Photo of a yet-to-be-finished combination strawbale and cob house :
I used to be a skeptic but after going inside a cob house in Northern California, I changed my mind...
It’s close to 100 F outside, the grass is so dry you can almost hear it crackle and self ignite, not a cloud in the sky, not a creature to be seen. Even the crickets stopped singing. It feels like an inferno.
Then you enter this house that looks completely normal from the outside but on closer observation, there is something funny about the walls and the windows. The walls are made out of earth and the windows sills look like they could be two feet deep. You enter the solid wood front door and inside you feel like you are in an oasis. It feels 20 degrees cooler. It’s quiet and feels very comfortable. It’s a cob house.
Cob houses, like straw bale houses and rammed earth houses have been around for a long time. Cob houses were prevalent in England, rammed earth houses in the Middle East. The thickness of their walls provide enough thermal mass to allow for a regulation of the inside temperature naturally. In fact, at night, when the outside temperatures are cooler, they radiate heat.
Not only do these houses feel comfortable, they make me feel good. The materials used for construction are earth and straw bales. Straw, I believe, can no longer be burnt in California. So this is an ideal use for it.
Global warming scares me. Conventional housing relies on air conditioning. This energy consumption in turn aggravates global warming and so a vicious circle is created where no one wins. So what gives?
- Curiosity Killed The Cat
I used to be a skeptic but after going inside a cob house in Northern California, I changed my mind...
It’s close to 100 F outside, the grass is so dry you can almost hear it crackle and self ignite, not a cloud in the sky, not a creature to be seen. Even the crickets stopped singing. It feels like an inferno.
Then you enter this house that looks completely normal from the outside but on closer observation, there is something funny about the walls and the windows. The walls are made out of earth and the windows sills look like they could be two feet deep. You enter the solid wood front door and inside you feel like you are in an oasis. It feels 20 degrees cooler. It’s quiet and feels very comfortable. It’s a cob house.
Cob houses, like straw bale houses and rammed earth houses have been around for a long time. Cob houses were prevalent in England, rammed earth houses in the Middle East. The thickness of their walls provide enough thermal mass to allow for a regulation of the inside temperature naturally. In fact, at night, when the outside temperatures are cooler, they radiate heat.
Not only do these houses feel comfortable, they make me feel good. The materials used for construction are earth and straw bales. Straw, I believe, can no longer be burnt in California. So this is an ideal use for it.
Global warming scares me. Conventional housing relies on air conditioning. This energy consumption in turn aggravates global warming and so a vicious circle is created where no one wins. So what gives?
- Curiosity Killed The Cat
