To create a cob building code, freely available to all.
Cob is an ancient method of building with earth. It consists of a dough-like mixture of clay-rich soil, sand, water, and straw, that can be sculpted into strong beautiful walls. Under different names, the technique has been used for centuries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. There are more than 10,000 inhabited cob homes in the English county of Devon alone, some over 600 years old.
A modern revival of cob is happening in North America, Britain, and elsewhere. This renewed interest is driven in part by the fact that cob is one of the most ecologically sensible ways to build a house. The materials are often available for low cost or free close to the building site. Cob is easy to learn and can be sculpted into whimsical and curvilinear shapes, making each cob building a unique work of art. Cob is fireproof, non-toxic, and open sourced -- no corporations profit from either the sale of the materials or developement of the technology.
Cob is non-combustible and an excellent solution to withstand the increasing wildfires in the western U.S.that easily consume buildings.
However, no building codes for cob exist in North America. This places the burden on anyone who wishes to build a cob home legally to convince their building officials that cob is safe.
The Cob Research Institute is a public interest 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2008. with the mission to remove legal obstacles to building with cob. Through a series of tests on soils, cob mixes, strengths, and assembly techniques, we aim to develop easy-to-follow standards for safe cob construction which retain its character as a simple, ecologically sound building system. While much of the needed testing has already been accomplished, there is still more work to be done. We are now within sight of our ultimate goal - an open source cob building code, freely available to everyone.
CRI needs $50,000 to complete this work. This money is needed finish the remaining testing, write and submit code documents, attend the required official (ICC) hearings in early 2019, and follow the code through to final approval in the IRC (International Residential Code). In order to submit our proposed code during the current round of IRC code ammendments, your financial support is urgently to accomplish this goal is urgently needed now. Donations can be made directly to this campaign, or to our website donation page at www.cobcode.org. PLEASE SUPPORT THE COB CODE.
