I recently had the fortunate opportunity to check out Mud, Hands, A House (or El Barro, Las Manos, La Casa, its original Spanish title), a great natural building documentary provided to me by the kind Max of Firespeaking.com.
It’s an educational, how-to focused natural building documentary with a wealth of instructional segments, led by Jorge Belanko, an engaging master natural builder based in Patagonia, Argentina.
I was very fortunate to recently catch wind of Carpenters from Europe and Beyond, an incredibly valuable traditional carpentry resource from France’s Ministry of Culture. The website is host to a wealth of information about the history of carpentry, the people who honed the craft, and videos of modern day traditional carpenters continuing to work by hand, especially in the timber framing tradition.
Holy crap. I knew taking cob apart was not easy, but to actually try to destroy cob makes it really clear just how strong this stuff is! This is a brief video of me (attempting to) demolish the cob bench outside of my house. This bench no longer fits into the design since I plan to add a small mud room/airlock to the house, and the bench would be in the way.
I tried a sledgehammer, but it wasn’t as effective as a pick axe. Actually, it was easiest when the bench was soaked with water and then struck with the pick axe. Hitting it wet with the sledgehammer resulted in cob flying everywhere.
Cob is stupidly strong. You can see the minimal impact a full pick axe blow has on the bench. What made it somewhat reasonable was prying the urbanite out from underneath the bench, and then really wailing on the cob to break it up.
This cob bench demolition experience is making me sweat when I think about taking the whole cob bed and bench apart inside the house! Good lord… it’s gonna be backbreaking…
At the top of this page, you may have noticed a Cob Resources link. I update this page regularly with new articles, so it’s worth checking out if you’re interested in reading more about cob and other natural building techniques elsewhere on the web, or if you’d like to check out some of the natural building videos I’ve made for Dancing Rabbit TV.
Thanks for reading!
Here is the only video footage that I had captured of the second reciprocal roof frame construction. This is the final step, after removing the support braces from the ‘charlie stick’ (or temporary post): knocking charlie out of its support position.
As you might be able to see, the roof did not drop at all, since the construction was very tight. We actually had to pry the last rafter into position, which pretty much guaranteed that the frame would not settle once the charlie stick was removed.
Here’s the video clip (be prepared to tilt your head!):
By sheer chance, I found this YouTube video in which several builders remove the ‘charlie stick’, or temporary support for a reciprocal roof frame. It looks like it is perhaps Tony Wrench’s account, but unfortunately he has no other videos about the building process. But this is indeed helpful! It gives me clues about the construction process:
– The charlie stick does not seem to be buried at all, which makes me think that they simply braced it (making it easier to remove later)
– The whole structure does settle once the post is removed, but not much, so the pitch is indeed “what you get”
– The top of the rafters look to be left untrimmed to their final size, which I assume gives the builder some wiggle room
Here’s a little video showing off a gorgeously designed cob cottage interior by Meka in southern Oregon. Beautiful curves, built-in shelves and furniture, and a wild staircase design are the highlights.
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:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abYZLmPwgwQ]
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This website 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. In 2012, we started offering Natural Building Workshops, so you can learn essential hands-on skills to build your own natural home.
