Tue, 11/17/2020 - 15:55

Here's a previously unpublished one from the vaults. Sometimes you want a warm butt NOW, so this outdoor/weatherproof rocket heater we built at Wheaton Labs in Montana (not a rocket mass heater) uses partially buried 50 gallon steel drums bent in a U shape to make a "bell bench" that warms up immediately and evenly.


Mon, 11/16/2020 - 15:18

I've been coming here since I was a kid and it just keeps getting wilder. Jim Bishop has been building this castle in the mountains above Pueblo Colorado mostly by himself from stone he picks up by the side of the road since 1961.

Is it bigger on the inside than on the outside? It just keeps going.

 

Up and…

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Wed, 11/11/2020 - 19:45

When European settlers hit the great plains of North America in the last part of the 1800s they found a challenging environment with prairie fires, sudden storms, temperatures ranges from over 100 degrees Farenheit to fifty below, and almost no trees or stone to build houses with, only grassland as far as the eye could see. From that grassland we get a unique form of earthen building called the Soddie. It's made almost entirely from blocks of sod.--dirt…

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Mon, 11/02/2020 - 16:59


Mon, 11/02/2020 - 16:58


Mon, 11/02/2020 - 16:56

The CottageRocket is our take on the Rocket Mass Heater for tiny houses, treehouses, school buses, mobile homes, houses with wooden floors or crawl spaces or basements--any place where a larger thermal mass bench would be a problem, but some thermal mass for overnight heat would be desirable. we get a lot of questions about what they look like on the inside. You can find a lot more of our work on CottageRockets and other Mud and Fire projects by becoming an Uncle Mud supporter for as little as $1 per month at…

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Mon, 11/02/2020 - 16:54

My birthday present to myself back in December was building a portable sauna with a CottageRocket heater in it. 10 months later I have finally had the time to seal it up enough to get a really good sweat on. there is still work to do before I give the full tour but it felt really good. If you like this sort of thing subscribe to our channel or join us for more exclusive content at unclemud.com/patreon


Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:17

The CottageRocket is a Rocket Mass Heater for small spaces. The insulated heat riser gives us a hot, clean fire so we can store the heat in a thermal mass in the house instead of sending it up the chimney. 


Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:16

Every so often a bunch of lovely people comes to my house to learn about Rocket Mass Heaters by building their own CottageRocket or WorkshopRocket to take home. This is the kind of fun we get up to. Join us at Unclemud.com


Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:14

 Cleaning up after myself is my least favorite part of mud building so I wanted to share an idea I had that makes bucket cleaning go much quicker. You may notice that you can't hear anything I say while the power sprayer is going. I thought about voicing over that part but it turns out that nothing I say during that bit is particularly useful so enjoy the relaxing sounds of water drowning out my voice. 


Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:13

Instead of a Yule Log video people put on for the holidays if they don't have a fireplace we are thinking of creating a Pizza Cam. Since it only takes a few seconds to cook a pizza in an earthen oven we may need to disturb the relaxing vibe of the video by switching out multiple cooking pizzas. What do you think? The next big viral hit? 


Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:11

 It is always fun to visit Deanne Bednar at Strawbale Studio but this install was especially fun as we FINALLY got a good heat source in  the cob and strawbale sauna we started in 2014 and got to share the CottageRocket rocket mass heater design with a whole bunch of lovely folks in Michigan. For more exclusive content join us at Patreon.com/unclemud 


Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:10

 Here we show you how to do the Shake Test, Snake Test, and Smash Test on your soil samples so you find the best mix for your cob building project. This is the quickie version. You can get the extended version for free with our Soil Testing Cheatsheet at https://unclemud.com/store/Uncle-Mud-Cheat-Sheet-2-Testing-your-Soil-for-Earthen-Building-Ebook-PDF-p216246721 or get it and a lot more exclusive content and support for your projects by…

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Sun, 10/11/2020 - 00:08

Near my home there is a magic place called Holden Arboretum (holdenarb.org). We regularly walk in the woods there for inspiration. Today we stumbled on this little village and there didn't seem to be anyone home so at first so I took some pictures for my memory book. Their homes reminded me of the cob and wood and stone buildings my friends and I love to build together. 


Thu, 09/17/2020 - 14:42

 It kinda looks like a big nose with one flaming nostril but it works really well. Cob is a mix of sandy clay and straw that we can sculpt into a pizza oven or a rocket mass heater or even a house. 


Thu, 09/17/2020 - 14:41

 We had a lovely cob oven build even though it was a cold, wet day. We managed to get the fire cooking hot enough to dry out the whole oven. Part 2 shows you the whole oven. Join us at https://patreon.com/unclemud exclusive mud and fire content 


Thu, 09/17/2020 - 14:40

 There's always something going on at Wheaton Labs so Rodney and Uncle Mud dropped in for a week of play time building and repairing rocket heaters and sawmills and electric vehicles and so forth. 


Thu, 09/17/2020 - 14:39

 We built this rocket mass heater in Gracie's basement in the fall of 2019.  It uses a cob mass bench with a terracotta bell for the thermal mass and a standard 8" firebrick J tube core. It runs on sticks gathered from the yard and hardwood scraps from the local flooring mill. In September 2020 we checked in on it to get it ready for the heating season. Our client is very happy with her warm floors and low energy bills. For more exclusive mud and fire content join us @  https://www.patreon.com/unclemud


Fri, 09/04/2020 - 11:36

Support us @ https://www.patreon.com/unclemud

One of the reasons that many of the oldest buildings in the world are made of cob is because cob is super…

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Fri, 09/04/2020 - 11:35

 This was one of our first mass benches built with vermiculite, cob, brick, and stove pipe.  It's served us well but we've learned a lot over the years and we're getting ready for an upgrade.