[Spana]

OH is repairing a patch of render on our house.  I think its interesting that what we have is basically a mud hut which was built to house cattle 350years ago. The  walls are 3ft thick.  Its dry, cool in the summer-when we have one -and warm in the winter, we rarely run the heating.  I thinks its amazing stuff

[8doubles]

Suprising how many cobb houses there are in the UK. Most people know about African mud buildings and Mexican adobe houses but have never heard of the British cobb ones.

[Steven Rowe]

Ive always wanted to builded a mud house, i take it your house is oak framed with mud walls ? really is amazing (i think so anyways)

[Spana]

, i take it your house is oak framed with mud walls ? )

No its not.  OH says oak was used for the lintels but only branches, not from the main trunk.
If you watch  swallows building their nest  they lay a couple of rows of mud pellets, allow them to dry before adding another couple of rows.
I think more or less the same technique was  used here.  The shape of the house was cut out of the rock, lumps of stone are put in with the cobb for the first 3-4ft.  After that its mud, stones and traces of hair.
Not only is the whole building process amazing but how  materials must have been moved is mind blowing when you really start to think about it.  .

[Steven Rowe]

, i take it your house is oak framed with mud walls ? )

Not only is the whole building process amazing but how  materials must have been moved is mind blowing when you really start to think about it.  .

I think this everytime i repair apart of a drystone dyke and you can see it has far as the eye can see , the old tradesman are something else

[madcat]

The shape of the house was cut out of the rock

    Sorry if this is too nosy, but ...  how do you mean?  It sounds almost like a front porch on a cave .....  I'm fascinated.

[Spana]

The shape of the house was cut out of the rock

    Sorry if this is too nosy, but ...  how do you mean?  It sounds almost like a front porch on a cave .....  I'm fascinated.

I agree, it is fascinating I wish i knew more

We are built on rock on a slope.  So instead of digging footings they just dug the house shape out of the rock and into the hill and built up from that, and its lasted all this time.
Its  been bodged about quite a bit over the centuries so its not listed, luckily   We are on 7levels, we go up or down  steps to most rooms
We have a bit attached to the house which a surveyor said was probably the original dwelling, built in the 1400s.  We call it the hovel   it still has the original fire place but only holes where the ovens used to be.

[Lewjam]

Sounds amaizing,

and chance of a few pics?

My house is only mud hut when i come back from football ^_^

[madcat]

We are built on rock on a slope.  So instead of digging footings they just dug the house shape out of the rock and into the hill and built up from that, and its lasted all this time.
Its  been bodged about quite a bit over the centuries so its not listed, luckily   We are on 7levels, we go up or down  steps to most rooms
We have a bit attached to the house which a surveyor said was probably the original dwelling, built in the 1400s.  We call it the hovel   it still has the original fire place but only holes where the ovens used to be.

Ahh....  I was thinking vertically ... that makes more sense!  That is quite a house.  And in Cornwall.  I want a 'green with jealousy' emoticon!!   

No problems with subsidence there.  But maybe getting insurance - how the heck do you put that on a form?  Not exactly a std classification.  You are well down in the 'others' category.  And seven levels - given the number of times I fall down our one step to the kitchen, you must have got used to it pretty fast. 

[Spana]

Sounds amaizing,

^_^

Well its nothing unusual or special down here, there are a lot more picturesque properties  than this house about, but we like it. 
When we bought it 10 years ago I was a little concerned about it not being bricks and mortar but OH said cobb was good stuff if handled right and it is
Not the best pic but you can see how it sits so nicely in the hill side.  How they carried so much mud from the bottom of the hill is staggering :blink:

[Rubellite]

It looks beautiful, Spana. Where is the lake situated?
Our house is timber framed and I'm sure it is held up by the windows
When we did some repairs to a chimney and took out the internal plasterboard we could see daylight through the cracks in the external wall. The whole thing is constantly shifting - don't like to think about it too much!

[Spana]

Our house is timber framed and I'm sure it is held up by the windows
When we did some repairs to a chimney and took out the internal plasterboard we could see daylight through the cracks in the external wall. The whole thing is constantly shifting - don't like to think about it too much!

  Yes, we've taken  a few bits apart and wondered how they have stayed up for so long, no building reg to worry about when they were put up.    How old is your house Rubellite, whats between the timber frame?

The lake is under the trees at the bottom of the pic

[Rubellite]

I think the front of the house dates back to the 1800s. You can see the original timbers in the loft. The back of the house was extended outwards and then the whole lot was rendered to look like a Victorian villa. It was "modernised" about 10 years ago and much of it's character was lost as the internal walls have been dry lined. We do still have some beams but it's not as "cosy" as it might have been. Upstairs is wonky and our bed is jacked up 5" in one corner. The back of the house is not so bad and our wardrobes all live in the back rooms as they'd just fall over in the front  We are not listed either due to the loss of interesting features over the years.

[sloworm]

Hi Spanna what part of Cornwall are you ? I seem to recall somewhere out on the lizard that does a lot with cob buildings. Helston college built a couple of cob bus shelters as part of a sustainable build project. Great as you say for temperature stability but the cottages need to be well ventilate to stop the damp.