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

[link to www.ilovecob.com]

forgot the link

got in the thread.. ^^^ thats what i wrote.. it's not possible to build a 1000 square foot house that's livable for 10 dollars a foot..

Last Edited by ceawaves on 02/14/2011 10:53 PM

Organic???? you mean like a mud hut?
what do you think houses are built out of??

I wonder which is more earthquake-proof, straw bale or cob?

85% of the materials used in houses being built today Excuse me: Houses that used to be built are Organic..
What's not is recycled plastics...

Took a class couple years ago in Texas,down around the Hill Country.Took 15 folks 6 days ta get the walls up at roof level with windows and doors in.

foundation was already done before class members showed,it was about 250 S-FT,big enough for a bed/closet/wood heater/and kitchen area.

Owner was gonna add 2nd story loft the following year so bedroom will be upstairs.

Great location off the main roads and back about 1000ft from any snoops and the cob cottage overlooked a great small river in the area.

I had a great time that week!
Hard work,great folks,yummy food

its not easy mixing,lifting,sculpting!
But its the kinda hard work that felt so good!


Texas

Many people have and it is not hard to do. That is why they attend workshops. If people 70 to 100 years ago could build their own homes then why can't you or anyone else?

A home is a place you live your hole life, so investing 1 to 2 years to build your own home is nothing. It is much better than paying interest to a bank for 25 years.

Any idea of what R value the walls are with cob???

Two words....BUILDING CODES.

What about the cost of the property to construct this mole hole? was that figured in with the cost? or did they get government grants?

Yes I'm all for natural cob housing, but like I said in my last post, WHERE?? can i build one? without needing tonnes of money for land (purchase/rent/property tax/city hall approval)? I'm not a troll, this is a serious question. I've personally taken permaculture classes and we did some cob and straw bale housing, BUT where?

^^what he said. How, where?

I've been mulling this one over for a couple years now. Everybody i've spoken to over the years talk a great game, yeah cob housing is aw4esome, yes i agree, permaculture is awsome, yes I agree, living naturally and simply in harmony with nature EXCELLENT, but how???? And if i figure it out i wouldn't be on this forum today, i'd be living the simple life as we speak. But everyone who talks in this area JUST talks, i have yet to see someone pull it off WITHOUT tonnes of money, because the cob housing is cheap yes, but the land...??

Republicans have never made things better before, what makes you think they will in the future ?

...and the recurring TAXES on that land.

nice and relaxing.

Well that some real insight.. you must be a lost wanderer an somehow ended up on this thread..

exactly, the property tax ALONE is like rent

I don't know if you are a shill or an idiot but you need to talk to people who have actually dones this instead of injecting your baseless opinons backed by nothing more than assumption.

Yes...taxes ARE rent.

Then again too....
It COULD be done if you had land with RESOURCES that offset the taxes.
Those places DO exist.

What is a ton of money to you? Here in the rural part of this state, it's easy to find building lots for $2000. Remote wooded mountain land can be purchased for less than $500/acre and since the real estate boom went bust, you can often find no money down owner financed or land contract agreements. I realize some of you come from these high tax states but this idea and many other alternative housing ideas do work. There is sweat equity.

Yes these are very valid questions and concerns as there are hurdles to jump and a shift in thinking must be made.

Some cities have started to change their codes. Prime example is Vancouver British Columbia, Ashland Oregon, a town called Craik, Sk changed all their codes and the community got together sold lots for 1.00 that were 1 acre in size and the only stipulation was that you had to build a green home. Some built an earthship, others built cob, and some built with straw bales.

Money is subjective. Why do we stay in the cities? Most stay because of work and how trapped they are with work. If the quit, then they can't pay the mortgage, buy groceries or pay any debts they have.

Imagine being debt free and owning an alternative home outside a city that was paid for. How much money do you actually need to live?

Gerald Celente once predicted that the future wealth holders will be people who have a bit of land and run a micro farm that specializes in selling locally. You could make money growing veggies and selling them at farmers markets and some grocery stores. You could even set up a booth on the highway selling fresh farm produce.

Another great business is hydroponics. Check out my youtube account for more information on that. w8mk
As a teacher, my students and I are growing 80 basil plants. We cut 6 to 8 inches off of the basil about every 5 days and sell it to vendors at the farmers market and to one grocery store. It is currently bringing us in 200.00 a week every week and little time and effort was needed to set this system up. If we had more room in my class we would be able to sell much more as we can't keep up with the demand.

You could become a photographer who travels to work. I typical wedding photographer makes anywhere from 2000.00 to 6000.00 a wedding. I know, because I run a photography business.

The point is that if you really want more freedom there are ways to achieve it. You just have to let go of fear, have a plan, and work on it. What holds most people back is fear of failure.

As for land, there are several rural communities in Canada where you can buy 5 to 10 acres for 10,000 to 30,000. Why not buy 100 acres some place with 10 like minded people, subdivide and then build your house on that land.

Income is easy if you can think outside the box and ask how can I create money doing what I love.

Some cob builders, host yearly workshops and charge people to learn the skill. Just last week, I ran a fundraiser by teaching a course on hydroponics to a raw vegan meet-up group. In a 2 hour session, I made 350.00 to use for our classroom documentary project. In the presentation I furthered our classes income by selling hydroponic system for 130.00 a system. The profit on the system was 75.00 for each system and we sold 10 of them.

There are lots of ways to create income!

yeah but then you'd have to turn your land into an incorprated business to sell goods to cover the property tax rent. Isn't the whole point to be off grid totally? Not fucking around with money? But still, where are you going to get the money to buy the land in the first place in order to set up your organic farm selling business.

First you have to buy the land (tonenes of money)
then you have to spend years cultivate the land in order to properly have total independent food, where in the mean time are you going to get money to cover the property tax rent

We will have to agree to disagree on this my friend. Keep in mind I worked in the field, saw it first hand, attended and filmed workshops, interviewed many people and it can be done. It just depends on how you go about it and I explained people's procedures already.

When people hire a contractor to build a home, they are quoted for the home not the land. I am speaking of only building the home. Land can be bought cheap enough, at least in rural Canada.

Last Edited by mah127 on 02/15/2011 12:24 AM

You are in Canada, so check out:
[link to www.dignam.com]
Properties here can be purchased in the 10k to 30k range and the lots very in size from an acre to many acres.

This is just one source... they also have a free catalogue that you can order.

[link to www.dignam.com]

Hmmm... good question. I haven't seen a study on this one. But the university of Victoria in Canada, did a study on traditional framed homes and cob. The cob stood up much better than traditional methods. The round walls and curves give it tremendous strength under stress.

Yeah, but, you cannot build a home without LAND first AND permission from city hall. yes your thread concentrates on cob houses only, but, if someone reads this topic for the first time and goes oh yeahhhhh that sounds great, the next step is to: BUY LAND. You cannot have a proper discussion about house building if you totally leave out the first requirement in order to build said house: LAND. Ok if it's that easy, then someone donate me a few hundred thousand dollars to build on said "cheap" land out there. And by the way, cheap land doesn't exist anymore. I might be able to get some cheap land in another country, but am I really just going to pick up and leave to a foreign country? Not realistically.

An easy way to mix cob and speed up the project is to rent a bob cat for one day. All the cob for the entire house can be mixed in one afternoon. Just cover with tarps and water daily to keep it moist enough for mixing.