Daniel Ray

A separate idea for a roof on a fence would be using old roof tiles and have the overhanging each side so water drops out past the wall surface.

I love this idea. I think I've seen it on other walls. I once tried cedar shingles on the one at my home, but my skills at shingling were not up to par for a curving wall with arches. I ended up experimenting with ferrocement instead.

John-- I had the same concern initially. I had given specifications and the team before me made it a bit thinner than I would have liked. As Glenn mentioned, the curving form and the relative low height of the wall made it all okay.

Glenn-- I imagine there will be a small amount of wear on the top come spring. I have a 6-7' cob garden wall at my house that I left exposed for two winters and very little damage happened. The top inch or two get a bit sandy from the clay washing away. I had considered covering the top with long strips of extra epdm pond liner I had about but I then thought that the runoff might make more damage on the sides of the build where the water streams.

I should also note that MUD plans on building a roof over the top of this at some point next year.

So we had our first collaboration project with MUD--Missoula Urban Demonstration Project. We were asked to teach a cob class and build a garden wall to replace an old junky chain link fence. For those who are in the Missoula area, swing by and check it out. It was a super fun project and will be getting plaster and covering next year so stay tuned for info on that if you want to join!

I think my favorite part of these types of classes are people questioning the strength of cob material. With a dozen attendees, this went up in three days which meant it was soft, squished out in sections, and seemed weak. Give it a week and the thing could take a car crashing into it. Such a great group came out and so many pedestrians came by and stopped to see what the heck we were doing.

A few photos and update on the sauna. Nearly ready to rock and roll. The stove is complete-minus the finish plaster. I have the floors done and am drying it all out. If anyone was wondering about using a rocket in a sauna, this one will do the trick. I have a 6" batch rocket to peter's specs heating approximately 70 square feet (455 cubic feet). The test run had the main barrel temp around 600F, secondary barrel bell at 350F and ambient temperatures hit 130 after a 45 minute burn. I expect it too perform a bit better once the water is gone from the cob and I have the door sealed.

Yes, you can. My wife has a vigorous sourdough starter and she likes to bake in the oven, but when she is away or too busy, I just whip it up in the bread machine. Choose the longest setting, if possible, for the rise. It makes pretty consistent loaves for me this way. If it isn't getting a good enough rise, try through a small amount of bread yeast in too if available. It will get an extra rise from the yeast, but still carry the sourdough flavor.

I was just thinking as I watched this that this might be another huge benefit of the new shorty designs, you don't need the gap for any mass placed on top of the barrel. With the exhaust exiting horizontally from the riser, the temps will never get too hot on the steel. I love the look of the cob hat and the extra mass is great, but I like to keep the removable lids--though the only times I've removed the lid is to show people what the inside looks like and once to get an unfortunate bird out that had flown down the chimney and made it through 20+ feet of horizontal pipe to the barrel.

Great video as always.

What an undertaking! The closest thing it reminds me of is the Sivananda Lodge in Quebec. It is featured in the book "serious straw bale" by Michel Bergeron and Paul Lacinski, though they did not do a basement, but it is colossal as well at 8,000 square feel I think. He didn't do round timber, but modified post and beam with squared beams. You might look into the build and see if you can't track down more info on it.

sthat wattle and daub on the walls?

Yes, we did a pallet cob as made popular by Miguel Elliott (sir cobsalot). I did a similar build for our outdoor composting toilet and I really enjoyed the process, so went for it again. People seem to enjoy the method.

In the scenery of spring,
nothing is better, nothing worse;
The flowering branches are
of themselves, some short, some long.

-Ryokan (often known as a requote by Alan Watts)

Thought I would share some photos of this years build. We have been building a cob sauna on the property and it is nearly there. Currently I'm working on the roof and will then be putting in 6" batch RMH (shorty) for the heat source. We did a majority of the cob during a 4 day cob workshop where we had 6 people working together to build the walls. Hope somone enjoys! It has been a fun one.