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permaculture - Re: treated wood

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  • From: Permacltur@aol.com
  • To: lflier@mindspring.com, owner-permaculture@envirolink.org, permaculture@envirolink.org
  • Subject: Re: treated wood
  • Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 14:56:36 EDT

I'd have to agree with Lee on prefering rot-resistant species to treated
lumber. Not everything called "locust" is rot-resistant. Go for Black
Locust (Robinia psuedoacacia). Not all bamboos are created equally, either,
and you want a structural bamboo. Generally, you want a 6-year-old culm for
the best combination of lignification and elasticity. You really need to
know your stuff to build with bamboo to hold heavy loads of grape. Bamboo is
strong enough, properly harvested and properly aged, but construction
techniques are important. Lashing is ok, but limited to the strength of the
lashing material and the skill of the knot-tier. Pipe joints are very good.
Lee's idea of jamming the bamboo over imbeded rebar is very nice. For really
heavy crops such as Actinidia, I'd set the rebar in concrete. I'll use that
idea though.

Meanwhile, this inquiry comes up as I am investigating sources of
plastic lumber. We need dimensional lumber to re-roof a mobile home
preparatory to setting up a roof catchment sytem. (The damn place has no
overhangs!) We are in termite heaven here and it makes sense to use
something that isn't food for termites. Plastic lumber, being made from
recycled plastic, is a reasonable choice. We have three sources listed in
the Permaculture Supplier List, but we want to do as complete a survey as
possible before making a choice. Naturally we are interested in quality as
well. (Some of this lumber is reinforced with fiberglass. Hell on saws, I
suppose, but it has to greatly improve shear strength.
Any leads would be much appreciated. We are particularly interested
in sources in Florida or at least the USA Southeast.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence
courses via email. Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52,
Sparr FL 32192 USA Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com

We don't have time to rush.

A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture titles may be found at
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html
Elfin Permaculture programs are listed at the Eastern Permaculture Teachers
assn home page: http://home.ptd.net/~artrod/epta/eptahmp.html




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