It is easy to test soil content at home. Put some soil in a glass or clear plastic jar; maybe half full. Fill it the rest of the way with water. Let it soak and/or mix it until there aren’t any chunks left, then set it down and leave it alone. Any gravel will settle to the bottom first with increasingly smaller gravel and sand next. Any loam will form a layer after the sand, and you’ll be left with a clay slip. The clay will take considerably longer to settle out. Eventually it will leaving clear water and hopefully no floaties. The thickness of each layer divided by the overall thickness of the soil is the percentage of that type. It’s also worth noting that I believe there are all sorts of types of clay though we lump them into the same category.
Hello Master Cob, I recently saw a short informative clip of a man explaining they figured out how "roman concrete" was made and it was cob mixed with sea water and lime stone and the sea water had a reaction that created very large solid binding chunks inside the cob that made it incredibly sturdy and durable. Have you see something like that?
Yes, I've seen something very similar. You could add lime and pozzolan to cob to make a concrete-like cob mix. The seawater reaction might be necessary, but I'm not near the sea to test that one out. :)
Hey there! I have a question that might be very odd, but I would love to pick your brain about it:) Do you think it's possible to build a clay home on a platform - so it could float on water? Kinda like a house boat, but more permanent?:) Thank you for your response!
While the clay shown in the demonstration is flexible, that’s only because it is relatively wet. Clay becomes quite stiff when it dries. That would likely be a problem on a boat that would be prone to flexing.
You can take your soil to a geological lab to see exactly how much clay content is in it, but it's not necessary to know to just make cob. Glad I wasted 4 minutes of your life though. Thanks for watching.
It is easy to test soil content at home.
Put some soil in a glass or clear plastic jar; maybe half full. Fill it the rest of the way with water. Let it soak and/or mix it until there aren’t any chunks left, then set it down and leave it alone.
Any gravel will settle to the bottom first with increasingly smaller gravel and sand next. Any loam will form a layer after the sand, and you’ll be left with a clay slip. The clay will take considerably longer to settle out. Eventually it will leaving clear water and hopefully no floaties. The thickness of each layer divided by the overall thickness of the soil is the percentage of that type.
It’s also worth noting that I believe there are all sorts of types of clay though we lump them into the same category.
Hello Master Cob, I recently saw a short informative clip of a man explaining they figured out how "roman concrete" was made and it was cob mixed with sea water and lime stone and the sea water had a reaction that created very large solid binding chunks inside the cob that made it incredibly sturdy and durable. Have you see something like that?
Yes, I've seen something very similar. You could add lime and pozzolan to cob to make a concrete-like cob mix. The seawater reaction might be necessary, but I'm not near the sea to test that one out. :)
Would adding sea salt would do the job?
Another awesome video,. Great info
that is one flexible thumb! :D Great tips too btw :D
When you talk about aggregate do you mean fine gravel and/or sand?
Hey there!
I have a question that might be very odd, but I would love to pick your brain about it:)
Do you think it's possible to build a clay home on a platform - so it could float on water? Kinda like a house boat, but more permanent?:)
Thank you for your response!
While the clay shown in the demonstration is flexible, that’s only because it is relatively wet. Clay becomes quite stiff when it dries. That would likely be a problem on a boat that would be prone to flexing.
Except at the :35 mark when you said good soil for cob had a 15-25% clay content, this video provided NO information at all. Waste of time altogether.
You can take your soil to a geological lab to see exactly how much clay content is in it, but it's not necessary to know to just make cob.
Glad I wasted 4 minutes of your life though. Thanks for watching.
@@thiscobhouse4 minutes was informative for me. plan to build mud house, should I skip the soil testing for adobe?