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General: Rats, chewing, insulation, barriers to...

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2012 edited
     
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2012
     
    "Rat-proofing" involves using special non-chewable structural materials for walls and doors at rat height so that they cannot chew through small openings to enter buildings"

    So, what is that material?
    •  
      CommentAuthorJSHarris
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2012
     
    <blockquote><cite>Posted By: fostertom</cite>"Rat-proofing" involves using special non-chewable structural materials for walls and doors at rat height so that they cannot chew through small openings to enter buildings"

    So, what is that material?</blockquote>

    Reactive armour? :devil:
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2012
     
    Depleted uranium. :devil::devil:
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2012
     
    33kV cables?

    Rgds

    Damon
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2012
     
    Vapourised! Then you wouldn't know what had done it!
  7.  
    Found mink are very good at destroying rats but come with problems !
  8.  
    For what it's worth, nothing to do with Green Building, but I've seen a stoat kill a rat that was larger than itself. Stoats don't come with problems unless you're a rat!
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 17th 2012
     
    That's it then, Peter, set up a perimeter patrolled by stoats. :thumbup:
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeJun 17th 2012
     
    Electric stoats, with laser beams! (Costing one beeeeelion dollars each.)

    Rgds

    Damon
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 17th 2012
     
    Quick, in the cupboard. Keith's coming! :shocked:
  12.  
    Joiner, we've found stoats very uncooperative when training so we started using ferrets. Most of the houses round here with EPS insulated foundations have ferret patrols and they seem to have been very effective. Mind you, as can be judged by the progress of my build, most of what happens here is in my imagination!!
  13.  
    Jack Russel dogs can be trained to be very effective rat catchers. I prefer the petrol in the rat hole followed by the lighted match. Not sure it would work very well with flammable plastics.
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    My aunt's JR terriers were ratters.

    Just shouting "RATS" was enough to whip them into a frenzy!

    Rgds

    Damon

    PS. So: terriers, well insulated, dragging 33kV cables. Job done.
    • CommentAuthoradwindrum
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    I visited an expenisve new build the other day and the lovely couple demonstrated their very expensive, automatic, insulated you cant bend it garage doors. The bottom of which had a very clever rubber sealing strip to create an airtight barrier. In both corners rats had chewed huge chunks out. I have seen rats chew through 2 inch thick wooden boards, and have heard of concrete being gnawed through. With so much effort going into making a building airtight with tapes and so on, I do really wonder about the longevity of air tightness, and perhaps instead of lauding amazing airtightness tests, more emphasis should go into making airtightness a long term objective eg Viking house and his no tapes joints.
    • CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    DamonHD rashly conjectured: "Electric stoats, with laser beams! (Costing one beeeeelion dollars each.)"

    You've seen the DARPA tweet, right?

    https://twitter.com/DARPA/status/213700652541558785
    http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/17/darpa-asks-what-tech-from-science-fiction-would-you-most-like-to-see-as-science-fact/

    Oh and on the basis of hung for a silly link, might as well be hung for three:

    http://dornob.com/300-helium-balloons-float-real-up-house-10000-feet-high/

    (it's on-topic, as it's to do with lightweight house construction techniques)
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    That is indeed pretty light-weight construction, though as the piece notes no pesky heavy appliances or insulation.

    Still, a periodic lofting might eject some rather startled rodents. And give a new meaning to 'staycation', though house-ballooning in Heathrow airspace probably wouldn't be terribly popular with ATC if I tried.

    Rgds

    Damon
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012 edited
     
    Unless someone who got a couple of these for Christmas decides to let them loose... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_mouse
    • CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    Just came across two rat photos:

    A mole rat presented with a concrete block.
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NDNJu_KJvAE/St-im2xERtI/AAAAAAAAAdU/igrL7NNYxZo/s1600/03.jpg

    A concrete block presented with a mole rat. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NDNJu_KJvAE/St-h4NEUkXI/AAAAAAAAAdE/UhTCmLT5SeQ/s1600/10.jpg
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    That's stuffed it then. Wonder if they're open to negotiation? :sad:
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    33kV (and stoats and terriers): "active interdiction"...

    Rgds

    Damon
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012 edited
     
    I did nto see any rats when I was paddling down the Bude canal yesterday.
      DSC07428.JPG
      DSC07430.JPG
    • CommentAuthorskyewright
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012 edited
     
    ST: Top pic, right, blue rope? Were you doing some water temp testing with the detachable tackle?
    http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/forum114/comments.php?DiscussionID=9205&page=1#Item_19
    :bigsmile:
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012
     
    Brilliant. Well spotted. I spent ages wondering what the object of the post was, unless the bottom pic showed the tail of the humungous rat that had just dodged to the other side of the bridge, but now we all know.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2012
     
    Hung by my own petard !
    Felt like it, the top end of the canal, before the weir was chilly, the bottom end, by the sea lock was a lot warmer. Don't remember it being like that 35 years ago when I last paddled it.
    All back to normal now :wink:
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2012
     
    Define "normal"! :jumping:
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2012
     
    Dragging on the ground, but then I am legless :rolling:

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