Cob, or Cobb Homes: Facts You Should Know

A cob house, or cobb house, is a home made of materials from the earth. The houses are made of a mixture of clay, straw, water and earth. Here's more about these interesting earthen structures.

Methods to build a cob, cobb house

People build cob houses with their hands and feet mixing the earth with sand and straw. It's similar to sculpting pottery clay. Experts say that it is easy to learn and to build a cob home. There is no cement, bricks or forms involved in building a cob house.

Benefits of cob, cobb houses

One of the benefits to cob housing is that is fireproof and very stable in its structure. Cobb homes are energy efficient. They stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It is also inexpensive to make a cob house because of all of the readily available materials. Cob, or cobb houses are known as a natural building and are environmentally friendly. Because of their natural materials they are popular in the growing sustainability movement. Cobb homes are also good at resisting earthquake activity.

History of cob, cobb housing

Cob originated in prehistoric times and is considered an ancient building material. The building method was also used the 11^th and 12^th centuries by the al-Andalus and Maghreb and was known as cobwork, or tabya.

Modern cob, cobb housing

Cob homes and other buildings are growing in popularity in recent years. The concept is relatively new in the United States. One man in England, Kevin McCabe, built a two story home in 1994. There have also been other attempts and successes with one of the latest success being a two story, 2150-square-foot cobb house built in British Columbia in 2007. There do not appear to be any building codes for cob homes at this time.

Source: Cob Cottage Company