building barns, sheds, houses - almost free

Doug_Myerscough · May 3, 2005

A lot of folks don't know this stuff exists yet so I figured I'd post a little bit and see if anyone was interested.
You can make blocks from shredded paper and portland cement that are both strong and have a high insulation factor - you can build just about anything out of them and you can get the paper free, in fact your doing us all a favor by keeping the stuff out of the landfills. If anybody is interested in how to do this let me know - it's easy and cheap - look up "papercrete" on a search engine and you'll find some good links.
You can mix huge loads of the stuff several ways using your PTO and a homemade mixer built out of a truck rear end, mower blade and a metal stock tank. It's easier to lay than brick or stone and a lot lighter weight but strong enough to withstand 150 MPH wind.

Doug_Myerscough · May 3, 2005

here's a good link to some info on the subject http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercrete/ -
there is also a good book on the subject you can find here http://www.zianet.com/papercrete/ - I read an earlier version (it's been revised and added to recently) and it had a lot of good info.

RedRocker · May 3, 2005

Thanks Doug, I'll check it out.

teddydo · May 3, 2005

Hello Doug, good to see you here and also welcome. Sounds interesting, I need a good shop. When I get the time I will check out the links I just wnated to welcome you on here. We are good people to chat with.......teddy

GerardC · May 3, 2005

Welcome to TBN Doug. Thanks for the links. This sounds interesting. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Doug_Myerscough · May 4, 2005

here's some photos of stuff built (or being built) out of papercrete

firtol88 · May 5, 2005

Might try building a new pump shed out of this Thanks for the heads up.

ALBALD1 · May 6, 2005

how does it hold up to rain?

slowrev · May 6, 2005

Yes how does it hold up to rain ? From the pics those constructions seemed to be in an arid climate. Is it required to stucco over it ?

Doug_Myerscough · May 6, 2005

You have to waterproof it - elastomeric paint works well. Many people have built these in very rainy and humid climates and as long as they are waterproofed they work fine - if they are not waterproofed they will eventually start to deteriorate. I am planning to build my main house in a fairly rainy part of North Texas - I'm going to use papercrete for the walls and put a metal roof with a wraparound porch to reduce the problem to the point of insignifigance but I will still paint the house with a good latex to seal it. Domes are possible (even easy to build with papercrete) in wet climates but you REALLY need elastomeric roof coating after they are finished - papercrete will soak up and wick water if not coated. In arid climates with only ten instances per year of rain, coating is not all that important - papercrete has to get very wet many, many times before it will begin to break down.

Dachshund · May 6, 2005

Thanks for the info, Doug! I'll have to check it out!

Doug_Myerscough · May 7, 2005

A little more about waterproofing - as you can see in the pictures, two of the pictures are a pond and an indoor swimming pool made out of papercrete - these were built about five years ago and have had no problems at all - regular swimming pool sealant was used and it can be used to paint exteriors of houses and barns as well. The biggest problem those of you in wet climates will have with papercrete is water wicking up from the ground - you'll need to pour perimeter concrete foundations and seal the top of the concrete with any kind of waterproof barrier to keep the wicking from happening.
The stucco you see on these structures is papercrete. Papercrete blocks were stacked and mortered with papercrete slurry then smeared with more papercrete - no metal mesh is needed, papercrete mixtures for stuccoing are a little different than the mix you'll make the blocks out of but not much.
Tensil and compression strength of papercrete depends primarily on how much portland cement you add - compression strength of papercrete is higher than concrete, tensil strength is lower. The higher the amount of portland you use the stronger it will be. Mixtures with as little as 1 bag of portland per 200 gallons of mix - water slurry will hold together very well.
Different people have experimented with different mixtures - Clyde Curry in Marathon Texas adds styrofoam beads to ad more insulation and uses very high concentrations of portland cement for strength. The more portland you add, the stronger it is but also the less insulation it provides - a good mix will have about R-2 per inch.

Doug_Myerscough · May 7, 2005

Since enough folks seem to be interested, I'll keep posting info on this stuff until I exhaust my limited knowledge (that won't take long /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) Here's a little note on construction - you don't need to header doors or windows. You can build solid walls and cut out the doors and windows with a chainsaw. Arched doors and windows are much stronger than flat cuts - you might want to insert some wood headers after the fact if you want an extremely wide opening like for a garage door. This is an especially easy way when building domes.
To build a dome, put a stake down in the dead center of the dome at the height of sidewalls - put an eye screw in the top of the stake. Tie a string to the loop that goes exactly to the inside of your sidewalls and use it for a guide - as you go up the dome the string will automatically bring your blocks exactly where they need to be. Papercrete domes are self supporting and strong as anything - they'll probably be the only thing standing after a tornado.

Doug_Myerscough · May 7, 2005

here's a few pics of various papercrete stuff

HuckBB62 · May 7, 2005

I wonder if papercrete could be used for retaining wall blocks?

Doug_Myerscough · May 9, 2005

It can be but you will need to do a lot of waterproofing before you backfill - eventually waterlogging will degrade papercrete if not properly sealed.

KiotiJohn · May 10, 2005

Something that I would be interested in trying is to make an insulating slurry to blow on, paint on a concrete block house to add insulation. You mentioned that a different forumla slurry would be used for stucco. I would suppose that's what I would need, then blow it on? I would think I could do this in several layers to add more insulation. What do you think Doug?
John

Doug_Myerscough · May 13, 2005

Yes - you can make a slurry using little or no portland cement and adding boric acid to help in fireproofing and use it as blow on insulation for metal buildings. You will need to put up chicken wire to give it something to stick to and paint with latex after it is dryed to further help in fireproofing.

lorax · Jan 19, 2009

I saw that blocks were usually dried in the sun in arid limates. However in wet climates this may take longer or be harder during the rainy season. Can you also use a (solar) oven or do you know of any other methods?