Rich and I were playing around with the idea of creating a temporary shelter while we work on the corn crib. The main goal in this is to maintain friendly relations with my parents by getting out of their house ASAP. We love each other dearly, but we can also drive each other crazy. At least we know this going into the project. So with that in mind our first goal is to be able to live on our own (safely) on the property starting next winter.

We know that the proceeds from the sale of our house won’t cover the initial costs of getting the corn crib dried in to support us. The other option? Build a simple structure with just the basics for survival to get us through. I’ve been researching options for several days. Here are the results of my research:

  • Yurt? Not hardy enough and too expensive
  • Deltec? Too expensive
  • Dome? Doesn’t fit the site and too expensive.
  • Premade Cabin? Not environmentally friendly and too expensive
  • Quanset hut? Right price, but hard to insulate and not terribly aesthetically pleasing
  • Site built stick frame cabin? Still a slight possibility
  • Cob Cottage? Our favorite at the moment.

Notice a theme here? When on a limited budget and paying cash cost is a major concern and we can’t afford to pay for the convenience of a pre-built kit.

So why even bother with a temporary shelter? We know that the corn crib will be an awesome home, but realize that we will have a need to a separate office/guest house. If we can reuse this structure for that purpose then we have killed two birds with one stone. Even though we aren’t putting our initial funds directly into the corn crib, it will still go toward the common goal.

Our solution? Cob! Cob is a mixture of clay, sand, and straw. When moistened, combined and formed into walls makes an incredibly strong, durable, and inexpensive structure. With simple site soil testing you can create your own mix with materials on site. The walls can be load bearing or be infill in a post and beam structure. Another interesting feature of cob building is how free form and sculptural the home can be.

Cob buildings have been built in England for hundreds of years and many are still standing today!

Check out http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/cob.htm for more info on cob building.

Another good source of info is the book Building Green by Clarke Snell which details building earth based structures.

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