Workshop Update

25 May 2013 4 Comments

by inspirationalvillage in Natural Building Tags: , , , , , , , ,

cob workshopThings have been progressing slowly but steadily in the workshop since we finally got the roof finished in the winter.

Colin focused on getting the doors in right away, refining two old doors that came from his Dad’s work of deconstructing old houses on the island, and refitting a pair of salvaged french doors.  He also built a raised stone hearth from the pile of stones we have on the property, put in the stove pipe, and wired in the rough electrical circuits.  We got the insulation in the ceiling and the plastic vapour barrier secured over that and ready for the finished ceiling layer, which we think will be some kind of bamboo or sea grass mat.

rough sculptureI spent a couple of weeks on and off getting the rough coat of plaster on the inside and outside of the building.  This layer of clay plaster is the only rough coat needed on a cob wall, and is the same layer as the third layer that we put on the strawbale house.  (See my previous post called Natural Plaster for full details).  A mix of 4 parts sand, 2 parts clay, and 1 part straw with water to mix it to a troweling consistency kept me busy in the warmer days of late winter. rough plastered windows I cleaned up and shaped the sculptural aspects of the walls so they were ready for the final layer of plaster, which Tracy and I completed earlier in May, while the temperatures were still cool enough to give the plaster time to dry.  The final clay plaster took us 2 days to put on, a seemingly record pace for any one job to be completed in.  We mixed up the kaolin clay, sand, straw, paper pulp and whiting in the buckets the day before, and then added the rice flour paste, and borax and mixed multiple buckets together the morning we started plastering.  (See my older post Final Plastering for more exact details).  We got much of the simple walls done on the first day, then completed the wall with the windows and arched shelf the next day, cleaning up our tools by the afternoon.  I am always so amazed at how quickly the finishing layer goes, compared to the time it takes to get all the other layers beneath it built.final plaster

Last weekend, Colin and I built the one interior wall that separates the workshop from a small storage room.  It will also be the wall against which will be built Colin’s work bench.  It holds the majority of the electrical outlets and is a standard 2×4 construction filled with rock wool (Roxul) insulation and covered in plywood.  final plastered windows

There is not too much left to do in this simple building for Colin to finally move in and use the space for his wood working.  Right now he is coming to the end of a giant stone facing job and is looking forwards to working with the more forgiving medium of cedar wood.  I can turn my attention to finishing the outside of the building later this summer, playing with some creative designs for sculpture as well as getting the last coat of lime plaster done when the weather begins to cool off once again.     interior wall

The Roof of the Cob Workshop

04 Oct 2012 8 Comments

by inspirationalvillage in Natural Building Tags: , , , , , ,

As we move into the first week of October, it remains the driest summer on record here on our west coast island, parching the gardens, drying up wells, and raising the fire danger all around us.  The one thing that the clear sunny skies have been perfect for is drying out the cob walls of Colin’s workshop and giving us lots of time to get the roof on and the walls protected for when the rains finally do pour down.  In the meantime, Colin is splitting all the cedar shakes that he needs for finishing the roof, and I am getting ready to start troweling on the scratch coat of earthen plaster on the walls.

The construction of the roof began with the laying of the rafters onto the top of the cob walls, radiating outwards from the central post and beam structure that stands in the center of the workshop to support the large skylight.  We embedded “deadmen” (inverted wood T’s) into the top foot of the cob walls every two feet, and attached the rafters to these for extra tie down support.  Then we had a small amount of cobbing left to do- filling in around the rafters up to a finished height that closed in a small vent on the outside edge.

Colin had in mind an undulating roof line as well as a curving roof line, so the top height of the walls swept up and down as they went around in the circle, making the rafters swoop above doorways and dip into corners.  Placing plywood over the rafters required half inch as well as quarter inch plywood, doubling up the quarter inch in the places where it needed to bend around corners and into the dips, giving the roof a plywood patchwork look.  We then rolled out lengths of roofing felt and started on the skylight.  Traditionally, cedar shake roofs don’t need any plywood or roofing felt.  The shakes were just nailed right to strapping over the rafters.  Because we are building a permitted building with unconventional materials with approval from an engineer in a seismically sensitive zone, well, we had to do it.  Our engineer told us that the plywood helps to distribute the load of the roof on the load bearing walls, uniting the roof and reducing the amount of pressure directly on the walls.

The skylight required a little more finessing in terms of design.  Basically, a system of nine ribs curve over a center beam, with double walled polycarbonate sheets bent over the ribs, and cedar strips screwed down on the top.  Lots of details in between, of course, but that is the basic construction of the 8×12 skylight.  There is plywood filling in the ends of the skylight, and roof venting along the sides that moves the air through from the vents at the other ends of the rafters.  We will be filling the inside of the ceiling with rock wool insulation, leaving a two inch gap at the top of the rafters for this passage of air.

