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From: kirstendirksen
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  • any reason why it was not built into a hill to increase geothermal temp. regulation?

  • i like how the lady says "horse manure." It's just cute.

  • I love how the clay come from the same property.

  • Out of curiosity doe you have indoor plumbing,or electricty, and can a personbuild a cob just by oneself

  • @pianosyrup123 I know Margaret was on the farm property of others. I know they had solar and wind power right by her cottage. I'm not sure if she had plumbing in her cottage but I know others with cob cottages who do.

    If you look at the videos in the video responses above (and there are 7 or 8 more with Michael) you can see cob and other earth buildings that are finished and appear more like conventional homes when done (plumbing, electricity and all).

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  • Wait, you're drinking bottled water while building an eco friendly home? Am I the only one that sees the hypocrisy/irony here? : /

  • @Rannos22 nobodys perfect

  • @Rannos22 My school had banned bottled water because the companies who produce it are ripping you off, and they also cause suffering in third world countries. I say it's a righteous cause, and the school has water fountains anyway.

  • LoL who is the guy with the jockey and the black hair? He is so fuckin hot :P

    My sister wrote that :S

  • tatooine

  • Very interesting video. I like the house and I agree about that people tend to acquire more "stuff" to make them happy. I will have to attend a work shop to learn how to do all of this...thanks for sharing.

  • the beard guy is hot

  • hundreds ?? wher whas you aducated pepol did build with cob in africa 875 Bc 

  • That house is literally a piece of shit.

  • thank you very much, for taking your time for answer me, send you a hug in the light.

  • how much did you invest in that kind of house???

  • @monteshasta1 The investment wasn't so much in materials as labor. It took 10 months to build the cottage with anywhere from 1 to 10 people helping when they had time. I've talked to other people who have built their own earth homes and they've done things like "work parties" to get friends to help out (e.g. making things like mud bricks in a weekend). I did a video with a natural building expert who talked about the labor/materials costs of earth building, see: "DIY home from earth and straw".

  • Is there a video of the finished house?

  • @spider23000 I haven't been back to North Carolina to do a follow-up, but there are some photos of the finished cottage. Try a google photo search using "Pickards Mountain cob cottage".

  • And over half the earth's population live in earthen buildings BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO. They are poor as fuck.

  • so, when it rains, and the house gets wet, it smells like horse shit?

  • but does it blend

  • DIY builders: the hottest of nerds.

  • Brilliant!! How do I design the interior with shelving and the dugouts in the walls? Will the dugouts weaken the walls?

  • @kijordan1 The dugouts are a common feature in many cob homes and shouldn't weaken the walls if done right. I'm not an expert, but I know there are a lot of books out there that talk a lot about the details of building your own earth built home. I did a video series with Michael Smith (one attached as a video response) who has several books out on the topic.. one of which - "The Hand-Sculpted House" - was used by one of the builders in this video.

  • rly nice butt , approval!

  • Nice work how long did it take to build?

  • After watching all these tiny home videos, I gotta look up some mansions!

  • i can see her nipples

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  • what about the toilent and the kitchen?

  • very inspiring

  • It's a very neat idea, but personally, I wouldn't be able to live in a 3rd world country style house.

  • @mystfire lol. I know what ya mean, but still it's quite interesting. haha

  • @mystfire If she had wanted something bigger they could have built that. I've seen cob or adobe houses that are hundreds of square feet, full bath, full kitchen, jacuzzi, you name it. The advantage is the earthen walls are naturally insulated and help maintain a constant temperature. You're only limited by what you want.

  • she is sexy

  • You people look super-healthy! Must be the environment and choice of work.

  • If you used your own manure, you could say : 'I shit my house'

  • the woman talking looks like a female version of Anthony from Smosh

  • Hippies.

  • That is a very cool house!

  • It's adorable. 

  • Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

  • well don't know who thought it was a hobbit house, which it isn't, but its very cool

  • I want to build a small house like this somewhere around here but underground...

    The land here is really swampy though, you can see from the videos on my channel.

    I expect this type of building wouldn't last here.

  • this is great....back to the land literally that is what our society needs to do.... get back to the land and to simple fulfilled lives....

  • Eventually wouldn't the water retained in the soil on the roof collaspe it? And wouldn't rain deteriorate the mud walls making them eventually just fall apart?

  • @superkagome Actually cob homes are very water-resistant. It's important they have a good roof and good foundation, but if so, they don't collapse. I did a video with a natural building expert on the topic called "Natural buildings don't melt" watch?v=MCfS2-m-cpE

  • What if it rains?

    

  • No offense but Hobbits actually have bigger houses than that because most of their stuff is underground...

  • but i will have internet......lol...........

