Earth building has a history going back thousands of years - in fact probably to the time that man first became a builder. There are many examples of cob and wattle & daub houses several hundred years old still in use in the UK, and rammed earth and adobe buildings much older can be seen in drier climates.frozenthunderbolt wrote:earthship, cob, rammed earth/adobe or earthbag. while some people may have good results from them i have reservations about their durability.
In a wet climate like the UK, the building has to be properly detailed, and the correct sort of render or protective coating used. Apparently, in recent times, failure of cob buildings which had stood for hundreds of years was down to a modern waterproof coating which did not let the walls dry out, so moisture would accumulate in them, eventually leading to catastrophic failure. I don't think the principles of construction are difficult to understand, but a proper understanding of what you are doing seems essential.
A few years ago an architect-designed cob house was build and sold in the UK for the best part of a million quid.
In fact, IIRC, a year or so ago we had someone on this forum who had built his own cob house. Can't remember what his name was, but a search may turn up something interesting.
In answer to the OP's question, circumstances prevailing, I wouldn't buy any of them, but I'd like to have a go at building one or two of them myself.
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