Rebecca Priester

John,
We are building in Southwest Missouri. And I feel as though we need to be prepared for most things. Sometimes our summers can get in the upper 90s, and sometimes our winters can have a two-week ice storm. We can also experience heavy rain for a month of Sundays as well as a drought bad enough everything turns into a crisp. We also live in the middle of tornado country. This is why we've chosen a circular design for the house. Our location is in the middle of the woods so we have shade working to our advantage. This is our first time with natural houses and non-conventional building, so any recommended books or articles are greatly appreciated.

Sebastian,
Thank you so much for the advice! We will definitely look into the possibility of doing some of this when making our plans. I know that Cobb homes are possible in our area because there are two other in a neighboring town but I haven't had a chance to speak with those people so it's nice that someone who is familiar with this building style can help us with the nittany gritty questions.

My husband and I have decided to make a cob home and have been doing a lot of research before breaking ground to make sure we have a good understanding of everything that either does or will need to be done to make this practical. However I have been having some trouble finding solid answers to a few of my questions.

1.) Can I build my exterior walls and roof then begin the process of building interior walls? Or do they all need built at the same time? I know that I will need to allow my house to fully dry out before plaster or moving in but I wasn't sure if I could get a roof up and then begin the inside or if I need to do it all at once.

2.) Cooling? I know that window placement is key. No skylights or windows higher than the winter sun or on the west end if I can avoid it. I also know that the cob will cool at night to help regulate its temperature. However, where I live the summer nights can sometimes only cool down to 70°F witch can prevent the cob from cooling off enough at night. What can I do to help insure I don't build a giant summer time oven to live in?

3.) We were planning on doing a form of hybrid to help with insulation since cob has about a R3 value for every 12" of wall thickness. Should a fireplace alone be enough to help heat the home? We can also have some pretty cold winters in our area. Not always but often enough I want to make sure I'm prepared.  On that same note does anyone suggest one type of hybrid over another? I've seen straw in walls as well as rebarb holding basically two giant slabs of cob together with conventional insulation in between.

4.) We were thinking of doing some stick frames where the water pipes come up into their respective places to make repairs easier in the event of a pipe bust. What have others done to make the possibility of this situation easier to handle?

I appreciate all of the help I can get and if anyone is currently building in the Ozarks and would like some help for a day or two that way I can learn more I would be very grateful.

To much clay will make the cob shrink more in the drying process, and be more susceptible to cracks. If there is too much clay in your soil try adding more sand.