HOW TO COB

Long Way Home, San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala

There are few ways to use cob as building material, whether its with bricks, stacked balls, framed with wood or chicken wire or rammed. Using cob as filling for tire wall gaps, as practiced in Long Way Home, allows relatively fast process, good insulation and durability in earthquakes.

Cob might look like simple mud, but it is so much more then just mud. Making cob is all about the recipe and the mixing...

The RECIPE:

4 buckets Local Earth

1 bucket Clay

3 buckets Cow manure

1 sack Straw

A lot of Water

The recipe is very simple, though using local earth material might make it complicated so it is better first to mix a small amount for a 10*10*1 cm brick for test. Also, the size of the aggregates will affect the volume and strength so that's another factor to take in account for the tests.

MIXING:

1. First mix the dry stuff (if using more then one type of earth)

1. Add clay and cow manure

1. Start mixing by stepping on the materials and adding water

1. Add straw and step some more

AFTER THE COB IS READY

We can apply it on the tire wall.

1. Clean and wet the wall

1. Create cobs (balls)

1. Throw them in the gaps

2. Unsmooth the surface(for easier additions of cob or plaster)

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