I just started to setup the ground to do the Cob Cabin, I'm 62 years Old, I live off grid in South Central Missouri in my SUV and in a budget this will help me a lot since my income is limited, I did the dirt test as you showed and is all clay no sand. I thank you with all my heart Miguel since this will help me get out of my SUV that been hard on me specifically winter.
Hi Jose, glad you are inspired to build a Palletable Cobin. Hope you have access to a truck to bring all the sand you will need for your cob. If you are able to send me photos along the way, perhaps I can offer some assistance from afar...
Built a cheap diy greenhouse out of old junk/pallets. The world is too our oyster!!!! My fam & I live in SCMO as well. Howdy neighbor!!!! You can do it!!!!! 😃♥️🙏
Just beginning yhis video, so excited. I'm 29 and setting this as a life goal of mine. I want to build beautiful little homes on a property so that people can come and have a relaxing retreat/ vacation.. thank you for this insight!
Most underrated cob creator on youtube! Thanks for the wonderful explanation and sharing of knowledge in this densely packed video! I will be re-watching it many times lol thanks again!!
Your the first person to convince me this is the way. I've watched every video known to man on the subject of alternative construction. I even went to MDI and took their week corse. Every method has its purpose, but when applying strictly to building an abode, this is the way. My approach is to get roof over head as primary goal even if its just a tarp. Wouldn't want to hinder stuffing the top pallets. Also a lot bigger. 16 sides or more. Another thing, cable and turn buckle. Haven't seen anyone do that to a cob house but in domes they are used to keep thing from spreading out. Everything else applies like cooling tubes still fit this style. Having a palletcob over a basement wouldn't hurt either. This would be the entrance to a fully earth sheltered abode.
FABULOUS... and great detail... We bought land, will be planning helping our 22 year old son to build his, my she-shed, and our bigger "homestead castle"...you made it all feel very doable! My husband and I are 62... we CAN DO THIS!
I met you years ago at the first seed expo in santa rosa. Then I looked you up (don't you have a book?) and was impressed at how artistic your constructions are. I have been following you since. This latest version of your work using pallets is most awesome. These videos are encouraging me to try to build a studio. Its' so kind of you to provide the step-by-step. You are an unsung asset to Norcal. Thank you, Sir Cobalot! EDIT: I will be starting by building myself an outdoor shower! No top, and 3 sides!
Thanks, I found this video a few months ago and had to give it a shot. I'm currently building a square version of this to use as a temporary living space while I build an earthship. It will eventually be my tool shed, but I'm stoked to have an affordable and quick solution to a shelter. Thanks again and keep it up.
Hi, i would like to say big thank you for sharing all the info about your cobins. Yours videos are very inspirational. I am from the Czech republic and right now in the proces of building this cob structer. It brings me so much joy. The cool thing is that everybody is able to build it! Thanks again for spreading this low cost way of construction! Keep up the good work!
Cob is awesome. I made a few chicken pens out of pallets and cob and it’s so cheap to do. My chickens have also been protected from this heat wave in NM. Like you mentioned too it’s also therapeutic. I am an oef oif vet and it helps with ptsd.
Bohol Philippines is one of the island that got hit by typhoon signal #5 and houses are damage,short of materials for rebuild as nearby islands also got hit so this would be a good way of people rebuilding their homes,thanks for sharing.
I'd been thinking about this idea for a long time and this video is exactly what I needed! You've figured out all the details and I am extra excited to start my ecovillage now. I hope we can meet someday Miguel. Thank you so much!
My family and I are putting this method to work for our new homes at a count of 4 new tiny homes. We were going to do two with earth bag and two traditional cob. We have all the foundations in currently, but we are going to have to modify and use the downed trees on our land from last winters terrible snow storm and cut the wood slats ourselves because here pallets aren't free anymore and we do need a use for the downed trees anyway. The houses are a bit larger than these but I still believe with a bit of finesse this method should still work. The walls are thicker of course but again with some finesse the modification will just add for more insulation. Thank you so much for the step by step process this is going to save my/ our backs, legs and arms!!! Not to mention time!!! Love from Virginia!!!
