Building with Cob - A Natural & Affordable Way to Build a House

Bryce from Dreamweavers Collective explains the benefits and challenges of building with cob!

Cob is a natural building material created from clay, sand, and straw that can be used to build load bearing walls, window and door frames, and much more.

It's an affordable and natural way to build using materials that are typically found locally.
In fact, building with earth and natural fibers is a technique used in many places around the world.

This style of construction can have different names, like earth building, adobe, mud bricks, etc.

Unlike conventional buildings, cob is a simple way to build that can be an interesting and easy option to build a DIY green home using little, if any, toxic materials.

Bryce teaches natural building and cob workshops in person and online.
You can find out more about his courses on his website here:

http://www.dreamweaverscollective.org/

He calls himself a 3rd generation cobber because he learned cob building techniques from Pat Hennebery at Cobworks:

https://www.cobworks.com/

And Pat learned about cob from Ianto Evans, Linda Smiley, and the rest of the team at The Cob Cottage Company:

http://www.cobcottage.com/

We hope you enjoyed learning about this interesting, natural, affordable, and alternative building technique :)

cob houses are incredible and beautiful structures!

Photos taken by Bryce and Kelly from Dreamweavers Collective.

Dome & arch photos taken at Arcosanti:

https://arcosanti.org/

The Cob Cottage and other cob houses built by Cobworks:

https://www.cobworks.com/

White cob cabin built by Terra Perma:

https://terraperma.ca/en/

How to Build a Cob House
Learn how to build a cob house using earth building techniques.

https://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/structures-and-outbuildings/build-a-house-with-cob-zm0z15jaztri/

How To Build a Cob House with Cob Construction

https://diynatural.com/cob-house-construction/

Curious about how to build your own natural home?

Cob House Cost Breakdown
I’ve kept close records of the costs of my building materials, and have determined that I have spent less than $3000 on building materials for the cob house. (I spent another $1000 on labor.) Here’s what I actually bought, and what I paid for my 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 – $30Living Roof on a Cob House
nails – $100
raw linseed oil (for floor) – $72
EPDM pond liner $622
polycarbonate for skylight $400
https://theyearofmud.com/2009/08/21/build-cob-house-for-3000/

original link on Exploring Alternatives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWuHQOvNRDw&t=90s