Wow! This is gorgeous! It all looks very well built and solid, in addition to being beautiful! Well done!

Up here (in New England), this is not uncommon. We need a good pitch on a well-supported roof for snow load and for rain runoff. It can definitely be done. There are even a couple of natural building companies that specialize in metal roofing on cob/straw bale builds. You may need to add more support from the ground up to hold a metal roof. I am not an expert. It may be worth consulting our teacher directly about this. I know it can be done pretty simply though from what I have personally seen and read about up here. I hope it goes well for you! 💖

Bravo! This is amazing to hear! France has (depending upon regional rules) been quite natural building friendly in recent years, in an effort to combat climate change. It is wonderful to see that rule now being expanded to garden roofing and things like solar energy, etc. Thank you for sharing this article!

@Matt Brna Bien sur! Pas de problème! 💖✨️

I had to actually buy some clay powder for this project, as (after soil tests and another tinier oven test just did not have enough clay to hold it together) the soil here is very sandy and rocky, but not too rich in clay. For the first layer, I used some (a small amount) of the soil here, plus sand and clay and a little water and danced and danced in that cob mixture. Then, I used clay and pine sawdust/shavings for the insulating layer and a clay slip coating on the top layer. So far, especially the first layer, is holding nicely. If it makes it through the winter season, I will do a larger version in a similar way.

Are you talking about Tadelakt? That usually goes over cob to waterproof it, is lime-based and also does use olive oil based soap and burnishing with tumbled and smooth semi-precious stones. It works very well, but is a little bit different technique from cob. It creates a crackled finish and looks lovely when finished. It is very water resistant, too.

You can also buff it with wax after it cures for further protection from water.