The light inside is a beautiful diffused brightness, and the gentle curves and waves of the roof line is complemented by the surrounding slope and roll of the bedrock, the arch of the lifted skylight echoes the balanced curve of the strawbale house above it.  The moments of standing and looking at the very real outcome of what was an imagining is almost surreal, as if we were imagining what was already there and had just failed to notice it before.  We still have an extensive list of big and small jobs to do before the workshop is usable, or finished, but having the foundation up to the roof constructed and becoming a part of our landscape is an amazing accomplishment.  Thanks to many helping hands, encouraging words, and loads of summer fruit dropped off by generous neighbors!

Cob Workshop Approved!

16 Jun 2012 2 Comments

by inspirationalvillage in Natural Building Tags: , , , ,

Come and build a cob workshop with us! This summer we are offering an opportunity for learning about building with cob while constructing a woodworking shop on Pender Island.  Details about registering are at the end of this post.

During the last month, Colin has been working on drawing the plans for his woodworking shop that we are building this summer.  He has been using a small area in his dads workshop for a long time, and the limitations of that space are more and more apparent. Since his business ( www.thujawoodart.com) is what pays for all our land and home building projects, it was obvious to us that the next thing on the list would be a permanent space for him to expand into, with proper space for wood sorting and storage.  Since we are building within the Capital Regional District (CRD), everything we do needs to be permitted and inspected for compliance with the building codes.  Colin’s dream of building a load bearing cob workshop was thus dependent on the engineer that we have been working with throughout the construction of our strawbale house.  For the past three years, Colin has been giving him a heads-up about this plan, and sending along information and history about the processes and strengths of cob.

From Home Work, an inspiring sky lit workshop

The design that Colin has imagined was inspired by a photo in Lloyd Kahn’s book, Home Work, showing a workshop with a huge central skylight.  Colin’s design entails a large skylight, (8×12), supported by a timber frame in the center of the roof, with the posts coming down into the center of the room, and the roof rafters fanning out from the skylight to rest on the cob wall.  In this way, the walls are supporting a slightly less load than if the roof had no posts at all, and our engineer was happy to approve the designs without any other additions besides some re-bar within the stone foundation and a concrete stem wall beneath the stones for reinforcement of the foundation for seismic standards.  We sent him a video that was filmed at UBC showing a cob building built on to a seismic shaker platform, and given the equivalent shake of a 7 earthquake.  (Ask An Expert-Cob Construction).  A city engineer was witness to the demonstration, and after the building showed minimal cracking, it was subjected to a 9, at which point a wall section crumbled but the roof remained entirely intact.  Seismic qualifications are important considerations in this area, and our engineer was quite satisfied to approve our project with the information we were able to pass on to him.   We are pretty excited about this approval- there are not many engineer approved load bearing cob buildings out there yet.

a cob wall on a stone foundation

We hope that the more exposure alternative building has in the world of construction, the more it will be seen as a viable option in certain circumstances with a understandable set of guidelines and standards in place to keep the buildings safe, healthy, and affordable.  I don’t imagine that cob houses will become a “normal” way of building, but we would love to see the doors opening so that those who wish to build with cob can do so without unnecessary expense and obstacles for something that is really so easy and widely applicable.

So now,  we are organizing some cob workshops for building the cob workshop!  Here is what we are offering this summer:

camping will be in the meadow beside the swimming pond

Join Colin and Wendi, with Tracy Calvert of Cobworks, www.cobworks.com to learn and build load-bearing cob walls onto a stone foundation.  Besides covering the basics of cobbing, we will include the finer details of working around door and window frames, constructing arches and niches, using wood lintels and exploring creative bottle and glass placement designs. Discussions will provide opportunities for questions and further site specification points, as well as other aspects of natural building.  Camping sites are available in the meadow beside the swimming pond, with an outdoor shower and composting toilet. Vegetarian meals will be provided, please inform us of any special food needs ahead of time. Two positions are available for intensives covering both workshops and extra time between and/or after, as self-directed opportunities to learn more. Also, cabin facilities are possible for any needs of circumstance. It is our hope that cob and natural building construction can be widely available methods of building for a diverse, creative, and compassionate community.

the site of the future workshop will be where the pile of logs is, against the rock slope

August 10-13 (Friday to Mon. encouraged to arrive thursday night)

August 17-20 (Friday to Mon. encouraged to arrive thursday night)

Intensive including both courses and 3 days in between with extra instruction at $950 (with possibility to volunteer and stay later afterwards.)

Early bird pricing at $380 until July 27/ Aug 3, then full price of $420 after that.

Comment on this post to register, and we will be sure to email our reply.

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