[Cob] Re: cob: ant control again

[Amanda Peck]

I'm trying to think if Thad's suggestions would have worked with my dad's 
house in the tropics (teeny black ants).  Might have.  Slab-on-grade, 
possibly a leak there, although he thought that they came in through the 
window (three feet off the ground).  I'm not going to go talk to his old 
landlord to find out.

And there was someone on another list who suggested that one could deter 
termites by encouraging ants around the foundation--that they were so 
territorial as a genus that if you could find a harmless ant you could 
encourage them and not have problems with other varieties.  Somehow even 
with cob I'd doubt that we'd choose to encourage the termites in order to 
discourage the ants.
..............
Thad offered a link and these remarks (snipped a bit):

   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?