I've watched this video for years now. In that time I've bought the land. Two neighbors have built cob/cordwood outbuildings on their property, drawing alot of positive interest. I'm living in an RV, but something like this is on the horizon, I can see it now.
They are labor intensive, but we need to look at it with from a different way. It takes 500 man hours for two people working to mix cob with their feet for a 1000sqft home. If you use recycled materials a 1000sqft home can be built for about 15,000. Now compare this to buying a home and working 25 to 35 years to pay the mortgage.... now that is a lot of labor. Personally, I would rather pay for my house in cash and build it over a year and be free of a mortgage and enslavement.
Have to agree. While our siblings are buying 220k homes me and my husband went "cheap" and bought a re-modeled manufactured home for about 17k and after a few paydays, it looks new. That was phase one and next up we are waiting on the spring land auction and plan to grab a few acres, move the home onto it and go off grid as much as possible ( solar, wood burning, bio-fuel kit, etc etc). we pay only $368 mortgage. It is easier than people realize, you just have to take your time and shop around.
In the past, people used what was available locally and the midwest certainly has a lot of soil. In my part of England we have trees and also clay to make bricks and tiles, so my old cottage has an oak frame with brick infill with hung tiles on the outside. The roof is also tiles, made about 2 miles from the cottage in 1754. They have lasted well.
This is my dream home! I'm allergic to parasitic bankers and the accumulation of debt, so this is ideal and stress-free. I'm all for Cob Houses for a healthy lifestyle and healthier environment.
+Tron When I interviewed the home owners and a common statement that I heard was that after leaving the large city, their mortgage and dead end 9-5 jobs, that the felt free and way happier. They had more time to peruse interests and more time to spend with their loved ones. The trick for them was being mortgage free and living simpler.
@Drummy drumdrum27 , It would depend on where you live, and how many modern comforts you want. I live in the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains, and drive about 90 miles round trip to my job in the city. My wife does likewise. We earn maybe $50,000 a year, or less. Some years only $30,000. We don't have a cob home, but just a small 3 bedroom mobile home, 25 acres of land. I am trying to convince my wife that now since the kids are all raised, we could build a home similar to the tiny guest house in this video. How cool would that be eh?
I absolutely love this art form. I was a general contractor years ago doing modern stick frame building for residential housing and have never been exposed to this till now. Wow I wish I could get back into building and do this type of construction. Thanks so much for sharing.
Most people that built these homes in the slideshow had full-time jobs and they used their weekends and free evenings to build them. Some had work shops and work bees. Others had time in the summer and built them in two months.
I feel your pain and it is interesting to note that some of the historic homes in the UK were made from Cob 800+ years ago and some of them were retrofitted with electricity and plumbing. People still live in them today. They stand the testament of time and yet the authorities in todays world want to control what we can build as it all goes back to greed. Developers, the city, the government, trade workers all want their share and yet not too long ago we used to build our own homes.
We have many ancient houses in England made from cob and we are known for rain ! The secret is " good boots and a hat". This means the lowest level should be brick or stone, to separate the cob from the soil. Then the roof has to overhang the top of the walls to throw the rain away from the structure . What you have then is a massive thickness of wall that changes temperature very slowly, so it's warm in winter and cool in summer. Really lovely places to live, too.
I think it is awesome that you are pursuing what is in your heart! Life is too short and most people spend so much time trying to earn a living they never find out what living is for. By living cheaply, sustainably and getting out of the 25+ year mortgage trap, people can actually live life by having time to explore their dreams instead of sinking their energy into material wealth.
You know, every single photo wowed me! I absolutely loved watching all of this, it,s in my favourites now. Very inspiring, it reminds of what visionary and talented people there are out there. Greetings from New Zealand, thankyou,and very well done!
***** Cob is a mixture of sand, clay and straw, formed into cobs (bread loaf shaped pieces formed by hand usually) then stacked and molded on top of one another. Hybrids of cob and straw are better for colder climates as straw has higher R value than cob, but cob is better for passive heat storage.
You should visit Oregon, that is where Cob was really revived! Many beautiful houses there and even in one of the cities you will find cob benches, cob stoves etc.
im very inspired as a concrete contractor tired of seeing no emotion in our houses we build and people in the rat race so blind to this type of beauty -- thank you so much for posting this video-- more power to these people and how they live like this-- i envy you all
I agree with your comment as I love the curves and artistic flair. The last home was a cob/strawbale hybrid, therefore curves can't be as easily made as cob. The hybrid version is a great alternative for very cold climates.
Great designs...will have to check out your other vids. We offer free help to those that want to build their own home the traditional way. But this looks like a great alternative to the old methods .
Beautiful houses and lifestyle. Flintstone lives! I truly believe that when we can all get back to a family/community centered lifestyle, and get away from the 'shopping' and 'debt' lifestyle, perhaps we can all profit from some of our great technological inventions. But it takes the independent and responsible spirited people to create the truly independent lifestyle. Bravo to those who carry this forward in the hopes that others will follow. It is possible and it gives people choices.
Wow, just so beautiful designs, they are original, breathtaking with those candles lit at night. The style of each structure is unique, definitely my future home.
