Essential Cob Construction: A Guide to Design, Engineering, and Building

by Anthony Dente, Michael G. Smith, Massey Burke

Overview

Setting the standard for modern cob construction – from design, engineering, and building code compliance, to sculpting beautiful structures

Cob – a mix of clay, sand, and straw – is one of the most popular and well-known natural building methods. Yet cob is often difficult to permit and can be used in inappropriate ways due to a lack of sound engineering and design information. Recent research and a newly developed building code promise to make cob building more accessible than ever.

Essential Cob Construction sets the new standard for cob construction. Incorporating rigorous, up-to-date engineering and building science and decades of practical lessons learned, coverage includes:

• Appropriate use of cob in different climates and contexts
• Thermal performance and moisture management
• Structural and architectural design considerations, including fire and earthquake resistance data from extensive laboratory testing
• Hands-on cob construction, including mix design, testing, manual and mechanical mixing, wall building, strong connections with foundations, roofs, and other structural elements, and finishing options
• Building code development and the permitting process for cob
• Planning, budgeting, and quality control
• The complete Cob Construction Appendix of the International Residential Code.

Essential Cob Construction is required reading for engineers, architects, designers, contractors, and owner-builders working with this ancient, aesthetically pleasing, low-carbon building material.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865719682
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	01/16/2024
Series:	Sustainable Building Essentials Series
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	704,413
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Anthony Dente, PE, LEED AP, is a licensed engineer and principal at Verdant Structural Engineers, a firm that has designed over 200 structures using natural-building wall systems such as straw bale, adobe, rammed earth, earthbag, and cob. As vice president of the Cob Research Institute, he was the lead engineer for the Cob Construction Appendix of the 2021 International Residential Code, as well as the Hemp-Lime (Hempcrete) Appendix, both the first of their kind in the US. Dente has advised, designed, and collaborated on numerous university research programs testing the structural behavior of natural materials, and writes and lectures extensively about appropriate use of environmentally sensitive building materials. He is the CEO for Verdant Structural Products, and project lead for their prefabricated, carbon-storing, straw wall panels. Dente was recently awarded the Constellation Prize for Sustainable Engineering Practice. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area of California.

Michael G. Smith is a natural builder, trainer, designer, and consultant who has been working with natural building systems for over 30 years. He holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT. In 1993 he co-founded the iconic Cob Cottage Company with Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley, reviving the ancient tradition of cob building. His hands-on workshops focus on energy efficiency, empowerment of people through simple, accessible techniques, and the regenerative use of locally available materials. Smith has led or been involved in over 100 natural building projects in North America and internationally and he is a board member of the Cob Research Institute, where he helped write the first model building code for cob. He is co-author of The Hand-Sculpted House and The Art of Natural Building and author of The Cobber's Companion. He lives on an organic farm near Sacramento, California.

Massey Burke is a natural materials design/build consultant and co-director of the California Straw Building Association. She has worked with cob since 2005 and has taught natural building methods with non-profits and educational organizations, including the University of San Francisco and UC Berkeley. She was project manager for the first permitted cob building in the Bay Area, and supported the writing of the recent cob building code as a board member of the Cob Research Institute. Burke's work in life-cycle assessment focuses on low-carbon building, with a specific interest in supply chains and bringing natural building materials into the urban fabric. She partners with organizations including Arup, StopWaste, and the Carbon Leadership Forum to generate technical information and help remove barriers to scaling up natural, climate-positive building methods. Burke was a contributing author to The New Carbon Architecture. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area of California.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Building Science
Chapter 3: Materials and Tools
Chapter 4: Mixes and Mixing
Chapter 5: Building Cob Walls
Chapter 6: Architectural Design
Chapter 7: Structural Design
Chapter 8: Foundations, Floors, and Roofs
Chapter 9: Finishes
Chapter 10: Building Codes and Permits
Chapter 11: Planning, Budgeting, and Getting Help

