I was surprised to receive a comment on my blog from a foreign reader a couple of months ago. It was from The Bund magazine of Shanghai, and they were interested in doing an interview about building my cob house. Needless to say, I was immediately interested. Surprised, too, of course.
Anyway, I just got a copy of the magazine in the mail the other day. It’s a large format weekly magazine, very glossy, very westernized. Smack dab in the middle of high fashion and pop culture is the article about my cob building, with a photo of me (see above) sitting in my (unfinished) little mud house in a dirty t-shirt. Pretty hilarious. (And opposite that photo? An advertisement picturing Jackie Chan. Trippy.)
When all of your energy comes from the sun, and the sun don’t shine for a week, that means there ain’t no power to keep this blog updated.
So. Anyway. Building is definitely winding down and pretty much done for the season. I will put up a few more entries detailing the last of my cob building exploits for the year, and then I will slowly enter hibernation mode.
I would like to keep this blog rolling in the off season, so I am considering creative ways of keeping relevant and fresh content coming even while I’m not working on my house. We shall see.
Nevertheless, expect a little bit about my earthen plastering experience and winterproofing the house in the near future.
Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks:
Finishing the cob walls – it was very tight having to work so closely to the roof.
Installing windows – all of the windows I purchased were some kind of replacement windows – they all had a vinyl exterior trim which we screwed into the window frames.
Tony Wrench of West Wales, famous for his hand-built, low impact roundhouse, has recently been deemed victorious over official planners wanting to demolish his home.
Natural builders often have a difficult time dealing with local bureaucracy and its restrictive (and short-sighted) building codes. There’s plenty good reason why Wrench didn’t bother to seek out official permission, which is made clear in this article.
Congrats, Wrench!
(Fun fact: Tony Wrench has been very kind enough to answer several of my reciprocal roof questions via email, and I totally appreciate the time he has taken with me. Check out his book, Building a Low-Impact Roundhouse for the only published information on reciprocal roofs!)
I’m still seeking work exchangers for the month of September to help work on my cob house. Although the cobbing is nearly complete, there is still plenty of work ahead, and September should largely consist of building the reciprocal living roof. Exciting times are indeed ahead.
If you’ve read anything on this blog in the last four months, you’ll know I am busy building my cob house. It’s now almost mid-August and I am realizing that I’ll want at least an extra pair of hands (or two) for sometime in September and October.
I need to start looking into getting some willing work exchangers this summer for help with constructing my cob cottage. Hopefully, with the assistance of a few work exchangers throughout this season, progress on the house will go much more quickly. Plus, it’s always more fun to work with other folks. Anyway, I’ve written up a rough draft for my “call for work exchangers” that will go on the Dancing Rabbit website sometime soon. Here it is:
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Interested in learning about natural building? Looking to get some actual hands-on experience building a cob cottage? Want to experience community life in an off-the-grid, sustainable ecovillage?
I am looking to host work exchangers during summer 2008 during the months of May, June, July, and August to help with the construction of a small cob dwelling. The house is a spiral-shaped structure composed entirely of cob (a mix of sand, clay, and straw), complete with a reclaimed urbanite foundation and a living reciprocal roof. Cobbing is largely a hand-built process, with walls that are sculpted into shape by hand.
Other than gaining valuable natural building experience, you will have the opportunity to experience community life here at Dancing Rabbit — partake in community events and activities, eat seasonal and organic meals (largely vegetarian or vegan whole foods) in a food co-op with Dancing Rabbit members, and enjoy a beautiful summer in rural Missouri. As a temporary resident of the community, you will also be expected to partake in community responsibilities, such as weekly cook shifts and cleaning.
Prospective work exchangers should have some previous construction, natural building, or carpentry experience, although it is not mandatory. If you are responsible, have a strong work ethic, and are capable of regularly doing very physical work, you will be fit for this role. As a work exchanger, your cost of living here at Dancing Rabbit will be covered in exchange for 35-40 hours of labor per week. Non-building labor responsibilities will include cook shifts as part of a food co-op, and occasional cleaning shifts.
Host Offers
o Food: Full food stipend. You will be part of a vegetarian/vegan food co-op during your stay.
o Accommodations: Tenting space provided and shared facilities available for use (Common House with kitchen, showers, humanure system)
o Fees: Payment of all residency fees
o Transportation: No coverage provided
o Education and skills: Hands-on experience building a cob cottage, community lifestyle experience
You Provide
o Weekly hours for host: 35-40 hours per week
o Money/Fees/Food costs: None
o Other: strong work ethic, skill, responsibility, attention to detail, desire to learn, enthusiasm, and a good spirit. As a temporary resident of the community, you will partake in community responsibilities such as cooking and cleaning.
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.
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.
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.
