Talk:Cob (material)

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[edit] Cost of wall

Re the 4 bedroom cob house in Worcestershire - "The total construction cost was £300 000, but the metre-thick cob outer wall cost only £20 000.." I'm not sure how this compares with ordinary houses - it's expressed as though £20 000 is cheap, but how much would an ordinary wall (or a well-insulated wall) cost in a similar house? --Singkong2005 00:40, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

You're right, it does say it as if it's cheap, which it's not - words like "only" should really be avoided in this context as it represents a POV on what constitutes "cheap" (however if it had cited a comparison it would've been forgivable). This figure of £20,000 is probably incorrect, as it actually costs next to nothing to build a house out of cob (mud and straw is generally free! Also I've got reliable sources stating that cob houses have been built for under £1000 total cost exc. land.) even though to be fair his house was pretty extravagant. The only real cost comes from the use of timber, slate, glass, labour, equipment hire, sand, and the fact that he used shillet in his cob mix. Since the cost of these materials depends mainly on local availability of the material the price is really irrelevant anyway. On the topic of shillet, the article says that Kevin McCabe was the first person to use shillet in cob, which is plain untrue, as I have seen Cornish cob cottages with shillet cob, which was exposed when they were demolished. generally I'd say that the section on McCabe's house is pretty unencyclopedic, and would say delete it until someone can be bothered to cite it - the section doesn't really add anything to the article and what little information it contains is debateable at best. ▫Bad▫harlick♠ 02:07, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Just noticed the cite for this claim, however I'm still uncomfortable with it as I don't feel that it's representative of the subject, nor is it possible for me to verify without a copy of that newspaper. So my recommendation remains "delete". ▫Bad▫harlick♠ 02:06, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

Hello, Was wondering why the external links list keeps disappearing and why some links are being removed. Thanks. - 1/30/07 (Ddraig)

Someone was adding links to sites that were commercial interests, blogs, and/or forums, and an edit war ensued between two contributors, because these types of links aren't allowed unless the circumstances are exceptional (IE the whitehouse website on the whitehouse article, or the coca cola company website on the coca cola article) or if there is a general lack of suitable external websites on the internet. In this case there are lots of good websites on the subject and the circumstances are hardly exceptional. ▫Bad▫harlick♠ 02:00, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

So if I'm understandign this correctly the website promotes a discussion forum, business, or a blog then they are not allowed? What kind of links are acceptable then? I would have thought things like cobprojects.info or cobworkshops.org would be alright? Thanks Again - 1/31/07(Ddraig) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.47.114.250 (talk) 20:46, 31 January 2007 (UTC).