Hello, Wyatt. I just finished reading the chain of comment/replies you had on this video, and I must say I love what you're doing. I'm 20yr's of age on my 2nd year towards getting my BA, and I cannot wait to own my own land and start making my own progress towards my dream, which is so much like your own. I work on a family farm full time that is self sustainable, so im slowly learning the ropes. I plan on buying my land outright ( I save literally every penny ), and living in an RV I purchased
Yes! That's my mission statement in a nut shell. I'm going to school for an accounting degree for multiple reasons. Where I am there is a huge demand for them with a minimal supply. This creates higher wages, better benefits, and working conditions, because we're needed. Sure it's not a glamorous, money making job, but its a job that would allow me to make the money I need to create my dreams quickly!
I built with my builder-girlfriend-at-the-time the house shown last. She designed and we built. It's a hybrid post/beam straw bale with heated floors and cob bench. The wood came from on-site or on-island. I built the cabinets with wood salvaged from her childhood home in Vancouver. I hand built every door save one. The dormer window was salvaged from Vancouver Island. It's perched high on a hillside just outside a wind/rain shadow, offering great views of turbulent weather but not so affected.
Yes, that is a problem in the United States and Canada. The trick that many used was to either move to a place with no regulations and the ones that were stuck with regulations worked with an open minded building inspector and engineer. They are hard to find but they do exist.
They use an earthen plaster on top of the cob once the cob is dry. It acts as a protective barrier and some people use lime in the plaster to keep out pests or rodents. Natural colouring agents is used when they mix the plaster.
I think it is just wonderful that more and more people are realising what we have these days just isn't working, and so returning to the "simple" life...after all they say "If it ain't broke don't fix it". the one at 3:35 though is my favorite. with the candles and decor it reminded me of that southwestern mission look I saw so much of in Arizona.
Thinking I will build a place for others to come learn prepping. Maybe a few cabins and a camp ground or something that give others a place to learn canning food, blacksmithing, shelter building, Aquaponics, creative survival, etc..... It could be a weekend thing or something. I likely can't build it alone and have given thought to how to get help short of starting a commune. Still working on that. Wish me luck.
Well some of the builders of these homes were very resourceful. They used beached logs, a community lumber mill, stones and ripped up sidewalk from the city for the foundation, clay from ponds or dug up commercial foundations, habitat for humanity for used doors/cupboards/windows, the garbage dump, etc.
If your willing to save some money, move to an area which allows this, and work your butt off, you too can live the dream. I think prior to doing all that you/ we, should consult with others to see if this is something a group of homeowners would like to do. This way, you'll have more support with all the issues of building a home that inevitably come up. I am a building contractor who's been remodeling homes for 19 years, and knows something about this. SO! who's with me?
We have a lot of restrictions here in the U.S. also, but not EVERYwhere. There are certain parts of certain states that allow green building, but you do have to get permits and show the plans to them for approval. A lot of restrictions still apply.
Greeting from Romania!I love it!Thank you for sharing!I want to have a cob house,I like very much.In winter are warmy in summer is cold inside.Cob is the best material to build a house.Here traditional houses are made from cob,but modern houses not.All I like at these houses is design,you cand have any form of walls,of windows and doors.Just love it!
2) and cool in the summertime. The homes are basically super moldable (as seen in this video). in addition, earthen walls are good for you to breath in. They follow some principals of 'earthing' (walking around barefooted and sleeping on the ground). Log cabins or wooden framed shelters rot and become moldy, and this can cause you some money. peace/
What a beautiful home. Sustainable development in Canada must mean a whole different thing than it does here in Oregon USA. Here S.D. means putting as many dwelling as you can on the smallest space possible within the urban boundaries. Man was meant to live like this.
We don't know nothing about Mother Nature... but I know one thing that's true, really true..... SHE LOVE US!!!!! BEAUTIFULL, MAGNIFICENT and Clean houses!... awesome...
@Mrawre1 People in England still live in Cob homes that are older than 800 years. Turkey has cob homes that are still lived in that are over 1000 years old. They retrofitted them with plumbing and electricity. So, yes they last longer than our current method for building homes.
I have 12.5 acres of farm land, a pond and a three bedroom house but no farming experience whatsoever. When I bought this place (1 1/2 years ago) my plan was to do what you described above, that is after I gain some experience. I will be taking a permaculture course in the Fall...that's a beginning. I wish you good luck.
This is Beautiful thank you for sharing ,I wished I would have done something like this in my younger years . Not letting the bank make you a slave is also beautiful . Thank You so much for sharing.
One of mine as well. Don't dream to long, I almost did. Spent the last decade getting ready to do something then had heart attack last year. Just gaining health back now to do something. Have almost everything to work with, including heavy equipment. No more dreaming for me, as long as I have energy left, I will work on my dream. Only have so much ground to work with but it is somewhat nice and hidden. At 55, I waited almost to long. Maybe I have another few years, who knows. Live your dream.
I wish i was smart like you Harry! I got my home in 2006 and now I'm upside down. I got into the "I want a house and getting a mortgage is what you do" craziness. Now I know better.
