What have you heard about cob construction? Did you know cob construction can offer a great ecological and economical choice for a buyer interested in a sustainable home? Yes, cob construction is a great health, investment and lifestyle decision. Reading this post will help you learn more about the advantages of cob construction and whether it would be right for you. Cob construction has been around for over a thousand years and continues to be popular and practical. Cob construction is a very effective and efficient means for building a cozy cocoon and healthy home. Cob construction can save money, resources and time compared to more conventional “bricks and sticks” houses. You may be asking what is cob construction and what benefits does it offer. This post will provide the basics and benefits cob construction offers as a more ecological and economical healthy home.

Cob Construction

Since cob construction uses mostly local materials they are a very affordable, durable and practical solution for home building.

Cob structures are typically made of clay, sand, straw and water. In some areas cement, glass bottles, lime and wood are also used as material within the cob construction. Cob can be built with a variety of clay mixtures which exist in most countries around the world. Since cob construction uses mostly local materials they are a very affordable, durable and practical solution for home building. They can conserve energy, materials and resources by using creative and innovative design features and ideas. Cob construction by design can be a fairly easy and quick process to build without the extra costs, labor and time required for traditional bricks and sticks, cement block or cement and foam construction which increases complications and costs in a conventional house.  A well built and designed cob home can be built off grid to provide both an effective and efficient living space and lifestyle.

Comfortable Habitat with Cob Homes

A cob home can be a great solution for the housing needs of a wide variety of people. Cob construction combines clever architecture and creative planning for houses that can offer a more efficient and simpler lifestyle. With a good design and mainly local materials  you can enjoy the benefits of an affordable, durable, energy efficient and sustainable structures for a healthy home and simple lifestyle. Eco friendly cob construction can help provide healthy homes with a lower carbon footprint and price tag compared to conventional homes.

Cob houses are mainly made of a clay, grass, sand and wood that is thoroughly mixed and then added around rock, straw bale or wood framing. It provides a relatively easy and fast way to build quickly and provide a comfortable, durable and eco friendly home. Most cob houses can withstand a wide variety of climates and conditions when well built and designed. Creative cob construction designs can offer a wide selection of safe, striking and strong designs including curves, domes, oblong, rectangles, round and square shapes. With creative Computer Automated Design (CAD), architects, designers and engineers can create innovative cob construction blue prints with shapes and sizes to build almost anything you can imagine. Clever cob construction can benefit the owner with lower energy, maintenance and repair costs in the future. Cob construction provides healthy homes that are more toxin free than most conventional modern homes. A well built and designed cob house could last for 100+ years of practical use with minimal maintenance and upkeep. The current global economy, energy issues and environmental concerns are encouraging more  people to reduce their carbon footprint and rethink energy efficient home designs, ideas and options. Building a cob house may be a better and faster alternative for those looking to keep their building costs and time to a minimum compared to other house choices. Maybe a cob house is the perfect habitat and healthy home for you and your family.

Cob Brick

A cob brick.

Many people could be better off with a cob house they build themselves rather than spending a fortune buying a conventional house. Many people are going deep in debt with a big 30 year mortgage and payments. It is often a major financial waste of money, resources and time to buy a conventional house or mobile home due to the often lower quality of materials and workmanship used to built it. Building or buying an cob house can offer you a better option. Cob construction combined with bamboo construction requires less resources to provide more cost and energy efficient structures. Cob construction offers an affordable, durable, eco friendly, efficient, functional and sustainable home that can meet a family’s long term needs. This information is intended to help educate, inspire and motivate people to look at cob construction in order to be cost effective, minimize their carbon footprint and promote a sustainable and transition lifestyle.

Many smart people are waking up to discover that cob houses offer a better building alternative. When we invest the energy, money and time to educate our selves and demand better construction choices we find some amazing new ideas and options available.  The last two years of research and travel for better eco building practices has helped me gain great ideas, insights and inspiration  for developing and designing eco homes for our Belize Eco Village.

