mark maybank

Hi Kirk

thanks so much for your response and yes I think you are sharing good advice with me!

Actually we volunteered at a wood chip/clay slip project in the Kaslo area this summer, basically it was a wood frame structure with temporary forms in place to allow us to fill with the wood chip/clay slip mix. I was attracted to Earthbags because I don't have much experience with timber framing, but I think it may be the better approach for us because of the insulation we will gain. We will still get to do some cob work inside, like a rocket mass stove and of course we can use earthbags for other projects like a root cellar, sauna etc
Do you know what thickness of woodchip clay we should use? How about insulating the floors and roofs, any thoughts there?

Hi there, we are about to start a sustainable project in the Gulf islands of British Columbia and I am wondering what is the best natural building approach for here. It does not seem to freeze much here but the average temperatures for December/Jan are around 3 degrees c. We wanted to build with earthbags as we have some experience with them, but now I am concerned if there will be enough insulation. I know of someone who built with Cob not so far from here, at the south end of Vancouver island and he recommends insulating the north, west & east walls. The thing is straw bales are hard to get here and expensive, same deal with Pumice, so I was thinking of woodchip clay or buying cellulose, both of which I would need to create forms for around the earthbags.
I would appreciate any ideas and or feedback from people living in this area.