number of photos of natural homes with reciprocal living roofs. Additionally, I am just starting to overcome my fear of a lack of familiarity with some of the construction process. Why should I worry? This is all one great big learning experience. If I really want to learn, I might as well design the cottage the way I really envision it. Take the bull by the horns.
Now I am starting to reformulate my design to incorporate a reciprocal roof, and a slightly different building shape. The basic layout will be similar, but I think this potential second iteration will have a more unique design. We shall see.
Here’s a great little video (apparently a teaser for a documentary that’s been in the making) about cob design and building, “The House as Living Sculpture”. It has a lot of nice footage of cob homes and the construction process. Check it out:
I’m very excited by the prospect of building my own cob cottage. I have been hesitant to commit myself to this idea over the winter, but I’ve finally put my foot down and made it an official goal of mine. Ideally, I would like to build a small cob house by the end of this year.
Last year, I had the opportunity to work with Ironweed on their cob kitchen for three months. I also helped my friend Dan with construction on his urbanite foundation, and doing light clay straw insulation on his second house. I’ve done bits of other natural building work around the community as well. Having experienced all that, I felt much more confident in my own skills and abilities, but I was still daunted by the prospect of heading my own building project. But I realized I do indeed value natural building skills quite highly, and it’s all a great big learning process. Even if I don’t have all the skills I need to build a house at this moment in time, there’s absolutely no reason that that should stop me. I am looking forward to the prospect of starting a project from the group up (literally) and learning simultaneously.
The plan, in short, is to construct a small house of cob, perhaps 11’x13′, slightly rounded, a single storied building with a living roof, a rocket stove (for heat) connected to a heated cob bed, with large south-facing windows (to take advantage of solar gain), and with an urbanite foundation. I have spent a bit of time thus far making scale sketches, designs, and floor plans. I am fairly confident that I am on the right track, although I do not have every detail in place.
The other day, I decided to give the Cob Cottage Company a phone call with a couple of construction questions I had. (They don’t do e-mail.) Ianto Evans, co-founder of the group answered the phone, and readily answered my questions. Because one of my questions was a bit complicated, he suggested I call back at a specific time later in the day. I was taken aback that he was so willing to accommodate me and answer my questions. Later, on the phone again, he was incredibly friendly and willing to talk to me about my plans. I was able to share some of my ideas about my overall design, and he listened intently and gave me feedback. He was so willing to talk about cob and building, and we eventually got into a deeper discussion about building, doing workshops, etc. Here was the author of the book I had been studying intently for several months, totally willing to help me in my own pursuits. Overall, it was an incredibly rewarding experience. I’ll admit it was like being star-struck.
Anyway, I’ll be sure to update more about this adventure as time goes on…
About The Year of Mud
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
