From the Ground Up

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Ann wanted to run a built-in cob bench along the interior walls of the hermitage. We literally sculpted the bench out from the wall. This is called cantilevering, and you can sculpt cob shelves and countertops this way too (this gives you an idea of how strong the stuff is when it hardens). Becky recommends adding a little more straw and clay for strength into a cantilevering mix. We built up the wall a bit under the bench and carefully kneaded new and old cob together. We got a little carried away and built onto the bench too quickly. The other piece of built-in furniture we made was a platform for a bed in an alcove in the back of the hermitage. One of the workshop participants, Nancy Vaughn, very capable of operating a saw, did some measuring and cut a few boards to span the width of the hermitage. She placed the ends of the boards right on top of the walls, which had risen to about chair height. We placed cob on top of the board ends so they became buried in 'die wall as it went up. Other built-in furnishings that could be buried into or sculpted into a cob house include cob fireplaces, light fixtures, arched niches, counters, shelves, and whatever else you might possibly imagine.

Windows and Doors

We had placed three windows in the hermitage by the end of the workshop. One was in a wood frame and could be opened, so we buried the wood edge of the frame in cob. The other two were nonopening, and we simply buried the glass edges in the cob. Cob provides a good opportunity to use recycled or broken windows because when you bury the edges, you can create your own shape for the window. (Make sure to tape broken edges so you don't cut your hands.) We also buried cobalt blue glass bottles in the back wall. Though they are not quite windows, they let a little colored light in during the day and out at night when the candies are burning inside. Becky reminded us that the floor would be higher than the ground we were working on, so we placed the windows a little higher accordingly. Because cob walls are thick, we had an automatic inside sill by placing the window near the outside edge of the wall, taking into account the upward taper of the wall. if Ann had wanted her big sill on the outside of the hermitage we simply would have placed the window closer to the inside edge of the wall. You can also cantilever benches, ledges, or containers for wooden flower boxes at the base of windows if you want.

As we prepared to place the windows in, we built a couple six to 12-inch cob steps, stepping up and away from each side of where the window would be. We checked the level of the sill and set the window in. Then we checked the window's plumb and level as we filled in the cob steps to hold it in place. As the walls proceeded up the sides of the windows, we began to sculpt columns on either side of each window. When the walls reach the tops of the windows, a sculpted cob arch or a wooden lintel will be placed over the top of the window. This will divert the weight of the cob from above the windows down through the columns on the sides. The cobbers will employ the same lintel-and-column or arch-and-column method over the timber doorframe that Ann has placed in the front of her hermitage.

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