I hear you, it frustrates me as well. My hope is to simply plant seeds of inspiration that may one day sprout and start getting humanity to change our ways. It is too easy to become a fatalist and if I go there I will lose my purpose, become depressed and turn into the TV watching Zombie, drinking myself to a slow death :P It becomes empowering when you are around like minded people who see and try to create a better path. We have a lot ahead of us.
I so totally agree! Before we bought we thought the 30yr plan was the only way to own a home in America. Fast forward 3 years: my spouse is unemployed so the payment takes most of my monthly income. Now I'm working on a creative solution OUT of this INDENTURED SERVITUDE so that by the time we sale our home we'll have a home of our own and NO HOUSE PAYMENT! The banks want us to believe that outrageous prices coupled with the 30yr mortgage is not only the norm, but the only way. They are WRONG!!
Well clay is easily found by ponds, lakes, rivers, and when a builder digs up a foundation they usually have to remove it as a waste product and it gets dumped somewhere. Some careful cob builders sourced their clay from commercial builders digging foundations.
Really lovely homes... so cosy and warm... very welcoming and blends in so well with the surroundings with all the natural materials... Thanks for sharing :)
I don't think this posting is about housing dogma, but choice and options. Of course this will not work for every person in every climate, lifestyle, or situation, but it shows the different possibilities of housing. This is why I like to see postings like this. If anything, it opens people's eyes to alternatives. It gets you thinking, even if you don't see this particular style of housing as feasible.
If I could, my dream house would be built with adobe, such a lovely fluid medium, cool in summer, warm in winter. The earth offers us everything to build with without harming the environment. These modern day houses are the pits.
Beautiful homes! This video is very inspiring! And I LOVE the music!! If this were available on a CD I would buy it immediately! Thank you for posting this!
Beautiful! Thank you very much for the inspiration - I'm getting really amazed so many people willingly enslave themselves fol half an life by mortgages just so they can live in some kind of totally cold and unnatural habitat while you can build a HOME like that (often for fraction of a cost of common house). I'm seriously thinking about this kind of living now... :o)
The homes are still using standard engineering and according to the university of victoria, tests conducted on earthquake machines, cob structures held up much better than standard wood structures that are currently built. The load of weight they can bare is much higher than wood as Cob is kind of like a concrete, very thick and strong. So the walls are much better a load bearing than wood.
Cob refers to The materials it is made out of.and no you don't have to live in a Commune.The absolute savings you get from living in one of these is INCREDIBLE.You have NO Mortgage,your electric/water bills are next to nothing,and for those like myself who are viciously allergic to Chemicals,it is a godsend.Modern housing is chock FULL of Toxic Petrochemicals/toxic.These not only are economical,but Healthy&give folks like me a chance to live Happy lives without constant medical problems.
Your right, Property Tax Exemptions - are available on primary residences in Florida. These exemptions can be available up to $50,000. So if your house is small and is worth less than $50k you get to live tax free? you can always dig a secret basement addition later on to expand the living space without raising the value of the home.
Oh my, a friend just posted this link on facebook. I took one look and said to self "hey, that is our house." Sure enough, on closer examination the last house in the clip is ours. We are still passionately in love with our home of the past four years. I remember you coming to take these photographs. Somethings have changed but it still feels the same. Fun to find @maynecob's comments too.
If most people understood how easy it was to maintain a home well and purify their own water without huge expensive equipment I think more people would be on the sustainable option. As for plumbing, well, outdoor never killed anyone. Just gotta develop a system that works for you.
@smpwrflgard Thanks for the kind words! I have been working on the website/blog but I will not be able to get it up and running until sometime after October. Teaching full-time, running a photography and documentary company all along with the hydroponics equals not enough time to get everything done. For my summer holidays I will be taking and filming elements of permaculture course in Basalt Colorado. They have 4 green houses that run on the sun and 2 electric fans.
@smpwrflgard The green houses are at a 7200 foot elevation and during the winter at temperatures of -20 to -30 degree Celsius they are growing and picking figs, olives, papaya, citrus fruits, bananas and many other plants. Quite amazing considering that they use the sun for lighting and all of their heat. The only electricity that is being used is two fans, one for pumping heat underground and another for pumping it back into the green house at night. Very cool place!
All of the timber was from beached logs. The people who build these types of green homes are also into protecting nature. They plant trees, grow gardens and live sustainable lyfestyles.
@Quick2000 You could but they are labour intensive, which is why most people built smaller ones. It is best to have a smaller plan that allows for expansion.
I want to build a cob/hay/reclaimed materials hybrid.... I'm thinking of a very big, very ergonomic, abstract, bright, airy -yet cozy and intricate with a central enclosed courtyard and waterfall.. Basically, I want a huge amount of space inside my house. And I want it to be artistic and practical. And I will not compromise one for the other or vice versa. And that's the beauty of cob, hay and plaster. It's cheap, easy to work with and you can do nearly anything with it in any style.
