Interior temp of cob house during summer

For those that have lived in cob housing; particularly in the Midwest:
How did you cool your cob house during the summer months? Did it just stay naturally cool?

i was fortunate to meet a couple who built a adobe house in West Virginia, they raised 3 kids in it and 30 years later are still happy with it, adobe floor included, there is a arguement in the passive solar arena about insulating under floor or not, it is my opinion not to as ground temp can help in cooling and heating, a perimeter insulation being blueboard or like dug in with a mattock 1 foot or more is good, to clarify the terminology(adobe),the man told me he made block with a form 18"x 30"x8", he said it about wore his ass out

I had read a few places about running ductwork underground and piping the cool air into the house. It got me to wondering if it was even necessary; if the house would self-regulate it's temp.

A part of me doesn't feel it would be completely necessary to insulate along the interior walls. Is that naive of me?

perimeter insulation only, sorry 4 miscommuncation, like they say a picture is worth a thousand words, hense blueprints

So .. just to give me a better idea ... when it is 110f here in Arkansas, if I do not have any air conditioning, what is the temp going to be in my house?

Holly that would depend on several issues like what color roof, tree shading, windows getting sunlight,how much ceiling insulation, wall insulation, etc., ground temp. is pretty constant yeppers

@ Holly: Yeah that's kinda what I'm wanting to figure out.

I hear so much about cob being a thermal mass and holding heat. I imagine that it would hold the cold in as well if set up correctly. I have no cob experience, just hoping those that do can shed more light on the matter.

David Thomas wrote:@ Holly: Yeah that's kinda what I'm wanting to figure out.

I hear so much about cob being a thermal mass and holding heat. I imagine that it would hold the cold in as well if set up correctly. I have no cob experience, just hoping those that do can shed more light on the matter.

Thermal mass will hold 'cool' the same as heat. It will tend to average out somewhere between the midday highs and overnight lows. So, if you're overnight lows are still uncomfortably hot for you, thermal mass alone isn't going to help you much.


A few feet underground, the temperature will tend to average out between annual mid-summer high air temps and annual midwinter low temps - that's a significant source of cool to tap into. Cool doesn't radiate like heat does, so you are mostly left with convection or conduction as the natural ways to move that cool around without expending energy.

Earthen, stone or tile floors can suck heat out of your feet by conduction, which can make a surprising difference even when air in the house is warm.

Proper passive design is doubly essential with earthen building. In warmer climates, wide roof overhangs keep the sun off the thermal mass walls. As mentioned above, shade trees are really helpful too.