Glossary: Terminology
Appendix 1: Full IRC Appendix AU
Appendix 2: Life Cycle Analysis
Appendix 3: Bibliography and Resources

Editorial Reviews

To save our precious Earth, we need to build with our precious earth. This book describes and details the practice of place-based cob construction, an ancient method that is more timely now than ever before. It is an affordable and ecological way to create better housing for more people throughout the world.
—Paul Hawken, environmentalist, entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author of The Ecology of Commerce, Drawdown, and Regeneration

At last!—the book we've been waiting for, by just the right authors! Anthony, Massey, and Michael are the perfect team who know the joy of getting your hands dirty and building with friends, study and appreciate the rich and venerable traditions of earthen architecture, and can bring it all into the 21st century with the engineering that modern construction requires. Well done!
—Bruce King, PE, director, Ecological Building Network, co-author, Build Beyond Zero and The New Carbon Architecture

This comprehensive book goes beyond essential. It covers virtually every aspect of cob construction and is written by a team who have decades of experience with muddy, hands-on building and engineering design. They have written what is literally the current state of the art, from the building science to the prescriptive codes that will allow cob to more easily be employed legally in many jurisdictions. All of this is lavishly illustrated with photos and diagrams showing both the beauty and the nitty gritty how-to of cob construction.
—Kelly Hart, greenhomebuilding.com, www.naturalbuildingblog.com, author, Essential Earthbag Construction

Essential Cob Construction is a comprehensive and timely addition to the literature on cob building. In addition to the wealth of experience and practical information for builders, much-needed technical and structural guidance is provided to enable the design, permitting, and construction of safe and durable cob buildings as cob gains wider and more diverse use.
—David Eisenberg, director, Development Center for Appropriate Technology

Absolutely fabulous! This simple description applies whether you are reading this book for inspiration, for details, for scientific data, or for ideas. Thank you Michael, Anthony, and Massey for writing what really is the ESSENTIAL book on cob construction.
—Gord Baird, co-owner/builder, Eco-Sense, co-author, Essential Composting Toilets

A comprehensive guide and reference every builder should have. Answering questions about design, function, strength, and safety, Essential Cob Construction will do a lot to make cob an accessible part of the building lexicon.
—John Curry and Kindra Welch, cob builders and designers, ClaySandStraw

Essential Cob Construction is the cob manual the building industry needs. The step-by-step guides to engineering, design, and building are clear and well laid-out. Filled with excellent photos, this manual brings together the mind and heart of a very human building material, and offers hope that we are moving forward with ancient and modern approaches to our built environment.
—Sukita Reay Crimmel, founder, Claylin Earthen Floors, co-author, Earthen Floors: A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice

Anthony, Michael, and Massey have given us an excellent resource for dreaming, designing, and building with cob. Not only that, they've managed to work in a healthy amount of history, engineering methodology, and helpful advice that ties this blend of clay, sand, and straw to many other earthen building techniques used around the world. Bravo!
—Tim Krahn, P. Eng., author, Essential Rammed Earth Construction

What an excellent resource for both the natural building and conventional building communities. This is a groundbreaking book that will help to inspire and inform anyone who reads it with an interest in cob and/or natural building.
—Adam Weismann and Katy Bryce, co-founders, Clayworks, authors, Building with Cob and Clay and Lime Renders Plasters and Paints

The authors of Essential Cob Construction have crafted a masterpiece of knowledge. This book contains an encyclopedic amount of information, covering all essential aspects of cob construction, from its historical and cultural context to its technical performance, practical applications, and architectural potential.
—Jacob Deva Racusin, director, Building Science and Sustainability, New Frameworks, author, Essential Building Science

Essential Cob Construction brings modern knowledge to an age-old material, and empowers readers to build climate-appropriate cob walls. Finally, a book on cob that includes construction timing, work site planning, tool lists, and recipes! Kudos!
—Sigi Koko, founder, Down to Earth Design, buildnaturally.com

From the Publisher