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epdm Archives - The Year of Mud

Cob walls complete, windows and door installed, and more!

By Earthen Floor, Cob Building, Living Sod Roof, Clay Plaster

The past week or so has been quite eventful. There’s been mostly positive progress, but some negative, too.

Cobbing complete!

With Karen’s and my dad’s help, I completed cobbing. The walls are finally done! In just a few days, the gap between the walls and the roof was closed. It was very satisfying to see the final line of the wall meet the decking of the roof. It was awkward work having to stuff the small spaces, but it wasn’t too bad…

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EPDM pond liner for living roof construction

By Living Sod Roof

Last week, I ordered the most expensive material for my entire cob house: the EPDM pond liner for my (soon-coming) living roof. EPDM is a synthetic, petroleum-based rubber product commonly used for living roofs, due to its strength and durability. Apparently, it can last 50 years exposed to the sun, and presumably longer buried under dirt.

I have not been thrilled by the prospect of purchasing this petro product for my house (it’s one of the few new, synthetic materials in the whole building); however, it has been challenging to find information on building a living roof using natural materials. Apparently, Norwegians have historically used birch bark as their impermeable membrane. Getting more information than just that has proved difficult, and still, I probably wouldn’t have been willing to experiment with my first house, considering just how important a good roof is. I want to do this right. Perhaps I’ll experiment with an all-natural living roof on a different building in the future. (If anyone out there has details on any books, etc. with information on traditional living roofs, let me know!)

Anyway, the 35’x35′ sheet of EPDM cost a whopping $622, at least $100 of which was the shipping cost. The thing weighs 380 pounds. I’m pretty daunted by the idea of somehow getting this whole thing unrolled over the roof… but I’m sure with enough hands, it won’t be so bad!