Janine Bjornson is a natural builder, practitioner and educator. She began her career in natural building when she trained with The Cob Cottage in 1996. Since then, she has taught over 50 workshops in Canada and the United States, from east to west. Her passion for building with natural materials bloomed out of her love for the earth, in conjunction with her concern for diminishing ecological resources and toxic buildings. As a result of this, Janine has devoted the last decade to immersing herself in the world of natural materials and the knowledge of how we can shape dwellings that are healthy, healing, inspiring, and beautiful. She has developed a penchant for natural paints, and plasters and loves the concept of “naturalizing” any kind of home. She loves to share this knowledge with others and this is evident in her enthusiastic teaching style. Janine has assisted in organizing 2 Natural Building Colloquia and she has presented at 3 of them. She teaches the natural building component of New College of California's EcoDwelling program. She lives in Sebastopol, California.

Q: Could recommend a natural roofing system that would be compatible with a mobile?

A: (Kelly)This is a tough one. I suppose it would be possible to do some sort of thatching up there. If you are thickening the walls you will need to create a new roof anyway, so thatch, or tiles might work...all depends on aesthetics and materials availability and your budget.

Q: Is there a way for me to make a form or pattern for a terra cotta roofing material made from this South Carolina red clay that is abundant here? I hope you can point me in the right direction. I have this idea to use a pvc pipe to act as a form for the tile and to bake it in an outdoor oven on my farm.

A: I have never done this work, therefore I contacted a friend that has had some experience with this. Here is what she said.....

The typical traditional thing is to use a wooden mold and lay the clay mix for the tile in a slab over it for forming. These molds are usually tapered at one end. I've been playing with using a used roof tile, purchased from a building recycling center, as a mold. Depending on diameter and taking into consideration shrinkage of the clay a PVC pipe cut to length should work
just fine. Clay has the great ability to hold shape memory and retain it after it comes off the mold, yet before it is dry. In Mexico we would stack them right into the earthen kiln wet and keep a small fire going to dry them. Once dry they were stacked in a 'house' and fired in groups of 2,000 or more for three or four days. There are many ways to do it and the most important thing is to find the right material and mix that can handle the form and fire.