Cob homes are inherently superior to conventional construction.
Longevity
There are cob homes in England that are over 800 years old. Because it is primarily inorganic material, cob is naturally resistant to fire and wood-destroying insects such as termites. It’s cost of building per usable square foot year (one year of usable square footage) is phenomenally low. With cob, you build once. With wood, you build over and over and over again.
Energy Efficiency
Cob has high thermal mass, meaning it can regulate temperature and store extra heating and cooling when it is available for later use, in addition to evening out the temperature throughout the home. Although a poor insulator, it can be combined with hempcrete on the exterior for superior performance - a tight breathable building envelope combined with a thermal battery.
It’s local
Although it’s rare to find all the materials needed on site for building, a large portion of subsoil dug up in the foundation can be used in the walls, and additional clay binder and/or sand/aggregate is often locally available at reasonable prices. Natural materials also mean none of the VOCs, plastic wraps, nor insecticides that are rampant in conventional construction.
Acoustic performance
Even next to a highway or trainyard, cob’s phenomenal acoustical performance make it ideal for creating a quiet, private home anywhere in the world. This also makes it an excellent choice for multi-family housing, as each unit is acoustically isolated from all the others.
Beauty, Comfort and Low Maintenance
Because cob is built with local materials, cob homes naturally integrate into the surrounding environment. Unconventional building shapes are much easier to achieve. Cob is a soft masonry that has a feel more similar to wood than concrete structures that are noisy and harsh. And the innate stability of cob and lime plasters means decades of low-maintenance living with no peeling paint or degraded composite materials.
Owner/builder Friendly
Cob is the people’s building material. It is easy to learn and very forgiving. Although getting all the way to building an inspected home is a bit of a journey, smaller projects are easily accomplished with basic building skills. If you are considering an inspected cob home, please get in touch and let us know, we would love to hear about it!