United Kingdom
England
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This is one of the most iconic natural homes in the world....
A Beautiful Cob Home In Somerset, South West England
This stunningly beautiful tiny home with sculpted cob walls
looks out over the banks of a small stream in Somerset, south-west England,
where the local dialect still has remnants of the Anglo-Saxon language.
The home is the work of Lisa and Rich who built the house with clay
from the stream that runs just out of view in this picture.
They collected roundwood of Pine and Hawthorne
thinned from the local woodlands to build the frame of the home.
How do you make cob?
If you want to build with cob then you must test the quality of your clay.
Cob also depends on the coarseness of the sand.
This is how to do a snowball test.
Combine your clay soil and sand in different proportions: 3:1, 2:1, 3:2, 1:1, 2:3, 1:2 and 1:3.
For each, mix the sand and clay thoroughly and add just enough water
to make the grains stick together when you squeeze a double handful very tightly.
Make compact balls of the mixes about 6cm diameter.
Then while holding a ball between thumb and index finger of one hand squeeze the ball
with the thumb and index finger of the other hand at right angles to the first.
A ball made dry enough from the ideal mix should not distort
by more than 0.5cm and be hard enough not to break.
Then hold each ball 1m above soft ground e.g. a grass lawn, and drop the ball.
If the ball breaks it is too dry or contains too much sand.
If the ball deforms it contains too much clay or too much water.
The ideal mix will maintain its shape on impact.
When you have discovered the correct clay, sand and water mix
use a tarp to mix large batches of clay and sand.
Mix these dry in the tarp until you can't see patches of clay or sand
then add water little by little treading and rolling the mix in the tarp.
Once lumps are broken up begin to add the straw.
Tread the straw in until it is covered with the clay/sand/water mix and then turn in the tarp.
Repeat adding more straw and turn in the tarp from different corners
making sure the centre is also turned.
Continue adding straw until the mixture feels like a tough substance rather than a loose (squishy) mud.
The cob in the tarp will now turn as a single mass.
Adding more straw now is very difficult so this is when the mixture is ready.
See more of this beautiful natural home in England: http://naturalhomes.org/goatlings.htm
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