Casa de Cob

Yesterday, I helped out new friends Robin and Jadi with their Cob house in Ocotillo Mesa. It was good to take a break from my own project and get some new ideas. Robin and Jadi have a great house in the works. They are doing things in the right order. The first thing they did was have the roof built. That gave them instant shade and water catchment. IMPORTANT in the desert !

Before the day started, I wondered if my inexperience would slow things down, but towards the end of the day, Robin mentioned how much faster this is going having another person. Robin and Jadi have spent most of the last year building their place on their own, with occasional help from friends. With cob building, one doesn't need any experience to be of help. Just about anyone can help to speed things up by shovelling dirt, stomping mud, and shaping walls. Many other cultures have realized, or have not forgotten, that building one's own house is what makes a house a home. It builds community at the same time. This idea is making a small comeback here in America as more people are realizing an alternative to the enslavement of the housing and mortgage markets. This is a pay as you go system...allowing the home builder to always own what they have and never go in debt. Cob ( sand, clay, and straw ) costs nothing. It is found all over the earth and is there for the taking.

It was a fun day. We ate delicious coconut soup and a salad with home grown beets and radishes.

Bunch Straw for Making Cob

I did a cob test today, using the adobe dirt from my land. Cob is part sand, part clay, and part straw. There is some clay in the adobe dirt here, but not much. Instead of straw, I used bunch grass ( chino gramma ) , which grows all over the place here. The grass tends to be long and dry this time of year, which is ideal. While grain based straw is recommended for cob, the default rule for natural building is to use what is available. There is a bunch of bunch grass available around here, so that decides that. The cob test worked. It didn’t take long for the test cob ball to dry. I dropped it from about 3 feet onto cement to test its durability. It held together great. Pure adobe would have shattered.