Author Topic: Papercrete Home  (Read 15065 times)

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WindriderNM

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Papercrete Home
« on: September 26, 2010, 07:42:34 PM »
I am thinking about building a papercrete home in a few years. I have a good source of free paper. I have seen a few of these. does any have any ideas on this?
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wooferhound

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2010, 11:35:32 AM »

TomW

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2010, 12:02:20 PM »
I fooled around with it myself. Don't believe everything you read on those websites Woof posted.

Not so much untrue things as important things "left out".

It "works" but moisture or humidity pretty well destroys its structural integrity.

Might be OK in the desert or the Outback but here the stuff pretty much melted away.

None of the blocks I made survived a year outside here. We have high humidity all summer, rain and freeze thaw cycles through winter plus the snow.

I would use cob myself but the material is free on that and no portland cement needed. You could substitute the paper for hay / straw in cob I think, too. There are centuries old dwellings built of cob in Europe so you know it holds up for sure.

Just FYI

Tom

dnix71

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2010, 08:52:22 PM »
Paper bricks don't sound like a good idea. Particle board furniture works until it gets wet and swells up and falls apart. Structural block needs to be made from something that will NOT absorb water. Roof wood has to be protected by oiled paper or it rots, so even wood used in construction has a limited life.

If you mixed lime cement with paper and carbonized the bricks, then that might work. The Israelites made baked straw bricks while in slavery in Egypt, so carbon fiber reinforced bricks is not a new idea. But unless you carbonize the paper bricks, they won't stand up after getting wet.

I saw a BBC or NPR show once about people in India who (re)build unbaked mud houses every year because the bricks turn to mush in the rainy season.

If you want to experiment with paper bricks and have a friend in the auto engine rebuilding business, ask if you can bake some paper bricks in the anaerobic oven they use to decarbon and anneal aluminum heads. You can't "hot tank" aluminum in carbolic acid, because it will simply dissolve, but a vacuum oven works fine for cleaning. The same vacuum oven treatment should carbonize paper bricks without destroying them. You might need to mix clean sand with the paper for hardness.

Bruce S

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2010, 10:54:46 AM »
I am thinking about building a papercrete home in a few years. I have a good source of free paper. I have seen a few of these. does any have any ideas on this?
Here's a site that shows beginning to end and much more. He also goes into the water/rain issue. Nice read!
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/papercrete
Cheers;
Bruce S
Edit note: helps to put the correct website on here doesn't it :)
« Last Edit: September 28, 2010, 12:45:15 PM by Bruce S »
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BigBreaker

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2010, 02:31:16 PM »
Rammed earth seems like a better idea for using small amounts of concrete with a lot of aggregate (earth vs paper).  Rammed earth lasts literally forever but it does require more elbow grease than papercrete.  It provides lots of thermal mass but little insulation, not unlike adobe.  It's worth a look and is probably easier to get through permitting than a paper mache house.

gsw999

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2011, 01:59:47 PM »
Their is a company in the Uk making Hempcrete blocks, these are possibly the best thing to build a house out of mainly due to their insulation and condensation qualities, you might be able to get these in the US, its well worth looking in to.

birdhouse

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2011, 09:23:43 PM »
i'd be nervous using many of the above mentioned techniques, but if i was forced to use any, or papercrete, i would build massive overhangs with gutters.  three foot overhangs can make an amazing difference on how much water contacts your "siding". 

adam

whythehecknot

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #8 on: December 26, 2011, 11:54:18 AM »
I built my home with straw bales Nebraska style, and plastered it with adobe mud and straw inside and out. Very cheap, high thermal value, easy to construct, and cheap to make, that is at least if you have the straw and mud. My floors are even adobe, the only cement a I used was for a footing around the whole house. People walk into my house and other than the thick walls dont find anything unusuall with it. I would do it again...
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Isaiah

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Re: Papercrete Home
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2012, 01:20:55 AM »
     
    Subject:Corn Cooker
    I sure am going to have to try this out.
    Too good not to share
     
    This is a fantastic idea.  They also say that It also keeps the corn hot for the entire affair.
 
    The Best Way to Cook Corn on the Cob for a Crowd? It's Cooler Corn!
   
     
     
    Am I the only person who hasn't heard of "cooler corn"?As an obsessive food nerd, you'd expect that I would have at least heard of it, but over the weekend I was blindsided by the simple genius of this method for cooking loads of corn on the cob (which is still in season, no matter that summer already seems like a sad memory) perfectly.I was hepped to it while visiting my family in Maine. Short story: We like corn on the cob. And with eight adults at the table, that means a couple of dozen ears. We would have used the lobster pot to cook them all, but the lobster pot was busy steaming lobster. (And please don't spell it "lobstah". It's not funny.) Then my sister, a capable Maine cook with years of camping experience says "let's do cooler corn!" Before I can ask "what the hell is cooler corn?" a Coleman cooler appears from the garage, is wiped clean, then filled with the shucked ears. Next, two kettles-full of boiling water are poured over the corn and the top closed.Then nothing.When we sat down to dinner 30 minutes later and opened it, the corn was perfectly cooked. My mind was blown. And I'm told that the corn will remain at the perfect level of doneness for a couple of hours.Turns out, Cooler Corn is pretty well known among the outdoorsy set (I found a handful of mentions on various camping websites). But for those of us who avoid tents as much as possible, it's perfect for large barbecues and way less of mess than grilling. In fact, I may even buy another cooler just so I'm ready for next summer. Now that I'm in the know.
I haven't tried this but should work with a good cooler one may want to  throw a blanket over the cooler after the hot water is added.
Might work for beans also but who need a cooler full of beans.
 Isaiah