@w8mk I live at a retreat in SoCal in a Recycled Casita I built and am surrounded by 3 Cobs, 1 Circular Straw Bale, 1 Earth Bag, 1 Light Clay/Straw. The spaces are primarily sleeping/being/processing/meditating... My Casita is 279 sf and is mind-blowing sufficent-including full kitchen, Jacuzzi, Skylites, Paper Mache' Counter Tops, Tankless Water Htr. I am a licensed Builder in Ca. and NC and have worked with Natural Building since 1999. 2010 I helped build a Cob Recording Studio. THANKS !!
"live debt free" I think really refers to if you have thousands of dollars in the bank already. The misleading part about "sustainable development" is that people assume its cheap. Cheaper perhaps on some things.... But it can also cost a fortune.
+Tom Barber The first house in the slide show was built for 15,000 CDN. In Vancouver the average person pays 15,000 a year for renting a 2 bedroom apartment in one year. A lot of these people built these houses for what they would be paying for rent in a year, which is why they are able to live mortgage and debt free. They were also willing to build these houses with their own hands, host workshops, mill beached logs, get used windows and doors from habitat for humanity. A person has a choice to hire a corporation and get a loan with interest from a bank to build them a home or they can do what we did 75 -150 years ago and learn how to build your own house debt free.
You have to own the raw materials to build cheaply so you have to own the land. The price of the land and the raw materials it provides needs to be mentioned in any statement that lists the price of a building.
We just got 20 acres of raw land last year and are looking at affordable ways to build These are nice places. We are trying to go self sustainable we got Dexter cows, chickens, and a garden spot. but we are just starting out. We have fenced in about 3 acres so far built a small chicken coop / barn witch will be just a coop after we get the barn built.
Well most people don't have to borrow money to pay for property taxes. The debt free part implied that if you are careful you can bypass the mortgage debt. You are right though their seems to be no true off the grid freedom as we still rely on many resources or having to earn money to pay for property taxes. This however is a step closer to independence that people can make.
~I am looking to build a cob cabin~One thing i noticed about the process, being largely mixing the cob with one's feet: aside from all of the positive benefits of bare feet in earth, also, the sort of hopping motion while mixing is one of the few body movements that is excellent for cleansing the lymph node system!~That may sound odd, but it seems much better than effort being mostly from one's back?!~
As I stated, it's nice as are many others. My point is that this is sold as a cheap alternative to a typical building practice. When in fact it isn't. A stick built house is cheaper to build considering paying for labor. I've spent the last 2 decades researching a viable alternative to a stick built home. I've still not found one that rivals a monolithic dome. May not be green but it's going to last centuries & since others will have to build it for me the cost in the end is a wash. Thanks
@ConditionRedDawn I did not build any of the houses, I simply interview the owners and took photos for a book on alternative homes. The builder of the guest house used beach logs, his own clay, dirt and sand. He built his own door and the living roof was made from old carpets, tarps and poly from the dump. The windows were purchased used and the only materials he paid for were lime, nails, screws, saw blades etc. He provided all the labour himself.
A PSTypeNote: If I practice what I preached, I would be much better off than I am now. I spend much to much time thinking about much to many projects I want to do. Problem is, many of them conflict with each other and health don't permit me but little hands on time before I tire from over working. Makes me a bigger dreamer and that makes me over plan everything. Seen the end of my life once, maybe I will get a few projects finished before seeing the final end. Good luck and God bless you.
I've watched this video for years now. In that time I've bought the land. Two neighbors have built cob/cordwood outbuildings on their property, drawing alot of positive interest. I'm living in an RV, but something like this is on the horizon, I can see it now.
I love this too and would love to find a community of people that want to also.
They are labor intensive, but we need to look at it with from a different way. It takes 500 man hours for two people working to mix cob with their feet for a 1000sqft home. If you use recycled materials a 1000sqft home can be built for about 15,000. Now compare this to buying a home and working 25 to 35 years to pay the mortgage.... now that is a lot of labor. Personally, I would rather pay for my house in cash and build it over a year and be free of a mortgage and enslavement.
Boiling Frog Productions Do you all Build in the Tennessee area in America?
literally, the labour is actually appealing because it’s gratifying real work, id rather do that then sit at a desk for 40 years
Have to agree. While our siblings are buying 220k homes me and my husband went "cheap" and bought a re-modeled manufactured home for about 17k and after a few paydays, it looks new. That was phase one and next up we are waiting on the spring land auction and plan to grab a few acres, move the home onto it and go off grid as much as possible ( solar, wood burning, bio-fuel kit, etc etc). we pay only $368 mortgage. It is easier than people realize, you just have to take your time and shop around.
In the past, people used what was available locally and the midwest certainly has a lot of soil. In my part of England we have trees and also clay to make bricks and tiles, so my old cottage has an oak frame with brick infill with hung tiles on the outside. The roof is also tiles, made about 2 miles from the cottage in 1754. They have lasted well.
This is my dream home! I'm allergic to parasitic bankers and the accumulation of debt, so this is ideal and stress-free. I'm all for Cob Houses for a healthy lifestyle and healthier environment.
If only I could convince my wife that we would be happy living this way.
Beautiful video.
