Cob building with Maya
  • • What is cob?
  • ALL PROJECTS SUMMARY
  • Spring 2022
  • NEWEST IDEA F/650 SQ.' HOUSE. NOV.2021
  • • Pandemic project phase 1: Earthen oven
  • Pandemic Project phase 2 & 3: Bench & Roof
  • Pandemic Project Phase 4: Pajareque wall
  • Pandemic Project Phase 5: Solarium
  • Pandemic Project Phase 6: January 2021
  • Pandemic Project Phase 7: Rocket Mass Heater
  • Pandemic Project Phase 8: Cob/adobe floor
  • Pandemic Project Phase 8 : Plastering
  • Pandemic Project: November 2021 SOLARIUM MOSTLY DONE
  • • Cob wall: first project
  • • I. "ATV Shed": Rural building SITE & DESIGN
  • II. "ATV Shed": STONE PIERS & COB LIZARD BENCH
  • III. "ATV Shed": SUMMER 2012 STONE FOUNDATION STEM WALL
  • IV. "ATV Shed" spring 2013 STONE COMPLETE
  • V. "ATV Shed" SUMMER 2013 WINDOW PREP/COB WALLS BEGIN
  • VI. "ATV Shed" Fall 2013
  • VII. "ATV Shed" SUMMER 2014 SETTINNG WINDOW FRAMES
  • VIII. "ATV Shed" Summer 2015 FAMILY HELP
  • IX. "ATV Shed" Fall 2015 GOT ROOF
  • X. "ATV Shed" Spring 2016
  • XI. "ATV Shed" Summer 2016 PORCH TIMBER WORK
  • XII. "ATV Shed" Fall/winter 2016 STUCCO TESTS
  • XIII. "ATV Shed" Spring 2017 FINISHING COB WALLS
  • XIV. "ATV Shed": Summer 2017
  • XV. WALLS DONE! "ATV Shed" PORCH ROOFING f17
  • XVI. "ATV Shed" Winter 2018
  • XVII. "ATV Shed" SUMMER 2018 EXTERIOR COMPLETE W/STUCCO
  • XVIII. "ATV Shed" SU18 INTERIOR WORK
  • XIX. Late summer STUCCO DETAILS
  • XX. "ATV Shed" NORTH WALL INSULATION
  • XXI. "ATV Shed" fall 2018 CEILING INSULATION
  • XXII. "ATV Shed" 2020 Where it's at now
  • XXIII. "ATV Shed" 2021
  • • Cob Chicken Coop
  • • CSU-Pueblo Bench Spring 2019
  • • Mud Mural Workshop WITH KIKO DENZER
  • • Cob Mailbox
  • • Cob Oven at Pueblo Music House
  • • Rough Timber Frame Shed
  • • Cob bench workshop WITH ANNE FROBEEN
  • • Horticulture
  • • Mountain Park Environmental Center Fire Circle Benches
  • • Xeriscape garden
  • • Ecohouse model
  • • Natural Building on show
  • • Nature, art, fun and other photos
  • Info about Maya

Not just cob but stone and timber and whatever's around that can be used.

Whatever materials are around that can be used. We have a lot of industrial leftovers, hinges and hardware, tin for roofs, I've even used packing styrofoam to take the place inside cob. It makes me smile how often I need a paticular board or new tool, and that which I need is found in minutes among the few things I keep around. I just dumped two years of building trash...concrete dust, tarps, mousified rags....thee years trash from all my buildings did not even fill a curbside trash can. Cool, huh?

Tool shed

Picture
I had a year sabbatical in 2008 from the Colo. University granted to do a natural building. At the end of the fall as my sabbatical began, I felt like I had to get started on something. I'd cleared a site up the hill (weeks of dense oakbrush including root removal, a herculean task in terms of peristence) and good friends had come for a work day.
So just above my little trailer, in order to get something done (!) that fall I built these little stone piers to hold post shed posts.

The building at one point morphed into a fully-designed timber frame structure called the "Crow's Nest". I'll try to scan that sketch soon.

But the site for the main bulding changed...to just above this shed with the shed being right in front of the view to Pikes Peak from the porch.

So the shec went up finally this summer. I had a drawing, Aaron and I hauled logs from the forest and he  notched and assembled the timber the way I'd done the chicken coop for the most part. It still needs corner bracing, but we did get hurrican straps from timber to base.

Finally there is a little shelter to protect things in the winter. It is now full of things that were in a screen room by the building site. Piers go ~20" deep and footer was undercut by hand, but I think they'll stay put pretty well.

Shed building sequence

On the left are piles of oak cleared from the shed site (to the right). The little basket has basics: water bottle, buy spray, tape measurer, markers, etc.
Picture
Picture

Stones must be washed before using in masonry.

Metal brush is what Charles McRaven says. The brush here was too stiff. I eventually found a set of brushes are Harbor Freight that includes brass and steel. The brass loses bristles too quickly, but the small steel ones are perfect.
Picture

Marking for hole.

Outer line is the footer. Middle line is the pier. Smallest square in the middle is the top square.
Picture

Digging the hole.

Ropes mark sides s/stakes outside the site. Initial hole was dug a few inches, then soaked with water overnight making digging much easier.
Picture

Prettiness

It was already getting cold.
Picture

Point crow bar.

This big bar has been indispensible. A thrust downward breaks up soil.  I also use it to leverage up large stones from the stonefield to harvest them for building.
Picture

Rebar

Undercuttting the bottom of the hole for the footer is very unconventional and kind of a hassle., but I'd never made forms so I did it this way. For the piers for the building site, I figured out forms and dug the entire hole the size of the footer. This just shows rebar to reinforce the pier. Probably putting the rebar in the ground isn't the best idea...it's just a little shed, though!
Picture

Concrete pour

There's a little piece of a form at the top to contain concrete where top of hole is rounded.
Picture

Stones

First course of stones is laid right on the concrete pour.
Picture

Insulation

Leaves were convenient insulation. Tarps and a couple blankets on top kept them from blowing away. Concrete cannot freeze while it's curing.
Picture

Stone

Local stone is so pretty.
Picture

Picture

Four piers

To make these level to one another, I have a long plumbing pipe that was on my property in town. I use it with a level.
Picture

Three years later: shed rises

Using logs that we thinned in fire mitigate a few years earlier, the tiber frame arrises. I had a simple drawing that identified sizes and quantities of timbers; also that the girders on the side by Juniper because it is so strong.
Picture

Progress.

Picture

Complete.

Recycled tin: $120 found on Craig's list. Concrete probably less than $20. This could be a roof for a little cob building. We'll see how the sides evolve. We put hurricane straps to hold it down in high winds (photos forthcoming) and it still needs cornerbracing, but should be fine for the time being.
Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.