Two Story Cob Barndominium Homestead 18 months+

Hey people. Just doing a bunch of photos, so I'll do just light intro into house and elaborate later. Started a while ago, will probably be liveable Jan 2020. 50x50 Pole Barn, base sq ft is around 640, total is about 1015 sq ft not including covered walkways out building that are not directly attached. Will be 2 bed and 1 1/2 bath. Built on 10 acres covered in trees, well, bee farm, lots of fruit trees, and 4 generations living on property. All the stone came from less than 50 miles, all clay was harvested from pond I built, and sand is harvested from my creek, all straw is bought from Tractor Supply in compressed bales for $12 a piece. Only 2 people have ever really worked on it, no workshops, myself and and a paid intern that works full time and has now become primary cobber. All materials pretty much moved to site by tractor, and all cob mixed with 7 cuft mortar mixer. Also there is a youtube channel documenting everything in 30+ videos. Search for Cob Barndominium and the channel is John White. Ill do another photo dump of only mostly current pics.

Here are pics from last few weeks.

Beautiful project, Johnny Cobbins!  Looks fantastic.

Thanks alot Artie. Here is a little update. I sourced some 100% California Redwood from The Habitat for Humanity thrift store and decided to make my own barn door. It took me about a week working on it sporadically.

Hey guys! Its been a bit, but I figured I would show some of our recent progress. We have started the kitchen and bathroom. These are a smattering of photos from now till last post. Ill also post some photos of just the recent progress. I'll post links to the walkthroughs we have posted on YouTube afterwards. Thanks for looking, and please tell us what you think.

Great job Johnny! That's impressive

Thank you very much. We are getting very close to finishing by the end of the year. Here are a few recent videos if anyone cares to watch the progress. Ill post some pics from today as well. Thanks for checking it out.

1 month ago:

2750 Cubic Feet of Cob Walls are Done

1 week ago:

Cob Plaster, Redwood Cabinets, and Loft Railing

1 day ago:

Minimalist Kitchen and Sacrifices

wow thats super fantastic work
wish i were still young and able

I have no expertise in this area so the only thing I can contribute it my appreciation of what looks like magnificent work.

... epic!

I hope to experiment with cob one day. I think I'll start with a winter chicken coop...

Hey guys. Big photo dump of recent work. More to come, and a couple videos.

Video about electric
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BMierdy3YJsL  

Video about plaster and more

Hey guys! We have another photo and video dump. Officially we have finished the walls and are working hard on the floors. We have started making homemade shellac paints and are using a 1:1 ratio of store bought shellac and Denatured alcohol in a spray bottle to stop knockdown on the walls. More photos soon. Thanks for keeping up with the project.


Why Even Build a Cob House?


Cob Walls finished, Shellac Paint, and Knockdown Prevention


Cob floor part 5


Cob floor part 6

Wow, nice work Johnny!  Thanks for the updates - love seeing a project take shape over time, especially a big one like this!  Will definitely try to catch the videos as well. I hope you keep the updates coming!

The latest and greatest from the cob floor.

Hey premises. We have been making great progress here at the Cob Barndominium. What could be the final layer of our floor has been put down. I say possibly because the final layer cracked quite a bit because there was too much clay in it. I am going to try and to add material to where the micro cracks are. We have found a very light colored clay on our property and we used it to plaster the inside of the pantry and the outside of the bathroom wall. We will probably find a few places to use it cosmetically as well. A tadelackt like lime plaster was applied to the bathroom and was burnished with a smooth piece of porcelain and African black soap until smooth. I am planning of finishing out the whole bathroom with a green mica and pigment coloring applied by burnishing and Venetian style wax polish made from beeswax harvested on my property. I am just now getting access to start finishing out all of our kitchen cabinets and our 18 kw quarts infra red tankless whole house water heater from Siogreen just arrived. I’ll post more videos and pics soon. Thanks a lot guys for keeping up with the build.

Interesting project.
What has been the time span to get this far?

It has now been 3 years and we are mostly finished and living in the structure. I am currently building out the Laundry room and will soon post on this forum a couple dozen pics and 4 or 5 videos of the progress since last post here. Thank you for replying and getting me to remember. Here are a few recent pics

I want to see a pic of the deepwater pond - hole in the ground - left from all the cob from your project. And how did you mix so much cob; pic of herd of oxen stamping cob would be great too. . .

Holy smokes!
You sure have created a beautiful project.
My internet is a bit slow, so I only have seen a small fraction of pictures and videos.
I think you have more artsy skill in your pinky, than I have in my whole body.
Especially liked the king bed with kid area at foot of bed, I really hated our previous home as the baby's room was three rooms away. Now that he's almost a teenager, I can appreciate separation.
Definitely will check out your YouTube channel.

Congratulations,
Mike

You probably already addressed this somewhere, but doesn't the metal roof transfer a ton of hot and cold to your home?

I have my own old house that I need to remodel.
I liked the idea of your open kitchen model, and I am wondering if it is working out for you?

I have a new sink to install, but the counter is in need of updating, as well as the cabinets. It's amazing how one thing leads to another, and another.

I love your pantry.

