Open Architecture Network

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The Kerley Corners Cob Cottage is an experimental natural building design and construction project centered on community participation, low cost, high efficiency, and the use of natural, local, and recycled materials. Ross Anderson and Julian Perez personally funded, designed, and organized the project which would one day house one or two stewards of the growing garden and fruit tree farm. They completed the stone foundation with the help of Master Stone Mason Thea Alvin from Vermont before inviting Janine Bjornson from California to lead a community workshop on cobbing. In addition, Ben Simpson from Rosendale, NY led a full-day workshop on straw bale installation. The unique design of this cottage provided some experimentation of materials. The north facing wall was designed to be a solid, load-bearing wall, built in the round, using high tension electric fence wire to "strap" the bales down. The cob wall tied into the straw bale wall on either end with stakes driven into each layer of bales. Baling twine was tied to both these stakes and stakes in the cob wall. Once both walls were built to the height of the lowest point of the walls a two foot thick tension ring was created that ties the entire wall structure together. This tension ring was created by weaving multiple layers of saplings through the "deadmen" 2x4 blocks that would receive the rafters later on. The cob we applied to this entire tension ring was a heavy straw mix to add to the tension within the cob itself. Once the ring was complete we continued to build up to the peaks on either end of the building. We positioned the ridge beam, a salvaged telephone pole, diagonally across the building in order to place this load over the thickest parts of the cob wall. We carved notches into the telephone pole for the rafters to sit in and then tied each rafter into the wall to the 2 x 4 "deadmen" that now stuck out of the walls no more than six inches. We built out the edge of the roof with 2 x 4's and scrap rafter pieces to create a 3 foot overhang to protect from summer sun and heavy rain. After laying 3 inch wide furring strips across that roof with 1.5 inches gap between, we lay on rows after row of shingles. The roof took on an attractive "whale-like" curve that cedar shingles effortlessly conformed to. We started on the bale wall side and, once finished, we applied the much deserved first layer of plaster to the naked bales. On the interior of the bale wall, we first needed to fill in the gaps between the roof and the cob wall with a cob mix. We finished the opposite side of roof and then got to work on the first layer of adobe floor. Since 2005, we have rejoined to continue work with as many community people as we can round up. Built into a slope, we intended for the lower end of the building to be a kitchenette with the sleeping loft positioned above. During a weekend work party in the summer of 2007, we built the loft by tying into the long 2 x 10 "deadman" positioned in the cob wall underneath the tension ring. To put a "deadman" into a wall one only needs to fill the board with nails to "grip" the cob. Essentially, the loft hangs from this single "deadman" along the length of cob wall. The loft is lit with morning light by a spiral of colored wine bottles split in half and ducktaped together then placed in the cob wall wrapped in aluminum foil. It is a wonderful way to wake in the morning. To be continued....