Cob House? Yup, it's made of MUD!

As a former house builder I have a deeper confusion than the average person as to why we continue to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for stick built homes. Sure, the contractor makes thousands, as does the construction industry as a whole, but what are you really paying for when you purchase a home, or worse - when you have one built? You're paying for something that will last approximately 30 years before requiring major maintenance. You're paying for something that, over those 30 years, will require tons of upkeep and tons of dollars for said upkeep. You're paying for something that is very inefficient and costs hundreds a year to keep warm and cool. For a $100,000.00 mortgage you're really paying between $170,000 (if you're lucky) to $200,000 for a 30 year mortgage, and the bank is loving you for it!
So, why is it that so many people pay such a hefty amount, in both dollars and in time working for those dollars, for something that will most likely be torn down in under 70 years? The answer is simple: most people are undereducated as to the options available.

Wouldn't it make more sense to build a house that will last hundreds of years and could be passed from generation to generation? Imagine building a house that is destined to become an historical landmark, a house that will amaze people 300 years from now. The houses above are cob houses, or cob cottages, in Devon, England. Some were built over 500 years ago and are still occupied today! In fact, there are over 20,000 cob buildings in England still in use today. These homes are sturdy and resistant to fire, rain, insects and humans. They stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer and require little maintenance, compared to our stick frame houses, over the course of their useful lives.

The home above was built by Kevin McCabe, of Devon. He built the first cob home in over 70 years in England, and yes, it's a 3 story home! The walls are 1 meter thick and virtually sound-proof. The roof is thatch and though it looks amazing, a thatch roof is not something I'd venture into. The rest of the structure however, is most definitely something I'm looking into for my future home.

Most who know me know that I'm very much into building and designing items that will last a lifetime and longer, so when researching the best and most inexpensive construction method for my next home cob stood out as the most obvious choice. Not only is cob beautiful, healthy, storm-proof, clean, and long-lasting, it's also cheap to build.

My first experience with cob was many years ago somewhere in Germany, and most recently I experienced building a pizza oven with cob (below). Building the oven was a slow process, as it was my first time working with this strange mix of clay, sand, and straw. The base is simply cement landscaping edging filled with sand and a 4" thick poured cement slab over the edging. On top of that are about 35 firebricks and an arch made with bricks and mortar. The cob took two weeks - a day to mix and build the oven, and two weeks to allow it to dry. The walls are about 8" thick and retain enough heat to cook bread 8 hours after cooking pizza. I don't have an instrument to measure the heat buildup inside the oven, but I'm guessing I've gotten it up to about 800 degrees, give or take a hundred degrees - a pizza takes about 90 seconds to cook!! I love this little oven!

In my next post I'll add some more detailed information about cob and the building process. I'm really looking forward to building, hopefully sometime early next year!