Your wonderful house is already a famous and exemplary model of a great concept cob structure.  Congrats!

Beautiful!!

So wonderful it makes me want to weep!!

Mike Feddersen wrote:You probably already addressed this somewhere, but doesn't the metal roof transfer a ton of hot and cold to your home?

Hey Mike thank you so much for your kind words and enthusiasm. Same to everyone else who has questions. Please allow a little time for reply. I thought I would answer your questions Mike with a video. It will probably show up on the YouTube channel as well. There isn't a lot about this yet, but I was thinking about buying an indoor/outdoor weather stations and post the data logs. Here's a video about how loud it is in rainstorm. I included a pic a few minutes later.

Here is ypur answer;


Here is the rain video

Mike Feddersen wrote:Holy smokes!
You sure have created a beautiful project.
My internet is a bit slow, so I only have seen a small fraction of pictures and videos.
I think you have more artsy skill in your pinky, than I have in my whole body.
Especially liked the king bed with kid area at foot of bed, I really hated our previous home as the baby's room was three rooms away. Now that he's almost a teenager, I can appreciate separation.
Definitely will check out your YouTube channel.

Congratulations,
Mike

Thank you. I will say that I probably have plenty of art skill, but so do most people I think. The reason my home is so artistic is because I was not limited by the design of commercial materials. We love the open kitchen design. It really works for a 600-700 sqft home. The transition aids in allowing multiple different spaces to share same transition zone so that there us a synergistic effect on overall space. I have plans to expand from the 1100 sqft we have now to 1500 sqft with that addition of a master bedroom and when our kids are teens I'd like to have them build their own rooms.

Donald Ray wrote:I want to see a pic of the deepwater pond - hole in the ground - left from all the cob from your project. And how did you mix so much cob; pic of herd of oxen stamping cob would be great too. . .

It really does seem like a lot of Cob Donald. We would not have been able to do so much if not for the mortar mixer. Vs the foot method it's like having a whole volunteer group working for you everyday. Check out this YouTube video of the mixer and the pond. I added some recent pics of the pond and some of the deeper clay deposits we are collecting from it.

polly jayne smyth wrote:So wonderful it makes me want to weep!!

Thank you so very much. That is the nicest thing anyone has said about my home yet.

Johnny Cobins wrote:

polly jayne smyth wrote:So wonderful it makes me want to weep!!

Thank you so very much. That is the nicest thing anyone has said about my home yet.

You (and your wife) deserve it!  

I can see hard work, perseverance, talent; and then on top of that the creativity and thought you've put into planning it.  Plus I salute your extra-long bed and eventual add-ons that your children will have a voice with and hand in. Not only practical and teaches them skills and a work ethic, but also from an emotional standpoint I think your kinds will feel valued and the love so many lack.

From my heart: Bravo!  I wish I'd been able to do such a thing when I was married - it looks fulfilling.

ps. Is that an arrow?!

Curious about the mortar mixer...

We are building hyperadobe with a pumice/clay/sand fill. We did a smaller house last summer (still finishing up the interior) - 600 sq.ft. We're doing another one starting in a couple months (similar footprint, but 2 stories).

We used a cement mixer for the last one. Considering a mortar mixer. Any sense of how it would work with pumice?

Thanks.

Jenna Fickes wrote:Curious about the mortar mixer...

We are building hyperadobe with a pumice/clay/sand fill. We did a smaller house last summer (still finishing up the interior) - 600 sq.ft. We're doing another one starting in a couple months (similar footprint, but 2 stories).

We used a cement mixer for the last one. Considering a mortar mixer. Any sense of how it would work with pumice?

Thanks.

I think the mortar mixer will be even better than cement mixer, especially with the pumice. It it is a problem for you because the machine you use doesn’t have the torque consider removing the fins at end of paddles. I bought my machine off an equipment rental company that had been used to mix some kind of glue. To the company it ruined the mixer, but all it did in reality was grind off the plastic inserts at end of paddles. This left a gap of at least an inch in between the paddle and the barrel of the mixer. So we had, on accident, rocks that were 1,2, or even up to three inches pass thru mixer. Mine is belt driven, so when it catches it doesn’t break mixer. It just burns thru belt which is easy to replace. Plus mine had a physical clutch handle to stop the paddles. That is very helpful. Good luck.

polly jayne smyth wrote:

Johnny Cobins wrote:

polly jayne smyth wrote:So wonderful it makes me want to weep!!

Thank you so very much. That is the nicest thing anyone has said about my home yet.

You (and your wife) deserve it!  

I can see hard work, perseverance, talent; and then on top of that the creativity and thought you've put into planning it.  Plus I salute your extra-long bed and eventual add-ons that your children will have a voice with and hand in. Not only practical and teaches them skills and a work ethic, but also from an emotional standpoint I think your kinds will feel valued and the love so many lack.

From my heart: Bravo!  I wish I'd been able to do such a thing when I was married - it looks fulfilling.

ps. Is that an arrow?!

Yes, that is an arrow. Hahaha. Most people don’t notice it. Thanks for the encouragement. I’ll post pics soon. We just competed our first full year in the house.