[Cob] roofing

[Thad Feetham]

OK so using the suggestion from Karen in Alberta... I used Google to unquire about ant control.
   
  I put this in Google:  "pest control"+organic+cob+straw bale
   
  Found this:
  http://www.greenbuilder.com/sbc/newsletters/98july.html
   
  I am not qualified to fully answer this question of ant contol; however I am a building designer and have some suggestions.  Also a quick read tells me that boric acid sprayed during construction on the framing is not toxic to humans and toxic to ants.  I did not see a reference to a physical barrier which i would think would be the long term solution.  
   
  I would suggest this however:   The floor should be raised 8" min. above the surrounding grade.  The foundation should have no cracks in which pests could enter.  The floor should be continuous over the foundation stemwall such that no crack could develop between the floor and the wall.  I am refering to a detail in which the floor is poured or set inside the stemwall of the foundation.  This detail would certainly crack at the floor/stemwall connection.  So therefor: the floor slab should be poured over the top of the stemwall.   A continuous non-ferrous metal barrier would be set into the top of the slap directly under and centered on the wall which is resting on the edge of the slab directly over the stemwall.  In commercial construction this would be similar to a "water-stop" which is used to make cold joints in concrete waterproof.  So.... aluminum or copper would be used to create a vertical barrier that would be set into the slab floor under the wall and would knife into the
 wall (cob or strawbale).  Boric Acid would be liberally applied to the underside of the wall base.  
   
  I have had problems with ants at my house.  Another suggestion I would have is to make sure there are no buried wood or dead root systems close to the house.  We have a colony that comes for a visit every year that lives in the root system of a tree we removed 18 years ago.  
   
  That is about all I have to say about ants.
  What say the rest of you?
   
  Peace
  thad
   
  

Dognyard <dognyard at stockroom.ca> wrote:
  

Thad Feetham wrote:
> 
> Wanted to get this question out there:
> 
> Just have to ask. What roofing material would be available to use as rainwater collection that would be safe to use for potable water?

http://www.rainharvesting.com.au/roof_surface.asp

This paper was done in 2003, so there may be more options beyond what
they are recommending:

http://www.cchrc.org/BMP%20RW%20catchment.pdf

And here's a bit more info:

http://www.leafbeater.com.au/usa/10steps.asp

It's quite easy to do a comprehensive internet search. Using Google or
Altavista, or whatever search engine you want to use, put in as many
terms as you can think of in the query, and use a plus sign in front of
each word. For keeping more than one word together in the search (such
as rainwater catchment), put the erm in quotation marks.

So your search query might look like this:

+"potable water" +roof +catchment +material +roofing

Karen in Alberta

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