We just completed our build using this method and are so thrilled that we had this step by step guide to rely on throughout the process. We built ours with just the two of us without any prior construction experience. It wasn't always easy, but if we can do it I am sure anyone else can. We will do a full video in the coming weeks on what we wish we would have known going into this project, but this video and channel is a great start for anyone that is looking to construct her/his own economic natural home. Here is the link to our tour in English: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pfTorMOjUo8.html We will upload videos of our whole build in the coming days/weeks! Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge Miguel!
My husband of 43 years are wishing we had been interested in this when we were younger. This is so cool. Thank you Michael for your great ideas even if it's now my daydream. I'm not a spring chicken anymore but it is a wonderful idea.
Coming from a background of building with Adobe, cob and light clay straw this is fantastically fast and easy. Wow! I can’t believe I never heard of it before, very inspiring, thank you!
God bless you miguel 🙏🏼 I hope you realize what a blessing you are offering to the world by sharing your knowledge 🫶🏽 I just moved to zanzibar bought a piece of land and can’t wait to get my hands cobing 😁 you give hope to all people who want to live natural and simple 🙌🏽 Blessings to you bother 🤍
Thankyou for posting. I've built with rammed earth and cob. And I've built from pallets . even built from tires. But never all together. Brilliant work. Thankyou for sharing and best wishes
Thank you for the videos and the inspiration, a group of friends and myself are looking at making sustainable low cost housing here in South Africa, and we've landed on Cob as one of the best means available for us in South Africa, seeing this method of using pallets as WELL makes it even more feasible so thank you very much, if possible could you share those engineers specs to make it to code. As we would also love also work it to be in line with our our building regulations here.
Hi there, cool,.glad.to hear you are trying out the Palletable Cobin there in South Africa. Sure, if you send me your email to cobalot9@gmail.com I'll respond with those engineered plans...
Yes!!! What a confirmation because I have been envisioning the same thing using 4x4 uprights with lightweight insulatable scaffolding between. Cobb has to be so massive in order to get the insulation factor and being able to move a tiny home seems very important with alternative structures for DIY earth and recycles projects. Thank you so much for inspiring people to create their own homes inexpensively.
Oh wow, just found this video. This is so great! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this tutorial. I have been wanting to do a cop house for years. Just a lot of trials and stuff that are taking up so much timeare getting in the way. One day though I will do it. In the meantime I keep watching videos on how to do it and this one was excellent. Thank you so much
G'Day from Australia. Thanks' for sharing all your knowledge, inspiration and skills. We have just moved into our next home. It has a defunct inground swimming pool that I'm hopping at some stage, to convert into bespoke sunken guest accommodation! It won't be the easiest thing to achieve (as it's a kidney bean shaped pool) But myself being OK on-the-tools, and thanks to inspirational videos like yours, I'm keen to have a crack at it, I love a building challenge!
But also I have been learning soo much from you! I want to thank the time you put into these videos they are awesome and I love that this is given to the community to learn from! You are definitely a role model!
Love this project. We have lots of metal roofing remnants that we will use. What considerations should be designed in the beginning for plumbing and electric? While we are fine with a compost potty and water catch tanks we will use this as a guest house. Thanks. 🌞🌱❤️
Santa Rosa??? I’m in Sonoma County too and my desire is to someday build a cobb village!!!! My husband and I are in our 70’s so it’s not something we can do as we are….but someday, according to our hope for the future!!! But we can hope….right???? I watch your videos and try to learn all I can!!! We have 3 grown kiddos and spouses…so who knows. Love the idea of sculpting artistic expression etc…..thank you for sharing!!!
I love this idea. Just one thing…. I was under the impression that you are supposed to use straw as opposed to hay to pack the walls? My brother has built several straw bail houses and he told me that the reason they use straw and not hay is the cellulose content. My understanding is that hay will break down and want to decompose over time whereas straw is more cellulose so not a problem. (?)
Yes hay is for horses straw is for houses. I always insulate my walls with straw instead of hay. Hey Will start to smell when it heats up and also it can sprout. Did you see somewhere in my video where I say that I add hay instead of straw?
@@cobalot9 Yes, Very inspiring! I hope to learn the skills one day to build in this style to live in. It would be great to take a workshop with you someday! Love your videos! Thanks again for sharing.
