Families & Homes | Simple Living | Photo Essays

Building a Handmade Cob House

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posted Aug 13, 2010

Brian Liloia had never built anything before he took on the task of building his own home. See how he turned a mixture of straw, clay, and sand into a uniquely cozy place to live.

Click here to play the slideshow.

Photos courtesy of Brian Liloia

Unplugged in Missouri: Meet Brian

I live at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, an intentional community in Northeast Missouri devoted to sustainable living. We have a few ecological covenants that members agree to live by, but beyond those guidelines (one states that all energy must come from renewable sources, and another that says all lumber must come from reclaimed or sustainable sources), it is up to members to decide how they want to live. There is nothing stating that members must eat only local food, or that they can only drive some number of miles in a vehicle per year – members make choices based on their own ecological values, under the umbrella of the ecological covenants.

To live sustainably, in my eyes, means to live a lifestyle that can continue forever, to use resources that are immediately available, and to avoid causing deep and irreparable ecological harm. Since I can’t make my own solar panels or wind turbine or deep cycle batteries, I’ve decided to live without electricity in my cob home. I am interested in crafting a lifestyle that is self-sufficient, not dependent on resources from afar, and does not include things that I cannot make for myself. Unfortunately, electricity will never be generated without having some ecological impact in its creation.

Self-sufficiency does not happen in a day, a week, or even a year–it takes time and effort. It requires looking at the world through a different set of eyes than the ones our progress- and wealth-driven culture have given us.

My electricity usage is clearly not zero (I am typing this on a computer, after all), but I have cut down on my need for it significantly. Ultimately, it’s important to realize what is possible (and probable) with the goal of living a no-impact lifestyle. Do light bulbs and computers and power tools fit into a sustainable future scenario? You be the judge…

Interested?

Why Build Resilience? Get the facts from our Fall 2010 issue, A Resilient Community
How Resilient Are You? Take our quiz to find out.

Brian Liloia builds and blogs at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Northeast Missouri.

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. chillstrom. (2010, August 10). Building a Handmade Cob House. Retrieved February 03, 2012, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/building-a-handmade-cob-house. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

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Reader Comments

Electricity and self-sustainability

Posted by Bruce Mortland at Aug 21, 2010 10:32 AM

I suppose we could agree that we must have SOME electricity. After all, we do want operating rooms and traffic lights!

Brian Liloia brings up an interesting take on sustainability. He's taking the [radical] (and I mean that in a good way!) approach to electricity and saying that if he can't make it with nearby resources, then he will do without electricity. I HAVE to applaud him. He's exploring a path much closer to how we should be than I.

But, getting back to the traffic lights. And even Brian's computer. We must have some electricity and it seems that we must understand and analyze the waste stream from the plant that produces solar panels and see if we can make that production facility sustainable as well.

Thanks Brian!

We still need some electricity but this seems like a good start.

Posted by Alex at Aug 28, 2010 11:12 PM

Like the previous commenter, I agree that some electricity is vital for stuff like operating tables, hospitals, and that the internet is too vital for us to give up on computers. (After all, if it weren't for the internet, I doubt this movement for sustainability, fair trade, and the like would be nearly as big as it is now.) Me, I would like to have a fridge, a washing machine, a fan for summer (because air conditioners, aside from being huge energy hogs, make me too cold anyway) a space heater for winter, and a computer. A microwave would be nice too because it's so versatile. Limited electricity use will also save me some money. But that's me thinking about the future.

Cob Luxury

Posted by Poor Richard at Oct 08, 2010 02:39 AM

The cob house has a kind of transcendent luxuriousness that moves me to pity for the sterile luxuries of the rich. The hand-smoothed (not troweled), oiled and waxed earth is closer to naked flesh than any tanned animal skin. The delicacy of the inlaid tile mosaics is magical. The hand-molded nooks and crannies are intimately personal. I am moved and inspired by what these young mud daubers have gone and done.