Designing and building cob homes can cost very little in materials and the finished product often has the feel of a hand-sculpted clay pot. As you can see the finished product is unlike anything modern building materials gives you.

A cob home literally can come from the earth around you. It’s built slowly by layering lumps of clay – usually a combination of dirt, sand, straw and water. The builders mix the clay by hand and foot, in a pit, and then stack those wet lumps up on the walls. As the walls dry and can support more weight, additional layers are added. The roofs are also often made from natural wood poles, locally milled lumber, and assembled carefully by hand due to the irregular shape.

This particular house is actually available as a rental on Mayne Island in British Columbia. You can learn more about it and even book a stay on Airbnb.com.

I especially love its round rooms, arched roof, and deep door & window openings. Everything in it looks as if it were lovingly sculpted from natural materials – from the spiral staircase, to the doors & windows, and to the floors. There is hardly a trace of modern manufacturing in this house. It’s obvious that few modern building materials were used.

The main caveat I’d offer for building a tiny house from natural building materials is that it takes more time and labor. Manufactured building materials like sheetrock, lumber, plywood, house wrap, and vinyl siding are all designed to make construction quicker and easier. So when planning and dreaming about your future tiny home consider the balance needed between time, cost, and aesthetics.

For those planning a tiny house on wheels in their future, cob and other earthen options, (like adobe, rammed earth, and earth bags), are not really viable due to their weight and road unworthiness of dirt. For a tiny house on wheels lightweight materials and a wood or steel frame make a better choice.

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