CD/DVD Roofing Concept

Step 1 Pros and Cons

This method of roofing is a great way to use old and unwanted CD/DVDs. In a lot of places recycling facilities exist, but disks are not an item thrown away often enough to warrant curbside collection and so often they just get thrown away.

If you've got old disks you want to get rid of, first think whether there might be someone able to reuse them before drilling holes in them and tacking them to your shed roof! Software, music and films might be of interest to your friends or families and are often accepted by charity shops as a good product to sell on.

For junk mail CDs and badly damaged or scratched CDs/DVDs, it is better to reuse them than throw them away or recycle them. If they can be of use for another 5 years before needing to be replaced then that's better than transporting them to a recycling plant to be melted down and MUCH better than them just taking a trip to landfill. Landfill is a dark, scary place!

Comments

[peace, love, art]

 A possible con : I really don't know what sort of chemicals are used in the process of manufacturing cds, but using them in an outdoor way like this may leach chemicals into the environment. Just a thought.

[Shiftlock]

Not at all a concern.  No chemicals will be released from the polycarbonate that CDs are made from.  It's the same material plastic water bottles are made of.  There is some controvery about whether or not low doses of Bisphenol A can leach out of polycarbonate food containers, and then get consumed, but it's such an extremely small amount, it's really only a potential health hazard for pregnant women who drink out of polycarbonate containers that have been cleaned with bleach (which catalyzes the release of the bisphenol A).  It wouldn't be an issue at all in something like roofing tiles.  In fact, tiles made of polycarbonate CDs will leach far fewer harmful chemicals into the environment than traditional modern asphalt/tar roofing materials, so that's another bonus to using them for this purpose.

[MillenniumMan]

Aaaand... you  won't get all those icky pebbles in your gutters either when you go up every two months to clean them.

What about the roof peak? How do you solve that? Are there 45 deg bent CD/DVDs? Even on a small scale like a shed, I'd like to see this done. Millions of these things are discarded each year in landflls and on sidewalks. This would be really cool to see as part of a recycled materials house.

[Jayefuu]

I will have an instructable about the peak coming as soon as I gather up more CDs. Subscribe if you would like instructables to send you an email when I publish it. :)

[GEOD998]

Shiftlock-First I apologize for being off topic-but you bring up a great point with the bleach catalyzing the BPA's release.Question-will  cleaning polycarbonate with peroxide also cause this reaction?-or is it only the chlorine from the bleach and not the oxygen?Thanks for the info

[Shiftlock]

It's actually the alkali property of the bleach that catalyzes the release of the BPA, so other alkali cleaners, like ammonia-containing solutions, should also be avoided.  This was first discovered when a lab tech used strong alkali cleaners on polycarbonate lab containers.  The containers were used in experiments involving rats, and endocrine disruption in the rats was observed.  They traced it back to the bisphenol A release from the cleaned containers.

With regard to your question about cleaning polycarbonate with H2O2, it's a mild acid, so it's perfectly fine to use on poly containers without fear of BPA release.  Alcohol-containing solutions are also safe.

[GEOD998]

Shiftlock-thanks for the info-we have tropical birds and have switched over to stailess bowls-except for 2 and that has been a point of contention for some time now

[Jayefuu]

Thanks, that's useful information :)

[Jayefuu]

CDs are made from polycarbonate, a material often used for roofing conservatories. Can't imagine it'll be a problem but worth doing some research on. Thanks

[dollywild]

 This would be an excellent choice for a small structure that needed to keep cool, such as a chicken house.  In addition, reflective items help protect crops, such as fruit trees, from being eaten by wild birds, and so could have a dual use in the garden. Lovely idea.

[extrordinary1]

It really is a cool idea.  I think I would treat the wood with waterproofing it like polyurethane varnish to protect the wood.  It will be interesting to see how it stands up to hail storms we have here in the central States.  I go to all this trouble, I think I would find a way to use it as a decoration protected from hail.   The discs do work great for keeping pests away from fruit and plants.

[GodCent]

 A possible pro: The reflective surface should reflect light rather than being absorbed into the house like a black roofing tile. Saving money on cooling a home in a warm climate area.

It should also have the opposite effect in colder areas if the CD is flipped and painted black.