@@cobalot9 siii me encanto mucho! I actually didn't realize what a hub it is for natural building and only stumbled upon the Earthship Patagonia hostel while visiting for a quick day trip. Definitely need to go back next time and connect with that whole community! Pretty amazing you helped lead the minga culture and building with natural materials though!
Hi! dennis here. I live in Welland, Ontario, Canada, where in winter we still get snow, at times between October and March, perhaps. We can also have times now with climate change where we are without snow, but still have COLD! We also have folk who are homeless that I would like to see housed without them having a heap of debt.
Thank you for sharing this documentation and your enthusiasm. What do you think about a structure like this in a coastal climate of central America? Are there any good examples or do you have ideas how this could be extended, modified to be in the best resonance with the elements such as much warmer temperatures, months of heavy rains and times of high winds, possibly hurricane style? Thank you Miguel for your continued efforts to educate and inspire.
@@cobalot9 If I'm understanding you correctly, a tropical design isn't much different and you would encourage a similar design for a structure built in Central America. Thanks for clarifying.
This is really cool! An innovative approach to an already great building method. A few related questions though. Is the distance between the posts too wide? Not sure if the pallets would provide enough lateral strength. Is this why you build round? Wondering if a more linear design would work. Thanks for so generously posting this!
I absolutely adore cob, do you ever have hands on workshops? I want to eventually build a cob house in florida but their building codes are extremely hard to work with. I've been told by friends. I've done research on cob for almost 4 years now and watched a million videos on it but still believe It would be more beneficial to have hands on, so I can better understand all my reading material.
How well would this work in the upper midwest/northeast? My plan is to use a framework of timber from trees to support the living roof, stone exterior, strawbale (set on edge) insulation and a cob interior. In your experience, do you think that it would be suitable for a climate that's much more extreme than California?
aloha Harry, Yes, you can build these in cold snowy climates for sure. There are many earthen structures built in snowy climates, especially strawbale, which has excellent insulation value.
Miguel, much love for this!! Just genius!!! And so beautiful.. I am in love with cob for so many years now, and you have come in the perfect moment to make possible the construction of a little hut to begin with. Great, great work and spirit!! I´ll try to register my own as you did. And if you come to Brazil one day (I hope so..), please, let me know!! There is a lot of wonderful possibilities and people here, plenty of materials, and much interest in this kind of investigations. So, best wishes friend! Thank you so much for sharing your work!!!
Hey Neta, thanks for writing I'm glad you are enthusiastic about Cob building and like my palatable cobin design. I am curious where in Brazil you have land to build on? My buddy Joe is here with me and he goes to Brazil a lot and speaks Portuguese fluently. If you have photos of your land I'd be happy to see them take care and good luck with your project I'm open to coming down to Brazil one day. Joe is coming down next month and may be able to visit your property if it's near where he is going.
@@cobalot9 Hi Miguel, well that's good news!! I have a land in Minas Gerais near São Paulo. It is near the city of São Bento do Sapucaí, and the region is called Serra da Mantiqueira. We have water abundance and cold whether during approximatly two months, but the rest of the year the temperature is ok. My goal is to improve my skills on rocket stoves building, both for outside and inside banches and hot showers. And a cob house as well. Where can I send some photos? By email? Where does Joe usually travel around here? Great to hear from you 👍💓!!!
Thats great. Yes, my friend Joe is going very near there in a month or so. He would like to come visit. He had been working with me lots and has great skills .. you can send pix of your property to my email cobalot9@gmail.com Miguel
@@cobalot9 Wow, some more great news that you friend Joe is coming soon. Let's talk more about It by email and I'll send you some photos! Best whishes 🤗🌈
Could you build one of these where the winters get a lot of snow and if the winters are very harsh would it be possible to make the walls two pallets thick for more insulation? I love the accessibility and flexibility of these, plus they are so cute!
