Straw/cob house stats or studies

Hello all!

I'm seriously considering building a cob house in the northeast, Mass to be exact. I looked at land and then just spoke to my building inspector. He is all for it, he just said that he needs to see some studies on cob, Strawbale houses and reciprocal roofs. Does anyone know of any good places to get these? Any help, stories or further advice is greatly appreciated.

Best,
Jim

Jim,Hello
In Canada there is a 'code-approved'cob home on the west coast.
www.ecosenseliving.wordpress.com
All the best.
Kate

I believe that Penn State has been building straw bale homes on an Indian Reservation for the last several years. I believe the school may have some stats on the homes. They have also built a solar home and have the stats on that as well.

My building inspector gave me a "California" code he found on line.

Hi Jim,

here's a link with a lot of info: http://www.thelaststraw.org/resources/rg06/code.html and there is a woman in Nova Scotia, Kim Thompson, I believe, who did some studies of her building in a maritime environment. I'll try to dig through all my info from when I built my straw bale house here in VT and see if I can find that type of info. (although we didn't need any research, just had to pay the permit fee, no visits, nothin'!) Where in MA are planning to build?

good luck,

rob

There's a great study from your area by New Frameworks Natural Building -- their recent book might also be a helpful resource.