  • SunhanAllah!

  • what happens when it rains?

  • @ruffneck168 well they said the walls were partly made of manure so I guess when it rains it smells like shit

  • Not to be a downer, the house is cool but the location sucks. :/

  • Not exactly up to code I imagine.

  • YOU HIPPIE!!!! Go buy a BMW and be an American for crying out loud!

  • I hope you build an underground tornado shelter to go with this fantastic house!

  • how long did it take to finish and how much did it cost roughly?

  • those guys are hot

  • What area did you guys build this house? It's awsome btw!! :)

  • @TheSmilehuge It's in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

  • Horse poop? Ewww!!! XP

    LOL!

  • BEST HOSTESS EVER.

  • you gotta mow the roof!! HAHAHAA!!

  • So if there's a blizzard you need to expose your ass outside?

    What if the turd freezes to your ass?

  • Is it considered abusive by the law, or something like that?

  • It needs paint and colors. Some curtains too. xD lol

  • "When my kids whine that they live in a shit home, I just laugh."

  • It looks like a refreshingly natural setting to live in.

  • Living in something that small would drive me stark raving mad.

  • There's a million friggin' Mud Dauber nests on the rafters!!!

  • It doesn't look safe, what if someone dig through the wall.

  • nice

    

  • She's too pretty/nice to live in a Hobbit house. Seems like a cool idea though.

  • How earthquake resistant is this?

  • @herculesAML I'm not an expert, but from what I've read it is fairly resistant. I've read it's stronger than brick or block because it's a monolithic unit reinforced by straw which means no weak straight-line mortar joints. In one study, a test structure survived a simulated 7.4 quake with only minor cracks. Anecdotally, a cob mansion in NZ survived 2 major earthquakes which destroyed the town it's in. And South Yemen- a fault zone- has surviving Medieval earthen skyscrapers (13 stories).

  • @kirstendirksen so do you guys build small cabins or do u just do interviews of them?

  • @Bajaheat I don't build. I just videotape and edit videos about small homes, as well as many other environmental sustainability/simple living topics for a website I started with my husband called faircompanies

  • @herculesAML it can take a 10.6 much superior to modern day building materials IMO. it also affords the owner an air of undeserved superiority. something you really need to seperate yourself from the run of the mill eco-mentalists of the present day

    Just Ignore the plexiglass/plastic windows, they were "salvage" from home depot.

  • She will paid them with sex.

  • As long as I could fit ny 85" 3D Flat screen, I could live anywhere... Naw, I'm kidding. I have a 29" tv and mostly it just brings sadness or stupidity. I am starting to read and write more, which takes no room. And food gathering is a fine way to spend a day.

  • I would LOVE to have a house like this. Unfortunately with two young boys, I'd need a little more space than this :)

  • This is REALLY neat! :)

    

  • Question-Where's the bathroom?

  • @Slagythor Good question. I was wondering the exact same thing!

  • @Slagythor shit in the woods, because as you know we tend to aquire things because we think they improve our quality of life. It does however have solar power and an electrical socket to hook up their Mac computers and iphones they steal wifi from the capitalist pig down the street. grass beds, mud houses and shittin in the woods.

  • @Slagythor

    You're standing on it!

  • @Slagythor On the wall apparently.

  • @Slagythor

    The bushes about 40 yards infront of the house.

  • @Slagythor See that toilet paper out in the field? Yeah. Get digging.

  • @Slagythor They have composting toilets nearby in the woods.

  • @Slagythor HAHHAHAHAHA SOMEONE HAS TO PEE I SEE LOL

  • Those guys are real hotties, I want them to come build me something.

  • Yeah it seems all good for the earth, but he has a freaking sponge sea life killer. LOL

  • where's the jon?

  • At 1:50 i was like "is that Mark Zuckerberg? (CEO of Facebook)"....

  • @kelbitin No way. BOTH those guys were HOT! Mark 'Yuckerberg' looks like an alien!

  • this is cool and i aint hatin but do these people all sound stoned??

  • Oh My God!!!! They want us to live in mud huts!

    WTF dude! America is an Industrialized "first world" country with advanced construction materials and the like. Why in the hell would I want to live in a mud hut when I can live in a modern house?

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  • @italiancherrywine The problem with America is not what you think. We need to start decentralizing food and material production. That doesn't mean we need to live in a mud hut. We need to start buying locally grown foods, or if possible grow them ourselves; we need to stop relying on Corporate America to supply all our needs. We need to tune out the media which is telling us what to think, what to buy. We don't need to live in mud huts.

