Cobwood Hut

Just finished this page about a cobwood hut I built this year in northeast Washington state:

http://ranprieur.com/land/hut.html

For the walls I used native sand and wood, local straw, and clay from a highway project. The foundation is mostly concrete chunks, and the roof is native beams, commercial lumber, and metal. Total cost so far: less than $450 for 45 square feet, not counting the massive costs of owning a vehicle to haul stuff in. In 2011 I plan to plaster the cob, and put in a rainwater catching system, a sink, and some kind of stove. But I prefer not to write about stuff that I haven't done yet, so I'd like it if questions are limited to what I've done already. Here's a teaser photo of what it looked like with the first layer of the roof:

I think the posts protruding from the wall are, overall, a really good idea. Are you concerned at all about driven rain, or do you expect that to be infrequent enough to not cause much damage?

Are you concerned at all about driven rain, or do you expect that to be infrequent enough to not cause much damage?

I haven't heard of driven rain being a problem with cob buildings... although I'll feel better after the cob has been plastered. Another issue is melting snowdrifts. Something the page doesn't mention is that I stapled about two feet of plastic (old garbage bags) all around the base of the building, to help it get through the first winter.

Ran Prieur wrote:
I haven't heard of driven rain being a problem with cob buildings... although I'll feel better after the cob has been plastered. Another issue is melting snowdrifts. Something the page doesn't mention is that I stapled about two feet of plastic (old garbage bags) all around the base of the building, to help it get through the first winter.

Oh, good idea.

There should also be some solar gain from them, as an added bonus.