Territory
Materials & Methods
Earth, straw, cordwood, timber, and how they go together.
Material Notes
Forty feet of rammed earth
The Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg, SC, has rammed-earth walls about 40 feet tall. A material note on pisé and how it ages.
Field Notes
Is it legal? Natural building and the code
A plain guide to model-code appendices for cob, straw bale and tiny houses, and why an appendix existing is not the same as your town allowing it.
Library records
The full Library → Dwelling · D-04 Church of the Holy Cross, Stateburg A Gothic-revival church of 1850–52 with rammed-earth walls about 40 feet tall. A National Historic Landmark since 1973. Historical Method · M-08 Cob Hand-built monolithic walls of clay subsoil, sand and straw. Has a model-code appendix in the 2021 IRC that towns can choose to adopt. Code path exists Method · M-06 Earth sheltering Building into or under the ground so soil moderates temperature and the land above stays green. Needs careful structure, drainage and insulation. Case by case Method · M-07 Rammed earth (pisé de terre) Damp earth tamped hard in layers inside temporary forms. Walls can stand for centuries if kept dry and protected. Case by case Material · T-01 Earth (subsoil) Clay, sand and silt dug from the site or nearby. Strong in compression and heavy, but a poor insulator and weak when wet. Established Material · T-02 Straw The dry stalks left after a grain harvest. Used baled for walls and chopped as fibre in cob and plasters. Established Person · P-06 William W. Anderson Physician who settled in Stateburg in 1810, built in pisé de terre at his Borough House, and persuaded his church to build in it too.