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!
My friend Jeff is currently building his own earth-sheltered home and he’s looking for help to complete his house this year at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. The cozy earthbag dome he is building will feature an earth floor and interior clay plaster, and a living roof.
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A few days ago, Tamar suggested that perhaps I’d want to do a mosaic on the outside of my house. I’d been doing the exterior earthen plaster and was nearly complete, and I had only a small portion of wall remaining near the entryway. I took her up on the offer.
I recently bought some flue pipe for the construction of my rocket stove and heated cob bed. I purchased it from a local hardware store, and I was very happy to learn that there is 60″ lengths of flue pipe for sale for roughly $11 each. Compared to the more common 24″ lengths, which are something like $6 a piece, the 60″ pipe is a bargain.
Since I will need over twenty feet of pipe in my cob bed, the longer pieces make much more sense to use. If you are planning to build a heated bench or bed, make sure to find some 60″ length flue pipe.
In the next week, I hope to get some firebricks from our neighbors at Sandhill Farm so that I can begin to build the actual stove.
Even though load-bearing cob houses may not feature a lot of lumber in their construction, you will still need some wood and other materials for your building project. Windows, doors, bricks, and lumber can often be acquired for free from old homes if you are willing to carefully deconstruct them.
Check out this post I wrote about building with reclaimed lumber and recycled materials. Much of the work in getting free building supplies is talking to the right people.
It feels like building season is almost upon us. There’s a hint of spring warmth in the air, and I get antsier with each passing day as I think about the prospect of finishing my humble abode. I have a building sequence of events that I’ve been thinking about today.
Other than finishing the living roof (I won’t load the topsoil until the spring rains have largely passed, so I’m not in an immediate rush to finish the other roof work that remains), there is a fair bit of interior work to be done.
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.
