[Cob] Insects inside a cob house?

[Patrick Newberry]

 A couple of thoughts on insects inside cob houses. 

1.) on roaches, what I've found at my house is that since the walls are solid they can't hide inside the walls like a stick house. Thus IF if find some roaches, I've learned they don't travel that far and thus a nest must be some where in the area. I've found thru some care full searching that I can almost always find the nest, usually in an indentation somewhere dark, in a electrical out let or something and then I spray the nest itself wiping out the whole thing.


2.) Have not had any problems with ants inside the house but outside, I have had a pretty big ant pile next to the wall. They  did not dig into the wall but the ant hill was building up so high that it was sort of merging into the wall a bit. I just took a shovel and kept digging the pile each day for a week till they got tired and move else where. 

3.) Some sort of Bee like creature. I mean they look like carpender bees at least in terms of size and agression but they dig holes in my unplastered cob walls. The walls look like machine gun bullet holes. Seems to be either a sleeping place or maybe a nesting place, one bee per hole. I've found a lime plaster seems to stop this. I haven't been too worried about it and have been real slow about dealing with the issue. 

Pat