Cob Ferro-cement roofs?

Mon Oct 26 10:02:10 CST 1998

Hello everyboby, has anyone had any experience using ferro-cement to make a roof?  I just read an article on the Homesteading.org page about it.  It seems like the flexibility of ferro-cement(cement and chicken wire, in this case, no rebar) would be ideal for a cob house utilizing round logs as beams and rafters.  The key word is "flexibility," I just hate making exact measurements.  Just this last weekend, we built a 10x15 shed roof out of galvanized steel, and it was a problem getting everything lined up and square what with using round poles.  So right about now ferro-cement is looking good to me!  My property is heavily wooded, and we are in the process of thinning the trees out at the house site.  So I want to utilize these young trees (mostly beech) if I can.  Ferro-cement can also be used for making cisterns.  My fantasy is to have a ferro-cement roof catch the rainwater and send it to a ferro-cement cistern underground.  Any thoughts or opinions are welcome.

Oh yeah, and as an update: we are still working on the foundation for our first cob building and I have decided to go with using cob mortar once the rocks reach ground level.  I sure am glad we built the roof for the shed last weekend before we built the roof over the cob building, we learned alot.  What I plan on doing is, once the foundation is done, to build the roof (20x18) before cobbing up the walls.  If anyone has any opinions or experience with that, feel free to share it.

Thanks, Jud
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Hello everyboby, has anyone had any experience 
using ferro-cement to make a roof?  I just read an article on the 
Homesteading.org page about it.  It seems like the flexibility of 
ferro-cement(cement and chicken wire, in this case, no rebar) would be ideal for 
a cob house utilizing round logs as beams and rafters.  The key word is 
"flexibility," I just hate making exact measurements.  Just this 
last weekend, we built a 10x15 shed roof out of galvanized steel, and it was a 
problem getting everything lined up and square what with using round 
poles.  So right about now ferro-cement is looking good to me!  My 
property is heavily wooded, and we are in the process of thinning the trees out 
at the house site.  So I want to utilize these young trees (mostly beech) 
if I can.  Ferro-cement can also be used for making cisterns.  My 
fantasy is to have a ferro-cement roof catch the rainwater and send it to a 
ferro-cement cistern underground.  Any thoughts or opinions are 
welcome.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Oh yeah, and as an update: we are still working 
on the foundation for our first cob building and I have decided to go with using 
cob mortar once the rocks reach ground level.  I sure am glad we built the 
roof for the shed last weekend before we built the roof over the cob building, 
we learned alot.  What I plan on doing is, once the foundation is done, to 
build the roof (20x18) before cobbing up the walls.  If anyone has any 
opinions or experience with that, feel free to share it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks, Jud</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>