Cob houses UK?

Question

can anyone give me information on how I go about building a cob house in the UK.

I want to use recycled materials for this.

I want a small 2 bedroom cob.

I want to keep the price down as much as possible.

Tnx to all who apply with advice.

Answer 1

Good for you! I hope more people continue to get on board with progressive building ideas.  The more the better and the better it gets as techniques become developed with more interest, (And will force laws to be less restrictive against them.)

One of the first most-efficient things to determine is what type of materials are available nearby your building site.  

-If a clay type soil is available to you, I would consider adobe bricks.  This seems similar to a cob, but perhaps more permanent-lasting.  I have experience making adobe bricks and adobe brick houses, in a Park's 'reenactment' program which included hands-on (feet-on actually, you mix the clayish dirt, straw and water in a hole in the ground with your bare feet!) participation by school groups, historians, and the general public, on a site with an adobe house built in the early 1800's.  It's still in excellent shape.  You need to cover the outside, when it's dry and the weather is dry too, with lime wash, and do this periodically each few years to keep out moisture which would decay the bricks.

-If straw is available in your area, you can buy good tight square bales quite cheap, and build a strawbale house.  I much prefer this method and I very much plan on doing this for myself.  I have been in modern day strawbale houses and they are the MOST comfortable house I've been in.  The insulation factor is second only to below-earth houses, and much more interesting, as you can 'form' them into any shape you like.  There is one, for instance, in the state of Nebraska US, that is still standing and it is over 150 years old.  Strawbale houses also are covered with cement, or shotcrete, with lime, in order to keep the straw dry.  Many times this straw is just burned to get rid of it, or used for bedding.  Rather see a cozy warm house for someone than smoke in the air.

Have fun and spread the word!

Answer 2

Cob houses

http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/CobBui...

http://earthedworld.co.uk/modules.php?op...

Better still reuse empty homes

www.emptyhomes.com

Association of Environment Conscious Building

www.aecb.net

Green Building Store

www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk

Look at the alternatives first:

Build your own

www.adtimtec.com

Reuze - recycled wood

www.reuze.co.uk

The Timber Research Development Association

www.trada.co.uk

The Forest Stewardship Council

www.fsc-uk.info

Stop misuse of urban land

www.tlio.org.uk

Check area for pollution, landslides, flooding etc

www.homecheck.co.uk

Other Considerations:

Is your house well insulated?

Do you have plenty of natural light?

Is it energy efficient?

Emit low levels of CO2?

Have you harnessed natural energy - sun, wind, water?

Are your building materials recycled?

Do your materials all come from sustainable sources?

How do you have minimal effect on the environment?

Answer 3

On an episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, he showed how to build a Cob House.  It was Season One, Episode 11.   This following quote is from this website ("http://televizzle.org/2006/05/10/bio-d...  .  If you can find a copy of that episode, then you will get to see how one is built and what is used.

"Cob Home Builder. Mike starts off this episode in Washington state, building a cob house. For those who don't know, a cob is a loaf-sized ball of mud, clay, sand, straw, and whatever else can be cobbled together. The size was determined because it was easy to transport. Once you've got everything mixed together, you can make your cobs, and then you can form the walls of your house.

Once your walls are formed, you can squish your cobs together, thereby losing that initial shape and gaining some strength. And once they start squishing together, you will likely saw them off in some fashion, likely somewhat tapered, to give them even more strength and a bit of stability by making them plumb. You might even want to put a window in the wall to provide some light. In this case, Mike mixed up some cow poo plaster to coat the wall (don't worry, it only smells for a couple of weeks). After a year or so of construction, you're left with a smallish house that costs perhaps only $13 per square foot, cheap by anyone's measure."