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  • @plbuster

    I mean that's not really the point... I don't think it's as much about weaning yourself off of "Corporate America" (although that might be an added bonus) as it is about living a simpler life for personal reasons. Some people just prefer living in a more "natural" house than the ones made of "advanced construction materials" that in my opinion are often built like shit anyway.

  • @pb237723 I understand the necessity of economizing on construction materials; a mud hut though? Maybe you should think more on the lines of log cabin style construction.. You also have to be real careful where the thing is built; earthquakes cause these types of buildings to collapse all around the world every year causing unnecessary death.

  • the walls are made of shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Great job guys, i'm tossing up between a cob house or stone house, both materials i have in abundance, Question how do you seal the internal walls so you don't get clay dust on you when you touch it ?. I am keen to try an outhouse first to see the finished effect.

  • DAMN! You hippies are ripped!

    On a more serious note, I really want to build one of these and live off the land but don't even know where to begin to begin! Any tips? I live in New York so I'd have to move out to where I'd build it.

    Did you have to buy the land?

  • Who is with me when i become a billionaire in building Hobbitun, and people who want to live there in happinesss doing hobbit things can buy a home an live oyt the remainer of their life?

  • beautiful interior. It will be a lovely little space!

  • Get a job!

  • very beautiful, i will keep this in mind as i continue living life ok?

  • I would absolutely LOVE to see how she's living in this house now! This cob cottage is absolutely gorgeous and I want to live in something very similar in the future. I don't want to be a slave to a mortgage all of my life.

  • @empouse Get an apartment.

  • @empouse I couldn't agree more. I am planning on this and helping others to do the same. Building in your spare time for less than $50'000 is possible if you do some of the grunt work yourself. Imagine you pay 3 and half times what you borrow so a $200'000 mortgage will cost you $700'000 over 25 yrs etc. Or pay nothing and live a free and richer life in more ways than one. Genius!

  • That guy with the beard is smoking hot!

  • Do the flat abs come with the work? Nice work.

  • that is a beautiful space. doesn't seem small at all. i want~!

  • brilliant

  • hello! i love what you are doing. i have wanted an earth home for some time. my sister and mother want to know how you will cook and what happens when it rains?

  • Great house! I live in Canada's arctic so this wouldn't be practical here...still it seems like a great palce to live

    question though: is erosion from rain a problem?

  • @InuvikPhil I asked natural building expert Michael G. Smith the erosion question for a video called "Natural buildings don't melt" youtube . com/watch?v=MCfS2-m-cpE His basic response: it's not a problem if you have a roof, a foundation (to protect from ground moisture) and possibly a protective plaster (“if you live in a place with wind-driven rain that comes in horizontally”).

  • @kirstendirksen

    thank you for the response!

  • @InuvikPhil Canada's arctic? YOU CAN LIVE IN AN IGLOO WHICH IS EVEN BETTER

  • Got job Devils. Too bad you're 500 years late on figuring out your life style is retarded. Hey! Maybe you can do one better by killing your evil cracka race!

    NOW THAT'S WHAT I'D CALL HELPING THE ECOSYSTEM!

  • Just wondering if there were any finished picture of this cottage.

  • This is like soooooo totally inspiring. I'm gonna like totally do this for sure! I already like own a Prius with a coexist bumper sticker that is like totally doing great things for this planet. I want to do more like for this world, and this planet, and like darfur, and like all that stuff. I love to eat raw vegetables, and not that chemical laced meat is bad ohhhh so bad.

  • @foolclip Ucan like use all this clay and like use all the stones..it would be like 10 degrees cooler...like..um i like cosmos but i don't like to garden regularly oh wait let me build this cool little nook in the wall..gee I need to get rid of sum stuff ...first I need to get my raw veggie platter ready for dinner...

  • @foolclip You "like totally" took the words out of my mouth....Who ever you are....you ROCK!

  • @foolclip "Like Totally" Took the words out of my mouth.... :-}

  • bollix

    

  • kewl

  • We have a myth here in the uk that old buildings had manure added to the daub to make it pliable, the truth is on site they would have used horses or cows walking on the daub to mix it and a by product of this was the manure falling into the mix as the animals walked over it. I am restoring a 15th century cottage and i wouldn't dream of adding dung to my daub mixes , its just not necessary. NHL 3.5 can be added to strengthen it if needs be. Nice house though , id love to build a cob house.

  • Wonderful! The only thing I'd mention is a personal revelation regarding "acquiring things". Absolutely, I agree with the sentiment, and at the same time I've come to realize we really must acquire as many useful things as possible now that will be invaluable in the future, when those materials are not as easily obtained in the future, when the economy will look quite different.  BRILLIANT BUILDING and great video!

  • I saw a lizard, which leads me to think that this isn't the northeast on a warm summer day. You might be able to do this in the southwest, but not so sure about the northeast.

