Cob-wood shed
Materials:
Rough sawn lumber, straw, clay, sand, plants, cordwood, and recycled materials.
Everything was sourced locally.
Year:
2013
Cob & Cordwood shed. “Cob-wood” is a combination of two natural building techniques – Cob and Cordwood. Cob is a mixture of clay, straw, and sand that hardens like a brick (much like adobe). Cordwood construction uses short, firewood size pieces of wood stacked up to form a wall with mortar filling the spaces between the wood. “Cob-wood” uses cob as the mortar between the cordwood logs to create a truly natural wall, and a distinct look. This structure, which serves as a garden and tool shed also features a living roof with moss, grass, and flowers. This project exemplifies the principles of natural building and sustainable design. In fact, only one item for this project was purchased at a store! Like most natural building projects, the material costs were much less than conventional methods, the labor costs were higher, the total costs were very similar, and the end result was far superior.