Cob House: Building Youre Own Home for the Price of Dirt

[AncientwisdomParticipant 6089]

This is so f~~~ing cool. Im not the handy man type, but watching videos about men building their own home for $10k or so is f~~~ing inspiring. Id love to do this one day.

The video linked below doesnt show the process, only the end result, but its a man with no construction experience (a coder) who built his own house with cob -a mixture of sand, mud, and straw that lasts for hundreds of years. He said he went to one tutorial and learned everything about cob in 2 hours.

This is a random instructional video that shows the actual process of making cob. Somewhat boring, but shows the simplicity of the method:

https://youtu.be/S_83Nsf0z1s

And somewhat related, here is a preview of a documenterary of a guy who digs/sculpts cave homes by himself as a hobby and sells them. He had no formal education or training for this. Its worth renting the full documenterary and the end result is pretty amazing:

Resident cynic.

[MGTOWmonkey aka No More Fucks To GiveParticipant 6635]

What a cool video the evolution of man is amazing. This guy with no knowledge of building a house builds a house. Stuff like this is why females envy the male mind they would never think of this,we would still be living in straw houses. I only wish the interviewer was a male because he would ask all the questions I would be dying to ask instead of “how did the wife feel about it”. nice vid

Never lose sight of what brought you here.

[JasonParticipant 282]

Watching stuff likes this always makes me sad that I live in far too cold a climate to do something similar without multiplying the price tag. Sigh.

There lies serenity in Chaos. Seek ye the eye of the hurricane.

[OgreParticipant 5863]

Jason, cordwood or strawbale may be options where you are. Still pretty darn cheap.

I failed to realize in my youth that I was the prize. I was going to work. I was going to earn. Little did I realize that due to feminism, that no longer meant I had to share. Road soon, Desert after.

[AncientwisdomParticipant 6089]

Bump.

Anyone see this? I think this is so cool. After watching this I dream about constructing a home of either Spanish or Mediterranean style, using simple cob and form-board technique. All on the cheap.

Resident cynic.

[JasonParticipant 282]

@ogre: Strawbale wouldn’t work for me personally. As for cordwood…potentially, but I live in cold and wet conditions – pretty much the worst possible conditions for cordwood construction, from what I’ve read. Ways exists to get around it, but it makes either the construction or the upkeep and heating costs rise such that you may as well construct a more “traditional” house anyway :/

One type of alternative housing that works in my climate consists of one of those partially underground “Hobbit-style” houses. They work well for the climate and have low upkeep and heating costs. Unfortunately, they have fairly high construction costs… Sigh.

There lies serenity in Chaos. Seek ye the eye of the hurricane.

[OgreParticipant 5863]

@jason. Look to the ways that the locals built before building codes and property values took over what they’ll “allow” you to build. All of that is the reason I’m looking 400 miles away from civilization for my next place. Tilt up concrete or an earthship style domicile are in my future.

I haven’t seen you mention where you are, but wet and underground can bring a whole other set of requirements into play. Rob Roy’s initial house in upstate NY was built into the side of a hill, but water intrusion and hydro forces made the Log End Cave an experiment that he moved out of pretty quickly. His Earthwood project has all of the curb appeal needed for mainstream acceptance while still maintaining the ability to do it yourself on a big enough plot of land, given that you have some standing trees.

Even drystack CMUs is a valid option for the worst environments. It would work well for the wet off the grid because you could feed a pretty great garden with the captured water off the roof. If you get your glazing angles right ala Earthship then you could get most of your heat through passive solar gain. Also check out Flying Concrete, ferrocement is not the most environmentally sound decision until you consider the lifespan of the structures.

Before MGTOW.com became my hang out, off the grid and tinyhouses were my escape from the drudgery that is being a married wage slave.

I failed to realize in my youth that I was the prize. I was going to work. I was going to earn. Little did I realize that due to feminism, that no longer meant I had to share. Road soon, Desert after.

[alchemistParticipant 484]

It’s my dream to do something like this one day. I will make it a reality… one day….

Jason wrote:

Watching stuff likes this always makes me sad that I live in far too cold a climate to do something similar without multiplying the price tag. Sigh.

