Cob Cheap roofing and tree in house.

[Patrick Newberry]

I figured I throw out my latest work on cheap roofing. 
I've talked about this off and on so I'll give a brief recap.

I'm using locally harvested trees for vigas,
slats from scrap wood used in furniture making as well slats.

I lay a layer of tar paper down on the slats (1x1 - 1x 1/2) with about 
an inch space between each slat.

lay carpet on top of tar paper, with back side of carpet facing up.
paint basement/roofing sealer/ ashphalt emulsion in a reasonably liquid 
form on top of this (back side) carpet. I had initially planned on 
using a lime solution/plaster with the carpet to keep down any mold but 
the ashphalt emulsion/carpet and roof function seem to go together 
quite well.

Chicken wire on top of this from which the ferro-cement layer will be 
poured/build.  Kool seal on top of this. 

Not sure of the R-value of this roof, not great but I have a feeling 
that it will work fine in our mild climate in a cost vs performance 
standpoint. 


One last little item, and that is a young persimmon tree has sprung up 
inside the dome. It's dried in now, but the floor is still dirt. I'm 
tempted to let it grow but keep it pruned as to not face the tree thru 
the roof hassle.  The sky light at the center of the dome seems to 
bring in enough light for it to grow. 

Latter, 
Pat.
http://www.gnat.net/~goshawk
"There is No Hope, but I may be wrong."