Building with cob

[Laurie Simpson]

Hello
I'm currently building a cob round house in Zimbabwe. I took part in a natural building workshop in south africa and I'm now finishing the stone stem wall before starting on the cob. This is my first time building and I'm really enjoying it but I have little support in the way of cob experts in my area. Anyone with any help and admvice please have a look at my blog on the building process http://dancelikeanelephant.blogspot.com . I Have had to adapt to What materials are locally available my main concern is termites.
The dream we have is to build a permaculture homestead in an area next to a national park where there is conflict between humans and wildlife and try and help design simple solutions to these problems. anyone with any experience with this would be great to hear from you too.

Laurie

[Pakanohida]

Awesome foundation!

Question, why didn't you remove the soil from inside the walls and put it outside for mixing and use?

[Laurie Simpson]

Hi,

Thanks! most of the soil was dug out and put on the outside of the foundations as this 'pit sand' makes up 2.5 parts of the mix both for the cob and for the mortar between the rocks. some was left in the centre to fill around the foundations when it was finished but didn't need it all. I'm a bit concerned now that a lot of this sand as it has been left to the elements during the rainy season is too full of organic matter to use in the cob.