Cob houses - build a 1000 sqft home for 10,000 to 20,000

Awesome Dude!

Awesome!

Just the wood alone is 20,000

Or make your own bricks.

Thanks! They are amazing to be inside of. They feel so natural and alive. As a photographer and film maker, I decided to build one myself as I just can't get it out of my head about how great and peaceful it felt being inside the cob homes.

Have been in one, very sweet! Straw Bale is my fantasy alternative house of choice. Or earth-packed, etc., with a pyramid greenhouse on top, sweat lodge out back...

And if they ever run out of toilet paper they can just pull a cob out of the wall.

The clay, sand and straw came from free local sources. All of the wood in every home you seen in the slide show came from beached logs on the ocean and in lakes. The wood was milled on a local community saw mill, which was only 2500.00 and it could cut almost any size of log into various types of cuts.

The idea around cob is to source your materials for free locally. The windows came from local salvage yards, habitat for humanity thrift stores and old materials from people renovating their homes.

So you can build these homes for under 20,000. Most of the owners I spoke with and interviewed used the methods I mentioned in building their homes.

They also hosted building workshops where people came to learn the art of cob building so labor was free.

100 years ago, most people built their own homes and we should be taking ownership over our lives and learning how to build our own homes again. It is much better than be in debt to the banks and you can build a cob home for what people pay for in rent in 1-2 years.

Studies show that in seismic zones that the bricks will cave in and shatter. Cob, was studied at the university of victoria and due to the curves in the walls and the walls being one big connected heavy mass that it had incredible strength on seismic machines. The cob held up better than traditional wood building methods.

The walls are also very thick, giving much better insulation than brick.

I am currently editing a film on straw bale. I like them as well. The only drawback is the price, because you are back to traditional framing methods and using a lot of traditional materials.

Have you considered a cob straw bale hybrid?

The problem is not the housing costs the problem is the fees and taxes levied by the local parasite class. The are not going to willingly take a 50 to 80 % reduction in standard of living due to everyone building "cheap" houses.
So unless you get that under control you are fucked .

The walls are like concrete. Once dry you won't be able to pull anything out.
Some people in England currently live in homes that were made from cob and are over 800 years old.

Cob lasts the testament of time and will out last any wood framed homes.

I prefer poured earthen homes they look normal and last for centuries. Also called tabby style homes once popular in St. Augustine Florida and Sequin Texas, made from natural sources of lime (seashells in Florida & limestone in Texas) and sand. They are over all less work. Both system involve hauling lots of earth. The mix is better than adobe in humid areas.

You are right, but how many people would move out of the city and build a cob home? Few people have done it and a few people are doing it right now. Most people will continue living in cities being slaves to the banks, their jobs, their televisions, and their mediocre lives. Some people who awaken want to leave those lives and create a way to do so.

I have met and interviewed these people and they are living a pretty amazing life in comparison to what they had.

We all have to ask ourselves what we are willing to settle for and where our standards lie.

What is the cost like on a poured earthen home? The reason I became interested in cob after filming the workshop and photographing the current homes was because of how simple it was to build and how little the cost are if you do the work yourself and host workshops.

I am open to any form of alternative building that you can do over a short period of time 6 months to 2 years and pay cash for as you build, so that you never have to take out a bank loan.

[link to blog.fairbankshouse.com]

Here is a tabby house, looks great doesn't it! You wll never be able to sale a cob house that looks like OPs

But tabby house over a hundred years old Oh yes!

Sebastopol House State Historic Site
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

OPWere some of the curved couches made out of cob too? It looked the same color as the walls and appeared strong and solid like the walls? If so, a great cost saving factor & one just adds some cushions to sit on.

I love the round colored windows!

Looks cool, but not everyone will have access to the materials. With cob, you can source the materials locally wherever you live. The point to cob is sustainability.
Oysters are also disappearing world wide.

I liked the idea though, I wonder if you could use some different materials in place of.

Yes, many cob home owners constructed their sitting areas out of cob and they ran in floor heating right into the couch or kitchen sitting areas. They were very comfortable with cushions and you saved more money by not having to buy, maintain or ever replace a couch or kitchen sitting area. Some people even made their box springs out of cob and built under the bed pull out storage drawers for extra storage space.

Are there any good sources on the Web for background info? Actually, this is probably a Google is my friend question, but I'll post anyway.

Its a early form of cement, now days a 1:1:15 of cement, lime and sand for easy of finding materials, also if you are stuck on cob, there are hybrid systems that use the forms of tabby but infill with cob like material. Looking up the names, its a German style, rock base and tapered walls, With wood beams t windows and door frames. It offers better insulation then tabby.

I will help you out!

Various cob projects from all over the place can be found here:
[link to www.cobprojects.info]

I would love to hear more information. I am open to anything alternative that can be built with few people for an affordable practical price like cob. The point to cob is to escape the system of monetary bondage and build your home for a low price with sustainable materials.

[link to www.amazon.com]

Could not recall the name but here is a book about the technique.
Also it matters what is near by and under your feet, for me in deep sand but near sources of lime pushed me in favor of tabby. Cob has some issues with humidity that would not work for me plus tabby can be done every day except heavy rain. Since earth is the main 'filler' find out what you have below your feet and find a method for it.

Thanks for the link. I am going to purchase the book!

As for humidity, cob works great in humid environments. England has many homes that people still live in that were made from cob that are 800 + years old. The homes I photographed are literally on an island in the gulf coast of Canada and some even had the ocean 200 ft away from their homes. The also get rain for over 200 days a year. The trick is to build a roof that over hangs. The humidity in the air was never a problem as cob will breathe, which also makes your home healthier.

what about smaller structures? what about a cob shed? I have a shed to build as one my tasks this spring.

It would be great if you guys would vote for pin for this thread. I am finding that I am learning some neat stuff on here from others as well!

It would also be nice to have a non-doom thread once in a while :)

If you watch the video, there is a sample of a cob shed at: 5:18
It can be built in a few days and is very cheap to build. I have photos of the outside and inside of the shed, which will give you a good idea of how they made the roof and how they put shelves up.

op how long does it take to build an average size cob home?