about 12 years ago the CCAT group on our Humboldt State campus was looking to expand the sustainable energy house They used a campus building as a demonstration center ( an old stick built) and some natural builder people came up who had done cob and straw. I was there to talk about lime plasters, and a little on papercrete, sawdust -crete.. there was a lot of interest in using local materials. we have redwood sawdust which is even better than shredded paper for two main reasons..1. it's ready to mix and 2. won't burn, rot, mold, etc. they liked the use of clay vs cement in the mixes.
hardwood sawdust and other trees sawdust need to be experimented with to see what works best regionally. but when added to clay any sawdust seems to do well as a cast block. it's heavier than papercrete, less insulation too I am betting, and it is easy to place between studs as a wet pour or a dry block made to fit,
The big reason straw is not as favorable locally is the wet, foggy weather here. our warmest months hit 65-70 in July thru Sept. rains the rest of the time often... and the steady intrusion of water rots the straw quickly. and we don't have a lot of straw avail on the coast, it must be trucked in from Sacramento or Redding, there are a few straw bale 'houses ' here, many more inland
and you don't have long hot summers to dry cast papercrete either.
The lady who taught cob had herself taken a ruined Yurt--where a bear had destroyed the wood expansion grids that support the tent, and she placed straw bales all around in a circle on the wood yurt platform floor, and then heavily cobbed over it. they used the yurt fabric and kept the roof with window as is.. a stove for heat ( it snows up in the mtns here, but is hot and dry mostly, so straw worked) was placed fairly close to the cob wall, and there was no issue with fire.. the cob absorbed the heat and helped sustain the temp.
Humboldt has done a lot over the hears with alt materials, and a cob bench was built a while back..but not finished. there are a couple websites on it,
Charmaine
Charmaine Taylor/Publishing & Elk River Press
PO Box 375 Cutten CA 95534
www.papercrete.com
Charmaine Taylor/Publishing & Elk River Press
PO Box 375 Cutten CA 95534
www.papercrete.com
Robert Heinlein (1907-1988) "There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him." (Obamacare)
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