Benefits of Cob Construction

As more people discover, investigate and research saving energy, simpler lifestyle and sustainable solutions the idea of using cob construction is an obvious choice. A lack of awareness about cob construction has kept it from being more accepted and common. As more people begin to focus on sustainable building and transition towns we will see more cob construction in eco villages and sustainable communities. As more people understand the benefits of building and living in well designed cob homes they will discover the benefits over conventional homes that can negatively impact their finances, health and lifestyle. cob houses can offer better buildings to help provide the growing global need for affordable housing. Cob construction benefits include:

  • Cob houses can be built for less money. Check out this $500 cob house and eco community on the Permaculture Research Institute website.
  • Cob construction does not heat up the way cement block houses do in sunny climates.
  • Cob structures can be bug, fire, mold, weather and wind resistant and last for hundreds of years.
  • Cob allows the use of arches, domes and sacred geometry for a wide variety of unique building choices.
  • Building with local materials like bamboo, clay, sand, straw and wood is eco friendly and sustainable conservation construction.
  • Excellent thermal barrier provided by cob keeps the heat out and the cool in or can keep the heat in and the cold out.
  • Flexible designs and shapes offer attractive and creative eco dwellings. and healthy homes
  •  Cob construction and non toxic building materials provides healthy homes that are great for people with chemical sensitivities.
  • Rocket stoves offer an efficient and low cost way to heat an a cob home.
  • Transportation costs for building materials is greatly reduced when using local clay and sand for cob construction.
  • Some potential considerations with cob construction include: building codes, city planning,  quality control, septic systems, waste water issues, weather and zoning restrictions.
Smiling Woman

Dancing Rabbit Eco Village

The best way to get educated and excited about cob construction is to learn directly from the experts. Dancing Rabbit Eco village teaches cob construction as a viable option for many eco minded people looking to transition to a smaller carbon footprint and sustainable lifestyle. DIY House Building shares highlights on cob construction and designing affordable and comfortable living quarters. Cob Courses has many years of building and design experience and their cob construction is impressive and inspiring.

Our blog shares simple strategies to help people embrace new conservation construction ideas like cob construction to provide quality housing for people around the planet. As we discover the real long term cost for outdated bricks, cement and stick houses  we realize the urgency to embrace more cob construction in the US and many other countries. Cob construction can make a great first home choice. A Mother Earth News story shares the benefits of cob construction that can provide affordable, durable, energy efficient housing which may be a great option for many people.

Healthy Habits & Habitats

In 2017 Morningstar NEWS will focus 50% on Healthy Habits and 50% on Healthy Habitats and Sustainable Systems. As we research and role model proven principles for our future Belize Eco Village and wellness center we are eager to share the wisdom we find. Our vision is attracting a wide variety of conscious and passionate people to help design, develop, build and live in our eco friendly, healthy, sustainable transition community. Being healthy as we invest, live, retire, travel, visit and work results from a happy, healthy and holistic lifestyle. We invite ideas, insights and inspiration to help us focus our planning and progress. Sharing solutions, strategies, suggestions and systems will help all of us design and develop better transition town communities.

Where is Your Gap?

What actions, behaviors, beliefs and decisions regarding your habits and habitats are impacting your happiness and health? What will it take to make better choices to avoid the health hazards of unhealthy homes? Investing in cob construction could provide a healthy habitat that offers great flexibility and value. Your investment of energy, money and time will help you understand the incentive to investigate the benefits of owning a cob home. Does being part of an ecological and economical community using cob construction look appealing?

Mastery Action Plan (MAP)

Our daily habits and habitats impact our happiness and health. There is a wealth of wisdom showing the benefits of building eco friendly adobe construction as a healthy habitat and wise choice.  What are you willing to do to provide more sustainable home choices? Creating a healthy habitat code of conduct and mastery action plan will enhance our long term quality of life. We cannot sustain our happiness and health without healthy changes and choices. Are you ready to consider a cob construction home that is modern, modular and more sustainable ?

Call to Action

What comments, commitments or concerns come to mind regarding healthy habits and habitats? Are you ready to learn more and join our terrific team?

PS: Comment, like, plus and share this blog on the social media page links because family, fans, followers and friends will also benefit from the Morningstar NEWS website. Thanks for your helpful support.

Next Morningstar NEWS blog

Consider Rammed Earth Construction