+Tron When I interviewed the home owners and a common statement that I heard was that after leaving the large city, their mortgage and dead end 9-5 jobs, that the felt free and way happier. They had more time to peruse interests and more time to spend with their loved ones. The trick for them was being mortgage free and living simpler.
@Drummy drumdrum27 , It would depend on where you live, and how many modern comforts you want. I live in the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains, and drive about 90 miles round trip to my job in the city. My wife does likewise. We earn maybe $50,000 a year, or less. Some years only $30,000. We don't have a cob home, but just a small 3 bedroom mobile home, 25 acres of land. I am trying to convince my wife that now since the kids are all raised, we could build a home similar to the tiny guest house in this video. How cool would that be eh?
I had to watch this vid over and over, rewinding it just to get the full experience of how beautiful those homes were....dream world
I absolutely love this art form. I was a general contractor years ago doing modern stick frame building for residential housing and have never been exposed to this till now. Wow I wish I could get back into building and do this type of construction. Thanks so much for sharing.
Most people that built these homes in the slideshow had full-time jobs and they used their weekends and free evenings to build them. Some had work shops and work bees. Others had time in the summer and built them in two months.
I feel your pain and it is interesting to note that some of the historic homes in the UK were made from Cob 800+ years ago and some of them were retrofitted with electricity and plumbing. People still live in them today. They stand the testament of time and yet the authorities in todays world want to control what we can build as it all goes back to greed. Developers, the city, the government, trade workers all want their share and yet not too long ago we used to build our own homes.
As home builder for 30 years and I really do like the fact people are building this home to Live and not have the restriction of worrying about resale
We have many ancient houses in England made from cob and we are known for rain ! The secret is " good boots and a hat". This means the lowest level should be brick or stone, to separate the cob from the soil. Then the roof has to overhang the top of the walls to throw the rain away from the structure . What you have then is a massive thickness of wall that changes temperature very slowly, so it's warm in winter and cool in summer. Really lovely places to live, too.
I think it is awesome that you are pursuing what is in your heart! Life is too short and most people spend so much time trying to earn a living they never find out what living is for. By living cheaply, sustainably and getting out of the 25+ year mortgage trap, people can actually live life by having time to explore their dreams instead of sinking their energy into material wealth.
Very cozy and whimsical homes that invite warm and tranquility!!! Thanks greatly for sharing your pictures!!!😇😇😇
You know, every single photo wowed me!
I absolutely loved watching all of this, it,s in my favourites now.
Very inspiring, it reminds of what visionary and talented people there are out there.
Greetings from New Zealand, thankyou,and very well done!
Maybe a narrative of what Cob is, how it is used etc would greatly improve the slideshow of pretty pictures.
Exactly what I was thinking too Ruski Ryan! What is cob?!!
Connie Miles Cob is straw bales coated clay mixed with straw to make an adobe type surface. Google is your friend.
***** Cob is a mixture of sand, clay and straw, formed into cobs (bread loaf shaped pieces formed by hand usually) then stacked and molded on top of one another. Hybrids of cob and straw are better for colder climates as straw has higher R value than cob, but cob is better for passive heat storage.
i suppose this wouldn't be an entry level video on the subject.
You should visit Oregon, that is where Cob was really revived! Many beautiful houses there and even in one of the cities you will find cob benches, cob stoves etc.
im very inspired as a concrete contractor tired of seeing no emotion in our houses we build and people in the rat race so blind to this type of beauty -- thank you so much for posting this video-- more power to these people and how they live like this-- i envy you all
I agree with your comment as I love the curves and artistic flair. The last home was a cob/strawbale hybrid, therefore curves can't be as easily made as cob. The hybrid version is a great alternative for very cold climates.
Great designs...will have to check out your other vids. We offer free help to those that want to build their own home the traditional way. But this looks like a great alternative to the old methods .
Beautiful houses and lifestyle. Flintstone lives! I truly believe that when we can all get back to a family/community centered lifestyle, and get away from the 'shopping' and 'debt' lifestyle, perhaps we can all profit from some of our great technological inventions. But it takes the independent and responsible spirited people to create the truly independent lifestyle. Bravo to those who carry this forward in the hopes that others will follow. It is possible and it gives people choices.
Wow, just so beautiful designs, they are original, breathtaking with those candles lit at night. The style of each structure is unique, definitely my future home.
Hello, Wyatt.
I just finished reading the chain of comment/replies you had on this video, and I must say I love what you're doing. I'm 20yr's of age on my 2nd year towards getting my BA, and I cannot wait to own my own land and start making my own progress towards my dream, which is so much like your own. I work on a family farm full time that is self sustainable, so im slowly learning the ropes. I plan on buying my land outright ( I save literally every penny ), and living in an RV I purchased
Yes! That's my mission statement in a nut shell. I'm going to school for an accounting degree for multiple reasons. Where I am there is a huge demand for them with a minimal supply. This creates higher wages, better benefits, and working conditions, because we're needed. Sure it's not a glamorous, money making job, but its a job that would allow me to make the money I need to create my dreams quickly!