Hi! Glad to hear you've been inspired to build a Palletable Cobin' there in the UK. As you probably know there are lots of Cob houses in England with all the rain so it shouldn't be a problem especially if you build the roof first with a good roof overhang. Do a lime plaster on the exterior to help protect it from the water. I'd love to see photos of your progress if you are able to share
@@cobalot9 Yes(!!), RU-vid should allow pictures. I just found you, and I LOVE what you are teaching us. Do you have a website or another place where people could post pictures?
Thanks for this video man. SOOOOO helpful, QUESTION if i am in a tropical country do I stil need to fill with insulation? Will that keep the cool temp inside the Cobin? What else can I fill it with if I have no problems with cold climates in a tropical warm country? Thank you in advance.
Yes, good question. You may want to pack the pallets with Earth more like rammed earth for insulation from the heat. Im building now in Florida and the straw insulation is not really keeping it cool when its hot out. May need to put extra wood slats between the pallet boards though to make the gaps smaller so the earth doesnt fall out...
how would this fair in northern Midwest winters? Amazing video btw, its been my favorite instructional video so far and has given me a lot of clarity on a non overwhelming path forward.
Hi glad you enjoyed my video I hope you do find it helpful. Yes you can totally do it in the north Midwest. I know a guy who built one in Chicago using this design and it did fine. You will probably still need to have a heat source in it though. You may also want to consider building the roof first before doing any of the cobwalls and have a nice 2 ft overhang around it. Good luck
I built a "double wattle n daub" hut in northern Minnesota based on a 1800 BCE archaeological site in Germany. This Palleteable Cob design will be way easier! I look forward to doing it instead. See my channel for photos of my primitive double wattle and daub" primitive hut. thanks
Really great idea to use pallets with the cob,I would imagine it goes up very quickly compared to pure cob. Regards the video - it would be helpful to spend a lot more time demonstrating what you are explaining, would give a much better idea of what needs to be done.
would this be suitable for tropical weather? And what happens when it rains when you are doing the cobbing? It wouldnt dry mutch i suppose and it might all collapse? Do you cover it up? Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
Yes it would be totally fine in tropical weather. If you are concerned about the rain, you can build the roof first before doing any cob. I have never had any of my cob collapse. If I dont have a roof on it, then sure, Id cover it up with a tarp if its raining. Once it had a good hydraulic lime plaster on it though it can handle some water on the walls.
A cob house is my dream home!! I want basically a cob castle though 😂 I want at least 5 decently sized bedrooms. My dream closet and beauty room. 2 living areas one with a sunken in floor for a conversation couch and a sun room. A corridor that’s a green house combo. I have met many builders in my area and none of them have ever heard of a cob house I met one native man that was building in this elite neighborhood a home enforced with metal bars and concrete that knew somewhat of it and he told me a story of a cousin he had that married a New Mexico native and he built her a house outta mud and left the floors as dirt and she said I’m not living in a dirt floor house you may as well take me back to Oklahoma that’s exactly what he did dropped her ass off back home with her dad 😂😂 hopefully my dream house will come true though ❤😂
hello building a community of tiny homes a few cob , tree house, one straw bale and cob , earth bag, a yurt and a container !!! plus a shed to tiny home ......and have a question about insolation,...can I use straw cob to finish off the tiny house shed convert....????? I'm in the deep south USA but from England making a add on using your cobin technique x love it please advise thanks x hugs
Great way to.use up all those pallets now being sent to the dump. For insulation using up some of our old clothing, which is now being sent to Africa, where they do not want it. We could shred it for inusulation.
Hello 👋 I just found your video. Love this simple, economic and sustainable way of building. I wanted to ask you, how do the palates and non-treated 4x4s stand to the humidity in Florida? I'm concerned about termites. Also, how about rain & wind? We have really nice hurricanes that visit us from time to time 😢 Much appreciation goes to you for sharing this creative way of building 🙏🌎
Hi Maria, glad you like my form of building. I have not had any issues with termites eating my 4x4 uprights. You can use pressure treated wood if you are concerned about this. Once it is encased in cob there is no off gassing so it's totally safe.
Awesome video! Turns out were doing quite similar things :) So nice to pick each others brain by displaying what we are doing. Going to chec out the rest of your chanel as well Be well
Yes this would be suitable in the northern states. You can try to double up the pallets but that would make framing in the windows and doors way more complicated. Even if you double up the pallets you will probably still need some sort of heat source side.
