The steel rebar and expanded metal lath give it strength and the mortar
gives it rigidity. The two combined make it VERY strong. Very large (130
f) ocean-going boats <http://www.ferrocement.org/> are made with this
technique (the Brits built a 120 foot submarine) and their walls are not
much thicker. Many homes are built with it.
This is my fifth tank and my second 10,000 gallon one. We intend to add
onto the tank a ferrocement room that wraps around a third of the tank
and will serve as a root cellar, storm shelter and spring house
(utilizing the overflow). The tank will be bermed about 3 feet high
around the rest of the circumference. Freezing has not damaged our
tanks, though the coldest climates would require more extensive berming
or partial burying.
The cylindrical shape itself is a principal source of strength as the
outward pressure is equalized over the entire surface. The overall
thickness is one to one and a half inches. The walls are not thicker at
the bottom of the wall than the top of the wall. The roof is the same
thickness. When empty, it rings like a bell when you whack it with a
rubber mallet. If you sing in it, it echoes nicely. A really lovely and
versatile material and well worth the embedded energy.
http://ferrocement.com/Page_1/english.html
http://www.ferrocement.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocement
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/ferro.htm
http://www.green-trust.org/2003/ferrocement/default.htm
http://www.eugenesargent.com/bench1.htm
The stone gutter you refer to WAS essential to direct a large flow of
water into a sinuous garden path that provided many infiltration points
to prevent erosion in a very erodable landscape.
Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
Keith Johnson wrote
Peter and I recently finished laying pipe to plumb our water tank andNice work. What design factors are required to give it enough vertical and circumferential structural rigidity to keep
have started to install the roof catchment parts of the system.
You can look at pix of the project at
http://picasaweb.google.com/KeithDJPcA/FerrocementTankPix02
it from bursting from hydrostatic pressure and is the concrete thicker at the base that near the top?
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/viewPhoto? uname=KeithDJPcA&aid=5141688084664055841&iid=5141688179153336402
The stone gutter in this pic is just like downtown. I used to build some of these for landscape customers.
If you have a lot of flow this feature is essential.
--
Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
http://www.PermacultureTradingPost.com
Switch to Solar Power the Easy Way
http://www.jointhesolution.com/KeithJ-SunPower
http://www.PowUr.com/KeithJ-SunPower
Blog: http://kjpermaculture.blogspot.com/
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
http://www.permacultureactivist.net/design/Designconsult.html
also Association for Regenerative Culture
http://www.ARCulture.org
also APPLE-Bloomington (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy) It's a small world after oil.
http://www.relocalize.net/groups/applebloomington
also Bloomington Permaculture Guild
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