VERNACULA

R
HOUSING
COST EFFECTIVE
USING COB
 BY EYUEL GODADAW
ID: 1201639

CONTENTS
 Introduction

 What is cob? Why build with cob?

 Ecofriendly/cost effective cob house

  How do we mix
cob?

INTRODUCTION
LOW-COST HOUSING
Cost-efficiency is one of the most
crucial points of low-cost housing.
It can mainly be achieved by
standardization of building
elements and reducing the number
of different items needed.
 COB HOUSING

WHAT IS COB?
The dictionary lists one of the root
meanings of cob as a 'lump' or 'mass'.
Cobbing is a process best described as
mud daubing. Earth, sand and straw
are mixed together and massaged onto
the foundation, creating thick load-
bearing walls. It's like hand-sculpting a
giant pot to live in. one of The three
most common forms of earth buildings
adobe, rammed earth and cob.
WHY BUILD WITH
COB?
• Cob Lasts a Long Time
• Cob Housing Is Affordable
• Cob Houses Are Fire Resistant
• Cob Houses Are Healthy
• Cob Houses Are termite resistant
IN ETHIOPIA
Eco friendly/cost effective COB HOUSE
The raw material: -
clay,
sand,
Straw,
water.
Straw gives Cob its tensile strength-the ability
to moveand bend withoutbreaking and
to withstand ground movement and shear
forces. The sub-soil determines the durability
and acceptability of the cob, in addition
mixing the cob with cow dung acted as a
plasticizer and binder.
MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION METHODS

Straw

Sand
How
cob

clay
HOW DO WE MIX COB?
Roughly between 2 parts clay, 1 part sand, sprinkling
of straw and a little water. To mix these together
the favorite method is with bare feet!
the ingredients to be very well mixed, moist, but not
wet and the straw well worked in.
BUILDING THE COB
HOUSE
A cob home has a lot of benefits, the one
down side is that it’s very labor intensive
and takes a good while. Unlike traditional
houses which can got up very quickly, cob
is a slow process.
Because cob walls are so thick, around 24
inches thick, it has about a lot of weight.
Literally thousands of pounds of weight
 from the walls alone. So its ideal to have a good clear site to
build the house.

Building the Foundation

The foundation of a building carries the weight of the roof,

walls, furniture, and floor. It is the element that evenly
distributes this weight so that the building doesn’t sink into
the ground, so its floors do not crack, and so the walls do
not crumble.
There are two foundation elements in a cob structure.
• There is the footing or plinth wall and
• The stem wall.
Building the Foundation
The plinth walls, or below - ground footing, supports the load of

the structure and distributes the weight evenly over the surface

area .
Building the Foundation
The stem wall, or the wall above
ground, should be one and a half feet
above ground. This protects the cob
walls from water damage and allows
for drainage away from the structure.
Build Your Cob Walls
The walls in a cob house are super thick, which is what gives it’s strength. The walls will be
thicker at the base and get thinner as they rise. At the top, the walls might be around 18
inches, but the cob wall at the base will be 24 inches. As we build, poke holes into the top of
the wall to allow you to integrate the next layer into the bottom layer.
In general, you can only build your wall 2-3 feet vertically at a time before you’re going to want
to let it set and dry some. This is an important step and is what takes so much time with cob.
Allowing it to dry will make sure the wall doesn’t slump over.
Windows And Doors in A Cob House
The main approach here is to have a solid
timber act as the header for the span of the
top of the window or door. Basically have a
big piece of wood at least 6 inches thick and
go for as wide as the wall.
You want the header to cross the gap of the
opening and then extend at least one foot on
either side so it rests firmly on the top of the
wall, transferring weight onto the wall. The
larger the span, the larger you need to extend
your header to be supported by the wall.
Functional layout
Make the Most of the Climate
• Design with passive solar access in mind
• Cob is thermal mass

Other things to think about when

designing
• One Story or More?
• Noise
• Plan for Future Additions Now
• Designing the Entrance
• Buttresses
CASE STUDY
Solar Oval One
John Fordyce, Architect
SOLAR OVAL ONE is a compact passive
solar design with a loft which can be an
outbuilding for many possible uses. It
has many valuable and
green/sustainable features:
 Solar Oval One
Cob wall construction
• An impervious base wall below the cob for
moisture protection of the cob
• A South facing wall of windows and
French door for passive solar heating
• An earthen floor for solar mass and economy of
construction
• An interior cob bench for built-in seating and
rocket mass heater
• A built-in desk or kitchenette area with side
storage niches
• A north wall closet for storage space and insulation
 Solar Oval One
side
• SmallEast and West end
windows for views & area
lighting
• A sleeping loft accessible by a built-
in ladder only

• Roof framing which needs

minimal small dimension lumber
• The structure is designed to include
seismic stability components
• A pleasing curved design
•
DETAILS
Conclusions
It is a well-known fact that, when the moisture content of clayey soils increase, they
become weaker. At higher moisture contents, the addition of straw is of beneficial effect
on the strength provided it is well bonded.
It has qualities which appropriates for the house construction like it lasts ten thousand
years.
A straw content of about 1.0 to 1.5% is probably optimal when all of the above factors are
considered. This amount may vary for different soil types and could be a topic for future
work.
THANK YOU