Hi Miguel. Great instructional video. Thank you! Love the natural building material. Would this design have a high enough R-value for colder climates, such as more northern parts of Canada? Would the walls need to be thicker, perhaps doubling up on the pallets and using more straw? Also, can a wood stove be installed for heat? I’m seriously considering a cob cabin, perhaps 400~500 sf or so. For ease of construction, I plan to build a simple rectangle shape. Would straw bale with cob be warmer? Just starting to research natural building more now. Again, wondering if suitable for Canada’s colder, often wetter climate. Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions.
Hi, Yes, you could build these in Canada. You would still want to use some sort of heater though. You could double up the pallets but that would make framing in the windows and door more complicated
@@cobalot9 Hi Miguel. Thank you for your reply! I really like the natural cob material for building. My biggest concern is making it warm enough. I expect it can be done. Canada dies get more rain, so wondering if this may be a problem, or not?
HA! I’m in Sebastopol! I’m wanting to move by my son in OK or AR and build one of these ... it’s his idea and here I am doing my research! Can I come check it out? I can do a drive by and not bother you at all.
Hi Jessica, Im actually not around there on the farm, as Im out in Florida now. It probably wouldnt be a great. Idea for you to visit the cobins without me being there.. Glad you like the designs ..
I am very interested in making something like this. I have been trying to figure out a solution to all of the stuff that we are wasting in America as the price of everything by just continues to go up. I used to work as a garbage man, and the amount of stuff that goes to the dump and winds up in the landfills just makes me sick. Especially when ALOT of it COULD be used for different purposes like you used toward the end of this video and used the plastic to insulate your little cabin. I really want to try that out here in PA. I have a bunch of plastic saved, and actually have some pallets saved as well. The area that I live has ALOT of clay in the ground. And there are fields of grass that could be used for straw. One of The issues that I am running into which has hindered me from starting to build is: sand. It is hard for me to come up with sand in my location to make the cob mixture without spending money on bringing it in from somewhere. I guess my question is: are there any other things that could be used instead of sand? I thought about collecting a bunch of broken glass and glass bottles and crushing them into a similar consistency as sand, and trying to use that, but I am not sure how well it would hold up? I am also wondering if the ashes from burning wood would be able to be used in building materials? Since I was a kid, I always dreamed of building a cement skatepark, and I feel like that dream is just so expensive these days, and yet finding out about this cob building stuff really makes me wonder if a skatepark could be built and hold up if built with cob? If so, I have a ton of ideas on things to build to make this area a nicer place to be without it costing a fortune, I just need to know how to actually do it. I’d like to think a million steps in advance BEFORE ever laying one brick, so that once I do start to build, things will actually run smoothly and go according to plan. I have learned from hard experience that doing something without a plan is a sure fire way for things to wind up not going according to plan (on account of not having a solid plan in the first place! Lol) Honestly, I want to do Like it says in the Bible and “Let all things be done decently and in order.” Anyway, thanks for reading my message. And thanks for making this video and doing what you do. It is very inspiring. 🙏
Hello, Roughly how long does one of these take to complete from start to finish? And would they survive a northern climate like Canada? Thanks for the great ideas!
wowza! very useful, thanks miguel:). i appreciate the breakdown of the process. might watch the whole thing again, taking notes, as a shortcut crib sheet for quick reference. there is a LOT of info in this one, and your enthusiasm is definitely inspirational. :D i am aiming to build a wee cobalotish structure in a really duff unused bit of garden here, where i am living in someone's living room, just for the experience of building it, in prep for when i can finally build my own home somewhere, life willing! there are so many homeless and disabled people like me, here in the uk, living on the kindness of others while we wait and hope and pray for space of our own. this whole series you have done makes me think something like this could happen here. patagonia: did you go to the welsh bit of it, perchance? all blessings, mate!
Very nice video. Thanks alot! The cardboard looked wet, isn't it a problem if the insulation is wet? Won't that create habbitat for mold and nasty stuff?
Yes, of course, you do want your insulation to be dry...in the project you were referring to, we had very limited access to ideal materials, in the middle of a wet season.
