Jasper Cob

Not sure what you mean by 'posts'.

Indeed. However if the straw is needed for the roof support, that poses a problem if the objective is to use as little wood as necessary. Maybe a preliminary roof will suffice.

@Mark.
A hybrid between Cob and Light Straw Clay doesn'’t make sense to me. LSC as an insulate infill seems more logical, but than I would prefer straw bales (as you mentioned as well).

@Travis.
You are absolutely right and thanks for the heads-up. I am still inexperienced and with only a very basic understanding of building, so I hope this first meeting doesn'’t come too soon.
To be any kind persuasive, I will discuss a normal wood-skeleton with straw as insulation. However I will also ask for the possibility to file in a plan where the traditional wood-skeleton is replaced by the CUT-method and the tire-foundation. Just to see how much room I have.

Thanks all.

@Sebastian.
A clear argument. I was expecting it not to work as a horizontal solution, but thought maybe a vertical beam (maybe the wrong word) could.

The Cell Under Tension method is appealing, since the construction bears the load while using less wood than conventional (I also liked his tire-foundation!).

I have a meeting with the local authorities in two weeks. I will mention this method to see if they are familiar with it.

@Daniel.
So the bale cob is a method to incapsulate the bale in cob. How thick will the wall become?
My concern is that during the building process the straw bale will be exposed to rain, since adding cob takes time.

@Mark.
Ah yes. Beam indicates a horizontal line; I wasn’t aware of that :). I was thinking vertical.
Wood is the safe way to go, but I am afraid of the cost.
I will look into the earth-bermed option, but it doesn’t appeal to me directly.

Any alternative suggestions of insulating cob?

My goal is to build smart, eco-friendly and with no more cost than necessary for a good home. I am still in an early fase. No decisions have been made yet.

I did some initial ‘research’ to cob building. There are many advantages, but also a few properties to be taken into account:
- almost no insulation value (there are not enough sun hours for a passive solar solution in our winters);
- labor intensive;
- needs time to dry/settle.

First I was looking for a way to insulate the outer shell of the cob construction. To me that makes the most sense. I am not convinced so far of a good technique. I want it to be a natural material, and it must breathe. For example: straw bales add significant thickness to an already thick wall.

An alternative is a wooden construction, fill in straw bales for insulation and cob only for the interior (thermal mass). However, that adds costs (wood).

A construction where the straw bales bear the load of the roof will likely not get a building permit in my country.

So then I thougth about how to use cob as a replacement for wooden beams. For example: would it be possible/wise to make vertical cob-beams that can handle the roof load? Maybe by making a casing of thin wood around it? Could this make a strong building?

I would love to hear some thoughts about this! Any input is welcome and much appreciated. Thanks!