  • @sam8988378 It's in North Carolina. Though there are plenty of cob homes- and very old ones- in England where it rains a lot and not that hot so really this can be done anywhere. Though you're better off using a mix of cob and straw bale for better insulation and passive heating/cooling functions. I recently learned this when interviewing a natural building expert for a series I've posted. For more on this topic, see "An earth-built passive solar house: cob (south), strawbale (north)"

  • @sam8988378 I live in North Carolina and there are plenty of lizards around here. Also, NC is not really the northeast, closer to the southeast.

  • i wonder if its just clay if it rains a lot would it melt away whats keeping it from decomposing

  • @fromkellytowilliams A lot of people have asked that. So I had an expert in natural building (Michael Smith, co-writer of "The Hand-Sculpted House") talk about that in a video. You can find it in my videos under "Natural buildings don't melt"

  • Teach the Haitian people how to build cob homes. After the earthquake there seems to be a large amount of concrete just laying around. It could be broken down which could be used for an aggregate in place of straw. It seems like a good solution to permanent housing there instead of them living in tents.

  • wait a minute...horse manure in the clay? They said that it smells some when it is wet, but when the walls dry, there is no smell. Okay what about when it rains? >_> Other than that it is a nice spot.

  • @Timothy2035 Once the manure is old it won't smell anymore. I did a video with a woman with a composting toilet and she said that after a year the pathogens are all gone from human manure. In fact she showed us what it looks like and it looked like dirt and smelled like dirt. If you want to see the video it's called "An urban composting toilet & humanure for the garden".

  • Wow, she's beautiful & ecologically minded! Thumbs up!

  • yurt or cabin or this? i dont know. how hard is it to build one of these?

  • @999gandalfthekid I can't answer your question, but I just uploaded a series on natural building by an expert in cob and other earth materials (straw bale, slip straw, etc). He co-wrote the book "The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage" which was a resource for the guys in this video. You can find the videos on my channel-- the overview piece is called "DIY home from earth and straw".

  • @999gandalfthekid, I like yurts. Good thing about yurts is can move them if need be. Look another option as well, google "A low inpact woodland home". Couple made it in UK for less 3000 pound. Very stealthy.

  • @0urGaia that was a great house . thats how I want to live when I escape from this concrete jungle I live in

  • You can make a cob house with a loft or with several rooms. It isn't pioneer living, but simply utilizing nature's building materials.You can also incorporate electricity and plumbing into a cob house. In doing so however you move away from completely natural building but it's better than using drywall, adhesives, carpets etc.. that are very poisonous. You can still be eco-friendly by utilizing grey water systems, composting toilets, fire burning ovens and heaters.

  • what is durability of suck building ?

  • This is SO NEAT! The house has a warm interior color too. I would love to see it furnished. I'm sure it will be quite cosy and homey.

  • This is SO NEAT! The house has a warm interior color too.

  • that would be great to live in

  • This video was a great presentation of Cob Structures, without them even trying.

  • Sweet!

  • my god, who's that attractive cob cottage person in the white athletic t? And goddam is Greg attractive. :-) Greg, come help with my cob cottage!!

  • I wonder what their property taxes are like.

  • Fantastic ! Great presentation....Here in SE Indiana we have sometimes excessive rainfall that is a concern for this type of construction. I have friends that built a wonderful strawbale home.....right up to the point where the walls suffered moisture infiltration and they literally began to compost....Sometimes it's difficult to be a pioneer.........

  • @61804shill What did they use as an exterior wall? Straw bale is usually used as insulation or structural elements, so once it is covered with whatever exterior you choose, it should be just as durable as conventional insulation. I just shot an interview with a natural building expert (which I'll be posting soon) and he talked about how as long as cob buildings are built right (with a good roof and foundation, plus exterior plaster) they should be as stable as conventional homes.

  • @kirstendirksen

    these homes will be around far longer then a conventional home in western civilization. right now homes are engineered to fail.

  • 4:40 Can we really have a lot of fun?

  • he build

    she talk

    and talk

    and talk

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  • @opaz79 Of course. That's the whole point of it. So you listen to

    and learn

    and learn

    and learn

  • @opaz79 They're the interns and she's their boss. :-)

  • @SuperSexyBoiGod Well, I am sorry that you where treated bad by my southern brethren. I hope you are treated better next time. If you could build a cob house I bet you would get some help? At least I hope so.

  • @SuperSexyBoiGod Hey SuperSexy, I grewup in Texas in the country and those "rednecks" would probably help you build a cob house. At least the ones I knew. Most are hard working people that don't like others sticking their noses into their buisness. If you respect them then they will respect you