I am building an earthen home for more than the physical shelter it provides. My goal isn’t just to have a home that is less toxic, more beautiful, cheaper, and less destructive to the land is rests upon. Building my own home is about re-envisioning the way I meet my basic need for shelter. The process is an important as the product.
This structure will be created with as much local and salvaged materials as possible, with as little machinery as possible, and as little money as possible, and in the end will hopefully nurture a different kind of relationship than most people in our culture have with the places that shelter them…
Hi there!
My fiance (Alexa) and I just discovered cob houses on the ‘net a few days ago. We are having a great time searching all over for some examples or workshops that are near to us in NC.
We want to learn more… much more. Your house seems to be coming along wonderfully. Thanks for sharing in your posts.
Namaste
Seth
Wow! That is so beautiful! Stephanie and I want to come check it out. I found you blog randomly on some green building site and knew it was you and Noel. Glad to see you are doing well. Hope we can get out there to the farm sometime. Take care!
Chris and Stephanie
You guys should totally come and visit!!!
I am so happy for you! You home is truly beautiful. This gives Chris and I hope that one day we can build our home from the earth as well.
Thanks for sharing!
Love and Peace,
Stephanie and Chris
(old friends from Tidal Creek)
Hi Stephanie and Chris! It’s awesome to hear from you… hope you both and your entire family are doing well!!!
Thank you so much! Any info you can send me would be appreciated. This is such a pretty place.
It’s Beautiful!
Really inspiring to see what you all are doing. My family and I are hopefully buying some land this year and really want to create something sustainable and beautiful as you have done. We are living in Mt. Shasta Ca. at the moment but are hoping to move somewhere close by with a warmer climate and longer growing season. I have recently become very interested in cobb and straw bale building and hope to learn as much as I can about it. Thank you for being the example : )
Wei dith you built so a difficult home.?
Mortgage free! Mortgage free!
Danielle, I just found your blog and spent a couple of hours looking at it. Great blog, great pics, great cob house! It’s been a long time since I saw it in progress, I’d love to see it now. Maybe I’ll drop in one day. And to see you and baby. How’s being a mom going? And living in the beautiful cob house? I’m so impressed and so happy for you. And happy I found your blog.
Hi Lynn! You are more than welcome to stop by any time to check out the house. I have been staying in Durham lately, though (it’s where my partner currently lives). I would love to see you, though, and have you meet my little Leo. I’m going to be back in town soon to visit my cob house and kitties, maybe next weekend. I’ll keep you updated…
Hope you are doing well!
Danielle, you are the most fascinating person I have ever met. I am beyond impressed with your cob house. And congratulations on becoming a mother! I know this is long past due but either way, congratulations!!!!!!
Hi Danielle,
I really am inspired by what you guys have done – it’s so beautiful! I have been researching the idea of building a cob cottage over the last 3 months. I think i have read every book on the subject I can find – I am borderline obsessed haha! I have the dream to be mortgage free in a live in a beautiful and healthy house that beams with character. I have saved enough money for a simple block of land and have only $20,000 to build a house with. The problem is I am running into resistance from so many people… “You will never be able to build a house with that much money” “You’re dreaming” and so on. I have access to huge amounts of recycled materials at a very low price and me and my partner Tom have passion and energy to burn… Plus 5-6 hours a day which we could work on our cob cottage.
Okay I’m rambling now… Basically I would like to know – do you think I am dreaming? Is my dream possible!
If you get the time to reply, thank you so much 🙂
Love from New Zealand,
Shaye
Of course its possible!!! I think what matters most is someone’s desire. It is definitely a ton of work, but totally possible. I think I spent around $3000 for my house, but I didn’t really keep track (my house is teeny, though!). My advice would be to start small, since you can always add on later. And once you are living in the first part you might get a lot of ideas about your addition, and build it differently than initially thought.
Best wishes!!!
Danielle
Hi Danielle,
I found your link from Natural Homes on FB. I am so impressed by you and Noel. I didn’t think kids of your generation knew how to work and enjoy it (I’m 46 LOL!). I’ve been think about building my wife’s dream home and using cob over straw. I live in Chesnee Sc but we want to move to Saluda NC. My only hesitation in using straw is it getting wet and molding. Did you have any trouble with that? Also I saw all the little holes in the cob that looked like they were made on purpose, what are they for? And how deep did you go on your foundation? Wow I know that’s a lot of question 🙂 Just a funny not my daughter’s name is Danielle. Thanks for keeping such a great record of your build.
Mark Wheeler
Hi Mark! Thanks so much for the kind comment! We never had any problem with our straw bales molding or getting wet, but we were also very careful to keep them protected from the rain. If there was a way to build your roof first I think that would definitely be the way to go. Also the holes in the cob are to help it dry more quickly and evenly, since its such a thick mass of material it would take a lot longer to dry out in the center otherwise.
With the foundation…I think the rubble trench is 12″ deep at its most shallow point, and then 24″ at its deepest. Except for a part of the tail trench, that got even deeper at one point as we continued a 5% grade!
Happy Building!
Danielle
Hi Danielle,
loved reading your blog and seeing all those beautiful pictures. I am saving up right now to build my straw bale house in a few years (I’m 20). I’m trying to cut costs as much as I can. Did you make your own foundation on the addition? I looked at the pictures with the trench, the drain pipe, the gravel, etc. I’m guessing it would be a lot more costly to have someone come in and pour a foundation for you. So, that’s what I would like to know, if you made the foundation yourself. If so, do you recommend it? Do you think it is sturdy enough for bale walls? Thanks so much for your time! (:
Best,
Sam
Hi Sam,
We built our own foundation for the addition. We mostly used free urbanite and bricks, which is definitely cheaper than having a concrete foundation poured. In our particular case the weight of the roof will be resting on some 8×8 posts that are on concrete piers, and the straw bales won’t actually be bearing any of the roof weight load. So the foundation under the bales is really just to hold up the bales and to hold in the earthen floor layers. But a dry stacked urbanite foundation on a rubble trench would be strong enough to support a heavier load too, if done well.
Hi Danielle!
I have been researching for a while now on building my own cob house, and your blog has been such an inspiration! I have HUGE dreams, and a teeny budget, and your build it slowly mentality just pushed me to actually DO it!
That’s awesome! Keeping up with my blog was something that was fun for me, and helped to keep me motivated to keep going. Its meaningful to me to know that my house has been an inspiration for others. Thanks for sharing, and happy cobbing!
Gracious for your writings! I stumbled across you blog and love it! The pictures and details are awesome! I like the comment about being in the present with your baby. It is truly wonderful living in the present moment! Congrats!
Blu
Nice life and beauty full house! congrats from Galicia!
Liqen.
Are you in USA?, sorry,….good project!