Cob: rat runs in cob walls (fwd)

[Wendy Smyer Yu]

The broken glass chills me also, what about something a la earthships, like 
recycled glass bottles (whole) or aluminum cans - simply blocking the rats' 
intended path? I suppose for load bearing walls that might not be a good 
thing, however. ?

  Or, how about a tangle of fishing wire or something they couldn't 
chew/scratch through  (my old, wiry pot scrubbers come to mind)....  I 
notice that the key point, though, is that it happens in walls that aren't 
adequately begun UP from the ground, I wonder how high is high enough?  What 
sort of foundation height would be a minimum...

Wendy
(newbie, with no experience cobbing whatsoever... though that'll change, 
someday)






>From: "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
>Reply-To: "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
>To: coblist at deatech.com
>Subject: Cob: rat runs in cob walls (fwd)
>Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 20:34:23 -0700 (PDT)
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 21:13:39 +1000
>From: Brad Calvert <bradcalv at netspace.net.au>
>Subject: rat runs in cob walls
>
>I would say the best way to stop rat excavations is to be sure they cannot
>enter the wall from a hidden location, keep clutter away from walls.
>Inspect likely entry points, if they do enter, stomp on the problem fast,
>same deal for termites.
>
>Some relevant rat info from an interesting book, mostly drawing on
>observations and experiences in UK:
>
>COB
>BUILDING IN EARTH
>
>written and illustrated by Ron Edwards
>
>The Rams Skull Press  1997
>
>ISBN 1 875872 33 7
>
>p26-27
>
>"Rat Runs
>
>One unexpected problem in cob walls that sit directly on the ground or on
>foundations that are not lifted far off the ground is that of rat runs.
>These occur when rats tunnel through the full length of a cob wall at
>ground level.  There will be no sign of them on the outside of the wall,
>but the whole weight may be balanced over a weak base.  While a single
>family of rats may not do much damage, countless generations of them in a
>wall over a period of a hundred years can create quite large chambers, and
>I saw one where the greater part of the base of the wall was hollow,
>although this was not visible from outside and had only been found by
>chance.  It was possible to put ones entire arm into the hole right up to
>the shoulder, and the wall needed urgent attention.  This was done by
>filling the cavity with lime mortar and stones.
>
>The old answer to this was to include broken glass in the cob mix...."
>
>
>
>


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