I built with my builder-girlfriend-at-the-time the house shown last. She designed and we built. It's a hybrid post/beam straw bale with heated floors and cob bench. The wood came from on-site or on-island. I built the cabinets with wood salvaged from her childhood home in Vancouver. I hand built every door save one. The dormer window was salvaged from Vancouver Island. It's perched high on a hillside just outside a wind/rain shadow, offering great views of turbulent weather but not so affected.
Yes, that is a problem in the United States and Canada. The trick that many used was to either move to a place with no regulations and the ones that were stuck with regulations worked with an open minded building inspector and engineer. They are hard to find but they do exist.
Still can't get over how neat these little homes are. I'd live in it.
The homes are so beautiful! I love all of the colorful windows and sky lights. I wish there were villages like that here in GA.
They use an earthen plaster on top of the cob once the cob is dry. It acts as a protective barrier and some people use lime in the plaster to keep out pests or rodents. Natural colouring agents is used when they mix the plaster.
i love it, i would love to build something like this. I have an 2 acres in the forest which I have planted some 200 fruit trees and lots of bamboo.
the timber frame and cob combination is absolutely AMAZING.
I think it is just wonderful that more and more people are realising what we have these days just isn't working, and so returning to the "simple" life...after all they say "If it ain't broke don't fix it". the one at 3:35 though is my favorite. with the candles and decor it reminded me of that southwestern mission look I saw so much of in Arizona.
Thinking I will build a place for others to come learn prepping. Maybe a few cabins and a camp ground or something that give others a place to learn canning food, blacksmithing, shelter building, Aquaponics, creative survival, etc..... It could be a weekend thing or something. I likely can't build it alone and have given thought to how to get help short of starting a commune. Still working on that. Wish me luck.
I love the concept of the cob house, one can get so creative with it!!!!
only limited by the mind.
Well some of the builders of these homes were very resourceful. They used beached logs, a community lumber mill, stones and ripped up sidewalk from the city for the foundation, clay from ponds or dug up commercial foundations, habitat for humanity for used doors/cupboards/windows, the garbage dump, etc.
If your willing to save some money, move to an area which allows this, and work your butt off, you too can live the dream. I think prior to doing all that you/ we, should consult with others to see if this is something a group of homeowners would like to do. This way, you'll have more support with all the issues of building a home that inevitably come up. I am a building contractor who's been remodeling homes for 19 years, and knows something about this. SO! who's with me?
We have a lot of restrictions here in the U.S. also, but not EVERYwhere. There are certain parts of certain states that allow green building, but you do have to get permits and show the plans to them for approval. A lot of restrictions still apply.
Greeting from Romania!I love it!Thank you for sharing!I want to have a cob house,I like very much.In winter are warmy in summer is cold inside.Cob is the best material to build a house.Here traditional houses are made from cob,but modern houses not.All I like at these houses is design,you cand have any form of walls,of windows and doors.Just love it!
Gorgeous home, lovely. It has a great feel to it. I love the work area outside.
2)
and cool in the summertime. The homes are basically super moldable (as seen in this video). in addition, earthen walls are good for you to breath in. They follow some principals of 'earthing' (walking around barefooted and sleeping on the ground). Log cabins or wooden framed shelters rot and become moldy, and this can cause you some money.
peace/
What a beautiful home. Sustainable development in Canada must mean a whole different thing than it does here in Oregon USA. Here S.D. means putting as many dwelling as you can on the smallest space possible within the urban boundaries. Man was meant to live like this.
brilliant! who wouldve thought luxury could be so cheap, and eco friendly. its a win win
Simply , Marvelous ! stunning and imaginative . Breath taking heavenly sanctuaries .
We don't know nothing about Mother Nature... but I know one thing that's true, really true..... SHE LOVE US!!!!! BEAUTIFULL, MAGNIFICENT and Clean houses!... awesome...
@Mrawre1
People in England still live in Cob homes that are older than 800 years. Turkey has cob homes that are still lived in that are over 1000 years old. They retrofitted them with plumbing and electricity. So, yes they last longer than our current method for building homes.
I have 12.5 acres of farm land, a pond and a three bedroom house but no farming experience whatsoever. When I bought this place (1 1/2 years ago) my plan was to do what you described above, that is after I gain some experience. I will be taking a permaculture course in the Fall...that's a beginning. I wish you good luck.
This may be the most beautiful video I have ever seen on YT.
This is Beautiful thank you for sharing ,I wished I would have done something like this in my younger years . Not letting the bank make you a slave is also beautiful . Thank You so much for sharing.
One of mine as well. Don't dream to long, I almost did. Spent the last decade getting ready to do something then had heart attack last year. Just gaining health back now to do something. Have almost everything to work with, including heavy equipment. No more dreaming for me, as long as I have energy left, I will work on my dream. Only have so much ground to work with but it is somewhat nice and hidden. At 55, I waited almost to long. Maybe I have another few years, who knows. Live your dream.
I wish i was smart like you Harry! I got my home in 2006 and now I'm upside down. I got into the "I want a house and getting a mortgage is what you do" craziness. Now I know better.
this is so wonderful and inspiring for me to gradually plan for my own, next to a creek....already wonderful environment in Northern Thailand. Thanks.
