Introduction

Greetings all, I'm Beck. I'm starting this blog to capture my experiences during a natural building work exchange in Petrolia, CA. During my time here, I will be helping Kristen and Jim build their cob house. Before I start getting into the nitty gritty of my daily life, I'll answer some common questions.

Building plans for the first floor

What's cob?

Cob is a building material composed of clay, sand, straw, water and soil. The materials are kneaded together by stomping and rolling the mix on a tarp, and then stacked and molded to make a continuous solid wall. When it's dry, cob is fireproof and resistant to seismic activity. Cob structures can be found all over the world in a wide variety of climates. The oldest cob buildings are thousands of years old. Cob walls are built thick and provide excellent thermal mass, which helps even out temperatures inside despite fluctuating temperatures outside. However, cob provides almost no insulation. While that won't be a huge problem in the mild climate of northern California, in Jim and Kristen's house, the north side will use a straw bale design to increase insulation.

Why natural building?

Around five years ago, I stumbled upon Simon Dale's website detailing the building plans and process of his first "hobbit home."

Front of Simon Dale's first hobbit home, http://www.simondale.net/house/

The round house was built into a hill, with beautiful pale lime plastered cob walls, a reciprocal roof with exposed wood underneath and grasses living on top, and repurposed and recycled doors, windows, plumbing, etc. It looked amazing, and shockingly only cost 3000 euros to build. I'm not sure if the appeal came from the focus on sustainable and healthy living, or the satisfying ability to sculpt your very own house exactly to your liking, but a spark was lit while looking at Simon's building that hasn't gone away.

Since then, I have found I started my quest to learn more, finding that there are many resources and books on this ancient technique.

Who am I?

My name is Beck. I'm a recent graduate of Swarthmore College where I studied math and environmental science. Rather than jumping into the job market or applying to various graduate schools, I have opted to realize some dreams. On the top of my list was learning how to build cob. I found Jim and Kristen's homestead on a natural building forum. They were asking for volunteer workers to help build their dream cob home. After a 4000-mile road trip across the country, I landed in Petrolia to help build their house. I'm excited to keep this work journal for a few reasons. First and foremost, I feel that recording what I am learning will help me to retain the information for future projects (hopefully including my own some-day dream house). Writing my thoughts will also help me process my experiences here. And just maybe there will be enough information here to inspire and assist others in their own building projects.