Cob Shed

First post, so please go easy on me :.)

I have a need to build a shed, about 8ft x 12ft, and am thinking of using some type of cob
construction - probably wattle and daub, as I have a lot of hedges to cut down and they are
mostly straight coppiced sticks about 6-8ft long. and up to an inch thick - it's an evergreen wood
called privet if anyone is familiar with it.

I also have access to some (standard? 48"x40") pallets which I could use to build the frame work,
and use cob to fill the gaps between the planks.

Either way, I will be making the main frame from scaffolding boards, with a roof of plyboard -
this may not seem in the spirit of this forum, but they were rescued from the "clean-up" fire
on a construction site. Unfortunately, I didn't rescue enough plyboard sheets to make walls :.(

I'm based in Leeds, Yorkshire (England) and have easy access to plenty of good, sandy clay,
right next to a farm which grows barley, so straw isn't a problem either.

Opinions as to which method is better, or alternate solutions, are welcome.


thanks

I honestly think that just about ANYTHING salvaged can and should be used in projects like this. I once used shipping pallettes & storm doors to construct a huge greenhouse. If you can recycle these items to your needs then go for it, i am sure that it would be easy in Leeds to can find derelict sites to obtain what you need, other than making the cob itself.
Good luck.

If you are going to make a Cob shed... you don't need to make a frame for your shed. You only need to frame in your door, and you 'can' frame in windows... or you can build them into the wall. For wattle and daub you will of course want a frame.
For cob you will want a good stem wall and a good roof overhang, with a good coat of lime plaster.
Recycled anything is pretty much what permies are about! Use as much stuff as you can that will go to waste.
My Cob shed has a stem wall built from urbanite (old broken pieces of concrete). Broken concrete is plentiful in the US... not sure about the UK....

Check out the book Hand Sculpted House if you decide to build with cob
http://www.cobcottage.com/node/82
Or find someone who works with Cob.

Unfortunately, the area i have to build the shed is only just 8ftx12ft, and obviously I want
as much space inside as possible.
I'd much rather build 4"-6" thick wattle and daub walls than 12"-18" (?) thick cob walls, then lose another foot
each wall for the roof overhang (I realise that I will need overhang to protect w&d as well)

If I had unlimited space, I'd just build an "earth bag" structure, since I have access to a pretty much unlimited supply of
1 tonne sand/gravel bags which I could fill will "urbanite"[1]

[1]urbanite - we don't really use as much concrete in the UK.
Most buildings are made of brick or stone which tend to be cleaned and reused (and sold at a high percentage of "new price"),
and our roads are "tarmac", or asphalt.
"road planings", which are a mixture of sand, gravel, small (up to 2") rocks and tar are quite abundant
and cheap to obtain (as in 1/4 to 1/2 the price of quarry scrapings or crushed building rubble)
The road planings are quite useful, as in winter they can be poured onto/into an area and rolled flat or compressed, they will
then reconstitute into a waterproof, not quite self-supporting solid mass during the summer.