No, our soil was too sandy for that. But we did bild several structures with ferro-cement and found it very useful. It is not as labour intensive as cob is, I would imagine. But are you already on your block or you just thinking up ideas for the future?

Just thinking of ideas, I was studying up on inexpensive flooring when I wandered into the cob house movement and began reading up on it.

I'll be doing some renovation soon, God willing. My uncle built his own house from scratch, seems to run in the family.

I'm not much of a fan of vinyl or laminate flooring you see, I like good wood or stone, but the cost of it adds up per square foot, so I have been idly reading up on alternatives, from softer woods not normally used for flooring these days to clay.

I must say the look of cob or adobe walls and flooring certainly is good. It feels more 'genuine'.

How did you find building with ferro-cement? How is it cost-wise?

There's something to be said for cinder-block houses.

The only floors we have ever laid have been concrete. We were building from scratch. We came by a supply of timber very cheaply and laid flooring boards directly onto concrete and that worked well. We had so much timber that we made a timber floor above our ceiling and this served for extra storage and for insulation.

I have never heard of cinder blocks. We also build walls with factory made cement blocks, each one weighing 16kg. and home made cement bricks (these for a cellar).

The ferro-cement was very economical, otherwise we would not have used it. We built the timber frame of the walls, then fastened chicken wire to that frame then sewed hessian on the chicken wire, then rendered it with thick slurry of sand and cement (3:1).  

We have also made outdoor furniture with this method. We would take an old metal chair frame, wrapped it up in old chicken wire, then cover it with hessian, then render it. We've made single seaters and banana chairs. It might be a good way to start experimenting with the feel of the material and the method, though of course you'll be stuck with a permanent structure! We added colour to get rid of the dead grey colour of the cement.

Out of the same materials my husband built an Empty Tomb, symbol of the Resurrection, with a rolling stone which he would roll closed on Good Friday and sneak out before daybreak to roll back on Easter Sunday morn. Of course this made a deep impression on our children, neighbours and anybody who came to visit.

Anyway, each one has to use the materials that are available. I hope you get as much pleasure out of your building as we did.

Think of it as an art form. On rereading, I think we could have put the hessian first then secured it with chicken wire (with the chairs that is, not the walls).