This begs the question; Where do you live? You don’t have to be precise, I live in north Wales, it’s cold and wet and stormy here but the houses are made of the stones found right beside them in the land and mountains. Exchange your mud for rock and you’re winning. The hotel I used to work at had a very old roof- only slate roof tiles, you could see daylight through some of the gaps! No tarp or anything under them for damp protection and it was enough to keep the rain out! Just add some cavity wall insulation and roof insulation and you’re good to go.
My tiny ramshackle caravan with barely any insulation is warm enough even in this climate, the key is a good stove to warm the place up! 🙂

[alchemistParticipant 484]

Ogre wrote:

Before MGTOW.com became my hang out, off the grid and tinyhouses were my escape from the drudgery that is being a married wage slave.

P.S. you’d love this http://cabinporn.com/

[Anonymous 5]

Ogre wrote:

Tilt up concrete

We call it lift-up concrete here.. It’s miles ahead of standard construction in cost and speed.
It’s definitely a one man home job if you’re organised too with a lot of cost effective variants on outer finishes as well.
It looks very nice and very modern hence so many smaller industrial and commercial premises are made this way.

I’ve looked at a lot of possibilities and I’ve settled on getting a very small acreage but only 5 or 10 minutes out of town.
Land prices suddenly drop in this zone because of lack of infrastructure like town electricity, sewerage, water and phone. despite the fact these amenities aren’t nearly as costly to replace as they once were. Sewerage is a bit on the expensive side but you can do most of it yourself and avoid most of the costs.
You’re still close to all shop and service amenities but have marvelous privacy.

I’m looking at building a large shed with no walls and a concrete floor.
It’s one of the most cost effective structures you can build. They’re mind blowingly cheap if you do your own slab.
The large roof is great for water collection and somewhere to put a small solar array. So no town electricity or water doesn’t worry me.
These days solar is a very real option for a single guy whose careful with usage. There’s so many alternate forms of traditional appliances that are so energy efficient.

The real living quarters will be a medium sized caravan or trailer placed in the shed.
It’s cheap and mobile and many are perfectly designed to maximize a minimal living area.
The shed provides double protection from the elements and you’re not stepping into dirt or mud whenever you leave the caravan.
Any of those cheap garden sheds from hardware stores could be used under the shed for storage as well.

The bottom line is if I feel like moving, it’s simple. I take the caravan with me.
Selling a property that’s been improved with a new shed with a concrete floor will be a real bonus and increase the value and amount of buyers. I believe I’d get more money for it than the money and work I’d put into it. (and have the caravan to live in till I found a new place to live.)

[OgreParticipant 5863]

@Ordinary, thumbs up for all the truth you put into one post. I actually crave the isolation and the caravan (travel trailer here) or maybe even just a van is also part of the plan. I will build a permanent structure for storage, cooking, and shower; but the majority of the lifestyle I’m planning is to stay moving about 80 percent of the time.

If you check out JGizmo on youtube, he’s a friend of mine and his videos illustrate where I actually am planning on home-basing. Interviews with him have been posted in the forums before.

Spring and Fall with be at the homestead. Otherwise my time will be split between the Rocky Mountains, high plains desert, and various seashores. Gas is cheap, but the World is vast.

I failed to realize in my youth that I was the prize. I was going to work. I was going to earn. Little did I realize that due to feminism, that no longer meant I had to share. Road soon, Desert after.

[JasonParticipant 282]

@ogre: Yup, like I said, the climate here makes it difficult to build cheap housing that doesn’t require ridiculous upkeep and/or heating. As for how the locals built before rules and regulations came into play, that usually came in the form of log cabins with lots of interior heating. In other words, reasonably cheap to build, so-so upkeep and high heating costs. At least if you don’t wanna go around wearing several layers of clothing while indoors. I actually grew up in one of these “old-timey” houses, and I have plenty of familiarity with it. Let’s just say I’ve endured enough cold to last a life time :p

@alchemist: Well, in winter we usually get between -5 and -10 degrees Celsius during the day, and -10 to -15 at night, occasionally colder. I remember one especially cold winter it went down to -29 degrees Celsius. In summer we typically get +20 to +30 degrees Celsius, occasionally warmer. And yeah, pretty humid for most of the year.

Every now and then I consider moving somewhere less humid – I live in a valley near the coast, but if I move further inland I’d at least leave the humidity behind, if not the temperatures. However, to do so, and build a house, I’d need more money saved up than I currently have. I’ve managed to avoid all loans, and I own the apartment I currently live in, but between it and the money I’ve saved up I don’t quite have enough to build the kind of place I’d want – namely something largely self-sufficient with a low carbon footprint. Earthship, adapted for the climate, serves as an excellent example of the kind of place I’d want.

There lies serenity in Chaos. Seek ye the eye of the hurricane.

[Author]

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