Over the past nine months we have been following Brian or Ziggy as his friends call him build his cob house. You can check out the last two posts on the build here and here.
Ziggy emailed me Friday night to tell me he has completed his home and moved in and has set up a page with a recipe for building a cob house on his blog. Here it is in a nut shell:
With $3000 for supplies and nine months of full time labor, Ziggy was able to build GOBCOBATRON, a small cob house with interior dimensions of roughly 15’x13′, and a footprint of (again, roughly) 20’x18′. Practically all of the labor was completed by hand (and foot!), including making and applying all of the cob.
Here’s what Ziggy actually bought, and what he paid for in building supplies:
- sand (just over 30 tons total) – $507
- gravel (about 13 tons total) – $177
- straw (16 bales) – $36 (most straw I used was free)
- black walnut scrap lumber – $100
- misc. lumber – $20
- windows – $220 (two casement, one double hung window)
- electrical – $28
- galvanized wire – $30
- nails – $100 (I couldn’t believe how expensive nails are)
- raw linseed oil (for floor) – $72
- EPDM pond liner $622
- polycarbonate for skylight $400
and for the rocket stove:
- firebricks – $70
- flue pipe – $228
It’s true… you can build your own cob house with little money, but with lots of time and enthusiasm. There’s nothing quite like the experience of building your own home with little more than your hands.
Visit Ziggy’s blog for the complete story.
Thanks Ziggy for sharing your journey with us in building your cob house.
by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)
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