Houston, TX cob house building

New to permies

is there any Houstonion with cob house?

Sheldon,

Welcome to Permies!  Houston does not have a lot of natural building.  A lot or reasons for that, but in regards to Cob, keep in mind that the soil in that area is mostly 'expansive soil'.  A cob house is going to move a lot, even on a good perimeter foundation.  

Austin has some cob projects.  There was/is even a venue (weddings/parties, etc...) with a cob hall to rent, although that has been a few years back.  I don't know if they are still in business.

Jack Edmondson wrote:Sheldon,

Welcome to Permies!  Houston does not have a lot of natural building.  A lot or reasons for that, but in regards to Cob, keep in mind that the soil in that area is mostly 'expansive soil'.  A cob house is going to move a lot, even on a good perimeter foundation.  

Austin has some cob projects.  There was/is even a venue (weddings/parties, etc...) with a cob hall to rent, although that has been a few years back.  I don't know if they are still in business.

Thanks jack, will research more on this. is it entire Houston and suburb or Houston + 50 or 100 miles radius?

Most of the Upper Texas Gulf Coast has "gumbo soil" which is expansive by nature.  There are pockets of soil that are not predominantly expansive.  I know that NW of Houston as you get up to Hempstead (out 290 past the flood plain) that area is a high sand content and not expansive.  I have posted this link before, but I find it helpful for a bunch of reasons.  The University of California Davis has an interactive map of the US that shows soil type.  Pick a location on the map, click on the location, and a soil profile will appear on the left margin.  Click on the primary soil type and click on the box for linear extension.  The 'question mark' will give a technical definition of linear extension and show the categories.  Basically it is the measure of shrink-swell of soil as it hydrates/dehydrates.  The more expansion and contraction the more foundation problems you will encounter.  

UC Davis - soil web

It is helpful to see the different soils in an area.  It will also answer your question more specifically.  It will also show the percentage of clay, sand, and organic matter in a local soil type, which helps to see if there is enough clay to do cob with on site material or if it will have to be brought in.  

Can the expansive soil issue be handled with a concrete foundation? Most homes in the Houston and surrounding area on on a slab that is on a big piece of concrete that has enough iron in the foundation that it does not crack apart (most have hairline cracks but the iron in the concrete prevents it from splitting).

Also, I guess all the cob is extra weight on the foundation that would need to be factored into the concrete slab.

Brian,

I am speaking my opinion here as someone who spent decades in Houston.  The main reason Houston is full of slab on grade foundations is due to cost.  Houston is a home builder's paradise and has been since at least the 70s.  Slab on grade is cheap and fast.  That is the main (only?) benefit.  Also since basements are a no go due to water table, they make sense.  

Foundation repair company abound in the area.  If we still used 'phone books' you might be amazed at the number of people who work in the business.  These companies stay in business because major foundation work is very common in the area.  So the builder is getting cheap and fast, while passing the long term maintenance cost on to the homeowner.  That being said, I don't think slab on grade is a solution for cob or a reasonable approach to expansive soil, unless one is flipping the property to a long term buyer, which I assume is beyond the context of the natural building conversation.

I am not saying slab on grade is bad for cob.  Just saying there are other, probably better, approaches to slab for cob.  

I'm from that area.  I grew up there back when everyone knew better than to build their house on the grade.  Houses on stilts (8 to 10 foot tall piers) were the norm.  This was generally with a boat tied to the front porch so that if the flood came, you could pull the boat in and get away.  Houses on grade didn't become a thing until Houston was invaded by non-natives who thought that the houses on stilts looked "hick" or "red neck" at which point Houston became filled with slab-foundation subdivisions.  The slabs there are known for wicking moisture from the ground and the extremely high water table into the walls.  That's why so many slab houses in Houston smell like mold.