[Coastal] Gulf War Site

[Darlene Vandever]

Cob and all that like straw is indeed period....but so is a wooden
structure. With straw bale etc. down here in the deep south, moisture
wicking into the wall and rotting out can be a real problem unless you
really know how to waterproof thoroughly. Plus it is labor intensive. Then
there is the settling problem of the straw bales themselves. With straw bale
or cobb you still have the threat of termites like wood but with wood you
can use treated which slows them down a bit...plus with a wood structure,
the damage is more visible more quickly and more easily repaired.

I would stick with wood.

That being said, if people don't mind labor intensive and want cheap while
still looking period, Thorgard was researching and well along on building a
Viking Long Hall out at Savernake using tire construction. No rot problem,
no termite problem, no settling problem and once covered with concrete,
looks like stone. You can even add stone to the outside if you want for an
even more period sort of look. The tires come for free from any place that
changes tires because they have to pay to have them hauled away otherwise.
They are glad for you to take them for the asking. You ram the tires with
earth, stack and wire them together then cover the outside with a concrete
veneer. Your cost is the gas to haul the tires and the concrete to cover the
outside. They hold up a roof very well and the insulation value is superior
to straw bale. The floor stays dirt. I'm sure he would be glad to lend his
advice on this. The biggest drawback is it would take a large healthy and
strong crew at least a week to build it...I don't have any idea how many.
Thorgard might be able to tell you. Since you wouldn't be trying to sink the
walls by 3 or 4 feet as in an actual long hall, nor would you be building in
fire pits, sleeping alcoves etc, I am thinking it would be a simpler
structure to build than what he had planned for Savernake. One other thing
to consider is Thorgard already has the tires. He has them stored at his
home in San Antonio. Several thousand of them as a matter of fact.

Like I said, gas to haul them and gas is getting ever more expensive.
Collecting the tires in Mississippi could probably be done but if you have
to count on volunteer labor to do this, you would want all the construction
materials to hand when they could show up. We wouldn't have the luxury of
gathering a few tires here and a few tires there.

I just read what HE William wrote about mowing. Depending on the design we
might settle on, mowing should not be a problem.

Annes