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5-Day Cob + Straw Immersion
September 20, 2022 - September 24, 2022
$875
Our Immersion is our most popular course, and is designed to provide an understanding of some common natural wall systems: cob, strawbale, and slip-straw. The course emphasizes hands-on learning, and will focus most heavily on cob wall-building, balanced with the construction of some simple strawbale and slip-straw walls. Working with multiple wall systems will provide you with insight into which will fit your potential projects best.
To supplement our hands-on work sessions, we will also visit some local, natural homes, and speak with the owner/builders. Additionally, we’ll tour many of the demonstration buildings on our campus to share a variety of options regarding roofing, foundations, and finishing work. For key topics not covered in hands-on work, we will have discussions/Q+A sessions (see topics below).
Expect to leave the workshop with the confidence and knowledge to take on your own natural building project!
HANDS-ON:
* mixing cob by foot, and by machine
* building with cob
* installing straw bales and slip-straw within a structural wood frame
* preparing a strawbale wall for plaster
* mixing and applying clay plaster
* installing windows/doors
DISCUSSION:
* “Rubble Trench Foundations”
* “Simple Roofing Options”
* “Cob vs. Strawbale: the thermal spectrum + hybrid designs”
* CAMPUS TOUR! – We’ll get to tour campus buildings while discussing building methods, plus general Q+A
* LOCAL HOME TOUR! we will visit 2 strawbale homes – the homeowners will discuss: “the owner/builder experience”, “timber framing”, and “off-grid technologies”
DAILY SCHEDULE
8:00-9:00 Breakfast
9:00-12:45 Morning work session
12:45-1:45 Lunch
1:45-5:30 Afternoon work session
5:30-6:30 Unscheduled (Shower, relax)
6:30 Dinner! (no dinner on Day 5)
