cob to replace plaster in insulated wood frame house

Hi There,

Me and my family are about to start building a house in a danish ecovillage.

We would really like to keep things cheap and simple - but on the other hand, we have to stick to building regulations, heavy insulation, keeping everything air tight etc..

We are considering a woodframe structure, insulated with loose woodfibre, as it seems to be an relatively easy method to get a really warm and air tight construction.

On the inside, we would like to skip the plaster, and make something like wattle and daub - or just heavy walls of plain cob.

The wall from inside out would then be (say 100 mm?) cob - half inch woodfibre board / osb - 300 mm woodfibre - another woodfibre board - wood siding.

The wood part would then keep the house warm and tight - and the inside cob will make it fireproof, and improve moisture handling and add heat capacity.

However - i have a hard time finding any experiences with mixing wood frame and cob. To me it seems like a perfect clone of straw bale / clay building and wood frame - to fulfill both building regulations and a healthy and natural atmosphere.

I would really like to here your ideas and thoughts on the project.

Would it be to over complicate things?

Will the clay inside a tight wood frame really add anything but charm?

First post, but read a lot:-)

I would imagine you could just use a thick earth plaster over wooden lathe or sticks; would this work? Cob would not be as much of an advantage since the frame would hold up the weight of the building, and the less mud you have to mix the better. Cob can be used as infill for a frame structure, but it looks like you will already have infill.

I'd be careful with oriented strand board, it can disintegrate and grow mold when wet.

Hopefully some of the more experience folks will chime in on this.