<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/61691b65-f1e0-49a0-936e-994c664d457a/CFE78874-5EB3-4A64-AE18-3B7D35A7BB7D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/" href="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/" style="font-size: 11px;">greenbuildingelements.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/greenbuildingelements.com/img/81C7E623-F204-463E-9D9F-CF21303432AF" alt="cob house" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><H3>What is cob?</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/">Cob building dates back hundreds of years ago, and cob houses built over 500 years ago in Europe are still inhabited to this day. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"> buckets of wet clay and sand are mixed by foot (or by horse, oxen, concrete mixer, or even Bobcat excavators) and then combined with straw to produce a sticky, malleable material that can be rolled into palm-sized loaves (or “cobs”, which is where the name originated) and then laid onto a foundation and sculpted by hand to build thick and massive cob walls</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/greenbuildingelements.com/img/514382EC-35C4-4684-B96F-2A75544CD364" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><H3>The properties of cob</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"> When cob dries, it resembles rock or concrete in its hardness. With a nice thick coat of plaster, cob can withstand significant weathering before it starts to (slowly) wear away.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/">Cob has better “<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass">thermal mass</A>“, which means it is capable of capturing and storing large amounts of heat. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><H3>Cob: beautiful and environmental</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/greenbuildingelements.com/img/285502A1-C961-4F32-BD8B-00D9178AB662" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><H3>Cobbing is simple and cooperative</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><H3>Where to learn more about cob</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/greenbuildingelements.com/img/02F35BB4-250B-4198-A94B-E42D3525FE4D" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/09/12/natural-building-101-building-an-eco-friendly-cob-house/">the <A href="http://www.cobcottage.com">Cob Cottage Company</A> and <A href="http://www.housealive.org">House Alive!</A>, both based in Oregon </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/CFE78874-5EB3-4A64-AE18-3B7D35A7BB7D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks:  Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!