Rose Steele

Anyone have any experience in using ceramic art clay with cobbing?

I am a ceramics art teacher at a public school. In short, the students end up with a certain amount of wasted clay that is unusable in their art and we do not have a pug mill to reconstitute (reuse) the clay. So it gets trashed. I have zero experience with cobbing but am interested in finding a good use for this "trash" clay. (White Stoneware clay)

Any advice, experience or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!

I am curious, can you use clay that is sold at ceramic art suppliers for cob? I don't know about cost... Just an idea?

My biggest challenge is understanding how to do the pole framing I suppose. I understand that the framing poles for the roof should be built separately from the cob wall....as in that the poles should never be encased in cob.

Hmmm....I am not sure that is actually true in all cases, or even in most vernacular systems of this form going back several thousand years. "Encapsulating" or even "infill systems" is actual a standard practice in almost every from I know and teach. What lends you to believe this is not the case?

I'm not quite sure where I read "not to encapsulate" the framing. I've read The Hand Sculpted House as my primary introductory research for cob, also The Cob Builder's Handbook (PDF online), Dig Your Hands In The Dirt-Manual for making art out of Earth, and scoured as much info & videos online as possible in my free time over the past 5-ish years. Somewhere among that, I read that encapsulated framing can crack the cob over time as the house settles.

Thanks for the advice. My biggest challenge is understanding how to do the pole framing I suppose. I understand that the framing poles for the roof should be built separately from the cob wall....as in that the poles should never be encased in cob. Are there different applications for poles that are located inside the building verses outside of the building? How are the poles supposed to be mounted to the ground? I'm guessing like pier and beam houses...poured concrete? Anyone have some ideas?

Sure thing! Email me curioallure@gmail.com

I have read where builders choose to either build their roofs in first before cobbling up the walls, and also where other choose to cob first and then put the roof on last. I realize that putting the roof on first would require vertical framing to hold the roof in place while the cob walls are constructed. I'm interested in this method because it would add extra protection from the elements while building, and wondering if anyone has some advice to help me decide which method would be best for me? Anyone have experience building in either way? Thanks!

I am not an experienced builder, but I will be building cob this summer (first build) in northeast Texas. We should keep in touch and can trade tips since our climate is similar. I'm also a teacher, and I'm planning to do mine in phases over the next three years, one room each summer. Should total out near 800 square foot after everything is built.

Hello,

Wondering if anyone can give me some advice on an issue with the rubble trench foundations for cob. I'm planning to build a cob house with 3 rooms total. I am a public school teacher so I only have summers off to work, so I'm planning to build one room at a time over the next 3 years. (with some weekend time for minor work) Anyways, here's a simple drawing of what I'm wanting to build with color coding to assist my question...

If I build one room at a time, will it matter if the pink wall areas have drainage pipes laid in the rubble trench since they will ultimately be interior only walls? I do realize that these (pink) walls will be exposed to the exterior for 1 or 2 years before the whole thing is complete and will need drainage to protect the structural integrity of the cob. If I lay in drainage pipes under all the walls (pink and yellow), after all three rooms are built, will it matter that drainage water will be running underneath the (pink) floor walls inside the house?

Anyone with experience have some advice on how to go about this?
Thanks so much!