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15
December
2003 A
time to reflect after a year's building (well,
almost). As 2003 draws to a close we have 2 houses
with their cob walls finished, one of which is
now felted and battened. It has been a long journey
to this point but an exciting one. We began in
March with the first work on site, putting in the
roads and clearing the house sites. Then in April
we had our foundations course which began the work
on Emma and Rob's house. The foundations were completed
in 3 weeks, and then work began on Thomas and Ulrike's.
Then in June Kevin McCabe came from Devon to teach
the cob building course which got us underway with
the cob building. He taught us about mixes and
about his way of building cob using a digger, which
totally revolutionised the process for us. Over
the summer, helped by an army of wonderful volunteers,
we continued to build, cobbing away through hot
summer days and beautiful evening sunsets (and
the occasional shower - what a summer for cob building!).
Looking back through the Building Diary archive
you can follow the various stages of these extraordinary
structures coming together.
The roof of Emma and Rob's house has been a real
labour of love. In conventional construction, roof
trusses arrive on site pre-made, are put up onto
the roof and the whole thing is often slated within
a couple of weeks. Due to the curvaceous and organic
form of the roof, every beam had to be measured,
remeasured, cut, put up, checked, taken down, recut,
put back up again...every piece had to be uniquely
cut, but now as it takes shape, all the work put
in has paid off, the roof really looks amazing.
So now, after all this work and busy-ness, I find
myself with a half-built cob house. How does that
feel? Well, already, despite having no windows
or doors, no floor and not much of anything else,
our house already feels amazing. 3 feet thick cob
walls, wooden rafters, stone chimneys, the house
feels in some ways, like a castle. The reveals
around the windows are so deep that the house feels
so solid, almost womb-like. When the light is coming
in, the way it plays on the curvy walls is gorgeous.
It already feels very dry, even after heavy rain,
the cob that has already dried stays dry. I am
very much looking forward to waking up in the embrace
of this house, when we eventually get to make this
our home.
Next steps? The work on the roof for Thomas and
Ulrike's will begin soon, and also the floor will
now be put into Rob and Emma's house, a limecrete
screed over Optiroc clay insulating aggregate.
That'll be after a couple of weeks off for Christmas
though! We'd like to thank everyone who has helped
us out over 2003, either with their hands and feet
on the building site, or through sending us supportive
emails or coming on courses. Wishing you all a
wonderful Festive period and New Year.
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