This is my dream , built a cob house, they are soooooo very beautiful , I am going to study more about it, This is a good life , nature and cob homes.
Each one was a master piece. Beautiful!
I hear you, it frustrates me as well. My hope is to simply plant seeds of inspiration that may one day sprout and start getting humanity to change our ways. It is too easy to become a fatalist and if I go there I will lose my purpose, become depressed and turn into the TV watching Zombie, drinking myself to a slow death :P It becomes empowering when you are around like minded people who see and try to create a better path. We have a lot ahead of us.
I so totally agree! Before we bought we thought the 30yr plan was the only way to own a home in America. Fast forward 3 years: my spouse is unemployed so the payment takes most of my monthly income.
Now I'm working on a creative solution OUT of this INDENTURED SERVITUDE so that by the time we sale our home we'll have a home of our own and NO HOUSE PAYMENT! The banks want us to believe that outrageous prices coupled with the 30yr mortgage is not only the norm, but the only way. They are WRONG!!
Well clay is easily found by ponds, lakes, rivers, and when a builder digs up a foundation they usually have to remove it as a waste product and it gets dumped somewhere. Some careful cob builders sourced their clay from commercial builders digging foundations.
Really lovely homes... so cosy and warm... very welcoming and blends in so well with the surroundings with all the natural materials... Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you for including the price range for these structures. It helps begin to formulate possibilities.
I really do love these houses, so unique. It looks like a vacation house or something like that.
The frog shaped chimney is very cute. I love the side door and the kitchen.
Now that is cool. Cob would work great in Florida, you would just have to make a long overhanging roof to protect the walls from the rain.
These houses area works of art. Great job!
Love the look of cob homes....wish I were younger I'd tackle this myself....
Even the sheds are inviting! Do all cob homes just scream comfort and peace?
Rally justicia scream
this is beautiful, and much bigger than most cob houses i've seen.
I don't think this posting is about housing dogma, but choice and options. Of course this will not work for every person in every climate, lifestyle, or situation, but it shows the different possibilities of housing. This is why I like to see postings like this. If anything, it opens people's eyes to alternatives. It gets you thinking, even if you don't see this particular style of housing as feasible.
@soinet
Yes, I agree! The feeling inside these homes is so peaceful and natural.... it is like living inside nature.
If I could, my dream house would be built with adobe, such a lovely fluid medium, cool in summer, warm in winter. The earth offers us everything to build with without harming the environment. These modern day houses are the pits.
wonderful ideas for things I am working on manifesting. Thank you so much. Stunningly beautiful and organic...
Beautiful homes! This video is very inspiring!
And I LOVE the music!! If this were available
on a CD I would buy it immediately!
Thank you for posting this!
What an awesome way to enjoy life & have such a cute home that anyone can afford who's willing to do it! I'm so inspired! :)
Beautiful! Thank you very much for the inspiration - I'm getting really amazed so many people willingly enslave themselves fol half an life by mortgages just so they can live in some kind of totally cold and unnatural habitat while you can build a HOME like that (often for fraction of a cost of common house). I'm seriously thinking about this kind of living now... :o)
The homes are still using standard engineering and according to the university of victoria, tests conducted on earthquake machines, cob structures held up much better than standard wood structures that are currently built. The load of weight they can bare is much higher than wood as Cob is kind of like a concrete, very thick and strong. So the walls are much better a load bearing than wood.
Cob refers to The materials it is made out of.and no you don't have to live in a Commune.The absolute savings you get from living in one of these is INCREDIBLE.You have NO Mortgage,your electric/water bills are next to nothing,and for those like myself who are viciously allergic to Chemicals,it is a godsend.Modern housing is chock FULL of Toxic Petrochemicals/toxic.These not only are economical,but Healthy&give folks like me a chance to live Happy lives without constant medical problems.
I love cob houses!! Beautiful photos. What is the name of the song that plays throughout the video?? I love it!
Absolutely beautiful, thanks for posting. Lots of good ideas and inspiration here.
Your right, Property Tax Exemptions - are available on primary residences in Florida. These exemptions can be available up to $50,000.
So if your house is small and is worth less than $50k you get to live tax free? you can always dig a secret basement addition later on to expand the living space without raising the value of the home.
Oh my, a friend just posted this link on facebook. I took one look and said to self "hey, that is our house." Sure enough, on closer examination the last house in the clip is ours. We are still passionately in love with our home of the past four years. I remember you coming to take these photographs. Somethings have changed but it still feels the same. Fun to find @maynecob's comments too.
If most people understood how easy it was to maintain a home well and purify their own water without huge expensive equipment I think more people would be on the sustainable option. As for plumbing, well, outdoor never killed anyone. Just gotta develop a system that works for you.
@smpwrflgard
Thanks for the kind words! I have been working on the website/blog but I will not be able to get it up and running until sometime after October. Teaching full-time, running a photography and documentary company all along with the hydroponics equals not enough time to get everything done. For my summer holidays I will be taking and filming elements of permaculture course in Basalt Colorado. They have 4 green houses that run on the sun and 2 electric fans.
