Felicia Daniels

Trying to plan my trench for a big build. Right now it's looking like it's going to cost about $5k just for the gravel. Are there cheaper options? I live in Alabama. We get about 53" of annual rainfall and our humidity hovers between 52 & 80%. Thanks!

I live in Alabama. I've been a vegetarian for about 18 years but it's been a heavily processed diet with some fruits and veggies mixed in. I want to live a more raw lifestyle so I was considering finding an holistic doctor to talk to. How do I find one? Or do I really need one? Thank you!

Bryant RedHawk wrote:If you are tying things like benches to the exterior walls, then yes I would add wire to tie the two together.

Lime plaster can be water durable but usually it is not "direct hit" situated as a roof will be.

I have used lime plaster but only for exterior walls that had a 4 foot overhang protecting them.
I have repaired Lime plaster walls that were eroded from a lot of "splash up" from the wall not having a tall enough foundation. (this was on a cob house in New York State).

What if we put a coat of linseed oil over the lime plaster? Would that protect it more? Or should we go with a different kind of outside plaster? We've decided to put the cob on the inside of the houses only. And we've decided to build a stand alone roof over the courtyard we're going to build with fiberglass as the roofing and then leave the domes hatless like how I mentioned above if you think that would work. We get about 53" of rain each year.

Glenn Herbert wrote:Unless you live in an extreme desert environment where rain is rare, the lime coating may still allow enough water in to build up in the cob. I don't think Cleveland qualifies as extreme desert, if that's where you live. If it ever cracks, there is a guaranteed failure point. You need to shed the water with a covering that lets air circulate between cob and top surface so the cob can stay dry.

What if we just do cob on the inside of house and the outside is lime plaster over the earthbags? Maybe with a coat of linseed oil over it? Would that protect it more? We've decided to build a stand alone roof over the courtyard we're going to build with fiberglass as the roofing and then leave the domes hatless like how I mentioned above if you think that would work. We get about 53" of rain each year.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Barbed wire comes in 1/4 mile lengths (1,320 ft.) usually.
To calculate, all you need is to measure the wall lengths then add them up, two strands per course are standard, one near the exterior and one near the interior.
Do not forget to tamp each course then lay on the two strands of barbed wire.

Using landscape type Wire staples to hold the barbed wire in place really helps, so you don't fight it when you start the new course of earth bags.

That's a good point about the staples, thank you! I tried doing some calculating last night and from what I can figure, I'll need about 28,775 feet. Will I need to lay barbed wire between courses for built ins like benches, etc?

By the way, do you know anything about lime plaster? One idea we had for the roof needed to catch our rainwater was to build an ebag dome, cover the outside with lime plaster and then attach a gutter all around the base of the roof (kind of like a headband in a way) and have the rain run down the roof into the gutter and then into our barrels. Does that make sense? Is it safe for us to consume rainwater that has touched lime plaster?

Dillon Nichols wrote:How cheap does it need to be?

When I put a roof over my WVO processing/storage stuff, I used galvanized steel sheets; not the wavey sort of corrogated, this grade: https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.tough-rib-galvanized-12-ft.1000116723.html

It was a heck of a lot easier than some of the more esoteric options, and it's prime water-collection material. Plus, if I don't need this shed down the line, I can take it apart and reuse the bits, or someone else can.

It was less than a dollar per square foot, retail, in Canada. I assume in the states one could do better on pricing, and better again if you can find someone with a contractors discount to use. Yes, you need gasketed fasteners, but still... Less than the improvised flashing example, and while I think it's more for the material than for an EPDM type roll roof, it doesn't appear to be much more, and you need less support as you aren't piling heaving earth atop it. In my case purlins were plenty to support it, major time/weight/$ savings vs something needing plywood or planks below it.


As far as linseed oil vs lime plaster, lime plaster is heavy duty, with time you're basically turning the top layer of the wall to stone... But lime is not real fun to work with. So, whether or not you need it would be dependent on climate, and overhangs, and whether you've got a nice tall foundation or are cladding the lower portion of the walls in something... and of course on how you feel about doing it the hard way now to hopefully lower maintenance later on...

Don't skimp on the overhangs!

Thanks! So do you think collecting our rain water on a lime plaster roof would be safe?

That's an interesting idea thank you!!

How do I calculate how much barbed wire I need for our houses? We will have a few tiny domes that are 100 sq ft and below. Then we will have a few vertical walls. How do I calculate how much we need total? And would I use 1 strand or 2 between courses?

Thanks you guys! What about this idea? Doing a dome with no roof, with lime plaster covering the outside (cob strictly on the inside) and attaching a gutter around the roof (like a headwrap I guess lol) and the rain will roll down the dome roof into the gutters and into the barrels? Is that safe or would that work?

Thank you!