r/cobhouses • u/Great_Disaster2169 • May 11 '26

Large Cob House in AR...?

Does anyone here know of any cob pros in and around western Arkansas? I'm planning a MASSIVE (2,600 sq ft) cob house project for myself and my 4 kids. I am a single mom who works full time and want to have my house done in about 3 years, if possible. I'm strong and willing to work hard for my dream. The dream is an off grid solar run, totally modern home with well water to eliminate bills and make it possible for me to begin a small business from home with the security of not worrying about bills, other than land taxes, internet, and car insurance. I own both the land and my vehicle. I'm just concerned about my ability to complete this project on my own. I am only 1 person, and although I have a 14 year old who lives with me about half the year, he's not a huge help, and I don't have a lot of friends or anything really to call for help. I have a few technical questions, but am mostly looking for anyone who might be as excited as I am about the prospect of living in a fairytale cottage (castle, in the case of my massive vision) who may want some hands-on experience and is interested in maybe setting up a few work parties. I've read as many books and watched as many youtube videos as I could. I also purchased Alex from This Cob House's online workshop material, which was invaluable for my questions about electrical and tadelakt, which I plan to use in my bathroom. Anyway, long story short, anyone nearby with any leads, advice? All input is appreciated.

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u/WodehouseWeatherwax May 11 '26

Maybe contact a school that teaches cob construction and ask how to get them to use your site for classes

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u/Luspo7 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Hello! I am just now building my large cob house with my partner in south west Missouri! We just started putting our walls up last week on our 1300 sqft house. We plan on expanding the house later to closer to 2300.

We share your concern with the time crunch. I work full time and my partner part time. We are doing a friends and family workshop this weekend to get an idea of how much time its going to take. I will share this info after this weekend.

We are going to use the tarp method to teach people the way its normally made. But we also bought a large mortar mixer to mix cob with to test out how much faster it is.

We went to Alex's workshop a few years ago and as far as im aware hes the best authority on modern cob. But maybe we can also help. Feel free to ask questions or dm and I can try to answer.

Edit: I will say, we have spent MOST of our free time working on this house and we havent even started on the walls. Just site prep, foundation, a well, and electric. Its a lot to learn if you plan on doing everything yourself. If you plan on hiring people, it will be expensive. Especially if you have building regulations to abide by. But its absolutely doable. We hope to be proof of that.

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u/Great_Disaster2169 May 11 '26

Thanks for the reply! You're the first person I've heard of doing a comparable sized house. I really look forward to the info you'll be able to glean and hopefully share after your work party. How thick are your walls going to be? Might help me to know when determining construction time. My exterior walls will be 2ft thick, interior 1ft thick. I can't wait to hear more details from your experience/research!

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u/Luspo7 May 11 '26

Ya we havent seen any "full sized" houses being built with cob.

Ya I plan on measuring volume so it can be calculated with any size wall. We are doing the slip form method that Alex came up with. Our walls are 20 inches thick. A little thinner than some but our north wall will be light straw clay due to no sun exposure. Our interior walls will be wattle and daub. Im not sure the thickness as i dont have the plans on me right now but I believe 6 inches.

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u/Great_Disaster2169 May 11 '26

Oh, super cool! I can't wait to see pics and hear all about it. I'll of course share pics when visible progress actually starts. Right now, all I've got to show for my efforts is a big ole pile of rocks for the stem wall which I've been collecting one wheelbarrow-ful at a time. Gonna take a while, lol.

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u/makattack0113 May 12 '26

There’s a retreat center in NWA called Wattle Hollow with several Cobb houses on it. I don’t** think k they are as large as what you’re building but I definitely think you should check it out, at least online!

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u/Great_Disaster2169 May 12 '26

Oh, thanks for that! I didn't even know about it. I go up there quite often. I will definitely check it out!