I just discovered Cob Houses a few months ago after moving to Oregon. Looking for land now to build me one!! Wooo Hooo!! lol
Very interesting, the led paint and other toxic substances didn't even cross my mind.
How pretty! What a fairy tale look! I'd feel like a fairy living in this type of home, how beautiful! ^_^
@smpwrflgard
The green houses are at a 7200 foot elevation and during the winter at temperatures of -20 to -30 degree Celsius they are growing and picking figs, olives, papaya, citrus fruits, bananas and many other plants. Quite amazing considering that they use the sun for lighting and all of their heat. The only electricity that is being used is two fans, one for pumping heat underground and another for pumping it back into the green house at night. Very cool place!
All of the timber was from beached logs. The people who build these types of green homes are also into protecting nature. They plant trees, grow gardens and live sustainable lyfestyles.
Absolutly wonderful! Are there companies who will build these?
Thank you for sharing!!! I just love all of this it just makes me smile :-)
@Quick2000 You could but they are labour intensive, which is why most people built smaller ones. It is best to have a smaller plan that allows for expansion.
I want to build a cob/hay/reclaimed materials hybrid.... I'm thinking of a very big, very ergonomic, abstract, bright, airy -yet cozy and intricate with a central enclosed courtyard and waterfall.. Basically, I want a huge amount of space inside my house. And I want it to be artistic and practical. And I will not compromise one for the other or vice versa. And that's the beauty of cob, hay and plaster. It's cheap, easy to work with and you can do nearly anything with it in any style.
@w8mk I live at a retreat in SoCal in a Recycled Casita I built and am surrounded by 3 Cobs, 1 Circular Straw Bale, 1 Earth Bag, 1 Light Clay/Straw. The spaces are primarily sleeping/being/processing/meditating... My Casita is 279 sf and is mind-blowing sufficent-including full kitchen, Jacuzzi, Skylites, Paper Mache' Counter Tops, Tankless Water Htr. I am a licensed Builder in Ca. and NC and have worked with Natural Building since 1999. 2010 I helped build a Cob Recording Studio. THANKS !!
wow, I cant believe how bright that guest house got with just that amount of candles. My house is always so dark.
"live debt free" I think really refers to if you have thousands of dollars in the bank already.
The misleading part about "sustainable development" is that people assume its cheap. Cheaper perhaps on some things....
But it can also cost a fortune.
+Tom Barber The first house in the slide show was built for 15,000 CDN. In Vancouver the average person pays 15,000 a year for renting a 2 bedroom apartment in one year. A lot of these people built these houses for what they would be paying for rent in a year, which is why they are able to live mortgage and debt free. They were also willing to build these houses with their own hands, host workshops, mill beached logs, get used windows and doors from habitat for humanity. A person has a choice to hire a corporation and get a loan with interest from a bank to build them a home or they can do what we did 75 -150 years ago and learn how to build your own house debt free.
You have to own the raw materials to build cheaply so you have to own the land. The price of the land and the raw materials it provides needs to be mentioned in any statement that lists the price of a building.
Thanks for this reply. Where can I go to find out more?
We just got 20 acres of raw land last year and are looking at affordable ways to build These are nice places. We are trying to go self sustainable we got Dexter cows, chickens, and a garden spot. but we are just starting out. We have fenced in about 3 acres so far built a small chicken coop / barn witch will be just a coop after we get the barn built.
Well most people don't have to borrow money to pay for property taxes. The debt free part implied that if you are careful you can bypass the mortgage debt. You are right though their seems to be no true off the grid freedom as we still rely on many resources or having to earn money to pay for property taxes. This however is a step closer to independence that people can make.
~I am looking to build a cob cabin~One thing i noticed about the process, being largely mixing the cob with one's feet: aside from all of the positive benefits of bare feet in earth, also, the sort of hopping motion while mixing is one of the few body movements that is excellent for cleansing the lymph node system!~That may sound odd, but it seems much better than effort being mostly from one's back?!~
As I stated, it's nice as are many others. My point is that this is sold as a cheap alternative to a typical building practice. When in fact it isn't. A stick built house is cheaper to build considering paying for labor.
I've spent the last 2 decades researching a viable alternative to a stick built home. I've still not found one that rivals a monolithic dome. May not be green but it's going to last centuries & since others will have to build it for me the cost in the end is a wash. Thanks
@ConditionRedDawn
I did not build any of the houses, I simply interview the owners and took photos for a book on alternative homes. The builder of the guest house used beach logs, his own clay, dirt and sand. He built his own door and the living roof was made from old carpets, tarps and poly from the dump. The windows were purchased used and the only materials he paid for were lime, nails, screws, saw blades etc. He provided all the labour himself.
Great film. Inspiring !
Thanks for your wandering photography and excellent eye.
A PSTypeNote: If I practice what I preached, I would be much better off than I am now. I spend much to much time thinking about much to many projects I want to do. Problem is, many of them conflict with each other and health don't permit me but little hands on time before I tire from over working. Makes me a bigger dreamer and that makes me over plan everything. Seen the end of my life once, maybe I will get a few projects finished before seeing the final end. Good luck and God bless you.
it inspires me to buildd my own home, and it looks beautiful and less expensive,