Reply #30: Thank you csziggy. We are pretty excited.

[FedUpWithIt All]

Thank you for this advice. I agree.


We are planning to build a cob strawbale hybrid. Very low cost and easy to build and the insulation and thermal mass cannot really be beat.

We are thinking about straw bale (r-value R 2.38 per inch to R 0.94 per inch) separating a windowless, storage pantry along the north side. Beyond this wall we will build an encasing cob room to keep that back room cool but also keep the warm air in the southern house portion. The cob in the back should allow the cooler (northern) environment into the room and the straw bale, should help insulate this from the rest of the house while preventing heat loss on the cooler north side of our home.

Cob is brilliant because with a variation in daily temps, they are the cool in the day while it is hot outside and warm in the evening while it is cool outside.

We intend to build the front of the structure with the cob and a solar collector like a kitchen greenhouse. It is slightly similar to the earthship designs.

We hope to have any additional heating done with wood. When we build we will be incorporating a spiral flue that graduates through the walls ensure the smoke releases as much heat as possible before it exits the building. This means there will have to be "access points" for cleaning.

I am hoping the have a pizza oven built into the kitchen (cob again) along with a full sized hearth. This will serve a multitude of purposes. I want a small smoke room above this hearth to make use of the exiting smoke. Perhaps a warming bench as well.

:hi: