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[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Sasha wrote:

> Yes Tvo,I have asked the question.But if I add sand and clay the weight of the 
> panel is rising very much isnt it?
> Is papercrete better as insulation material?
>  

tvoivozhd---sand is quite heavy, does add compressive strength.  Clay is 
basically a binder for the cellulose, and of course also is heavy, but 
nowhere near as heavy as sand.

Papercrete is better insulation, though as I have said before I am 
suspicious of its water-absorption ability.  I would make up some small 
samples, weigh the dried sample and then soak it in water for a week or 
so, reweight it to see how much water it absorbed.  Probably can reduce, 
maybe almost eliminate water absorption (and vapor transmission) by 
coating all surfaces with an emulsified bitumil such as is used in the 
U.S. for making asphalt and sand mix road topping.  Weigh that too to 
see what happens.  Forgot, insulation factor of papercrete with not a 
lot of sand is 2.8 per inch.
http://www.fiberfoamconcrete.com/

I wouldn't believe all the hype below unless verified by my own 
experiment, but it might be worth trying---$199.95 is too damned 
expensive for a hollow drive-shaft and what might be mixer blades with 
holes drilled through to reach the hollow shaft.


*/Blade #11 /*/($199.95) - /Aeration blade for making lightweight, 
floating-foam and other types of cellular concrete. This unique blade 
and shaft design sucks air through the hollow shaft area as it spins and 
releases the air around the rotating blade. This fills your mixture with 
millions of tiny air bubbles. Concrete made with this blade is extremely 
light weight and produces materials with "R" factors (value of 
insulation) that are out of this world! Foamed concrete is surprisingly 
tough too.






Learn how to make buildings for 10¢ a square foot out of your old junk 
mail, news paper, magazines or just about any material that you thought 
was only worthy of putting into your dumpster and expanding your local 
landfill. *Coming 3-15-04* *Fiber Foam Concrete &Cement* *The wave of 
the future for the home builder is - *

*Paper Cement!*

*What is Papercement, Fibercement, Foamcement or Paperconcrete? 
**Paperconcrete is the industrial version of paper mache. It's simply 
shredded paper, Portland cement and dirt in somewhat variable 
proportions of 60/20/20 plus water and air. The paper matrix is so thick 
it can trap millions of tiny air bubbles and the total volume of the 
concrete mix can increase as much as 50%! This is an ideal building 
material because it is so cheap, utilizing air, unwanted newspapers, 
magazines, cardboard, junk mail, old bills, tax records and some local 
sand or dirt. *



*/Fiber foam concretes are surprisingly strong, fireproof and a very /*

*/well insulated materials but best of all they are very cheap to make! /*

*We will be offering a full line of papercrete mixers, block molds, 
tools, pumps, foamers, water proofing chemicals and other support 
equipment starting 3-15-2004* *We will also be offering advanced 
additives that will bring paper, fiber and foam concretes into an 
advanced era of technology. Third generation papercrete technology will 
enable people to make waterproof papercrete for the first time with a 
product called Calseal®.* *The centerpiece of our equipment lineup will 
be the powerful "Multi-Chopper" */(Part of the Multi-Mixer series)/ *As 
the name implies this industrial sized chopper will make quick work of 
all materials* *that end up impacting on the surfaces of it's hardened 
razor sharp blades!* *Not only does this machine chop but it also 
efficiently pumps the slurry around the drum mixing it into an extremely 
homogeneous mixture!* *
DOWNLOAD .avi MOVIE OF MIXER WORKING 
<http://www.fiberfoamconcrete.com/papermix.avi>* *DOWNLOAD .mov MOVIE OF 
MIXER WORKING (Quicktime) 
<http://www.fiberfoamconcrete.com/papermix.mov>* */One of these two 
movie formats should play on your computer/* *Steel Block Molds Now 
Available:* Modular bolt together construction puts you in control.
Make larger or shorter blocks as needed. Half makes the end blocks.
Steel does not rot or break like wooden molds. Lasts a life time!

Steel molds flex allowing for easy release of block. *8" x 8" x 16" - 
"Standard" - $39.95 plus $8.65 shipping each.*


*12" x 12" x 24" - "Castle block" - $59.95 plus $10.65 shipping each.*


*The 25% off of 24 molds deal -* *Save 25% if you buy in sets of 24* To 
use these block molds you must have an area that has at least 6" of 
clean washed sand or gravel (the "sand box") . This allows the bottom of 
the block to pick up the sand box media thereby texturing the block 
face. When you turn the blocks over the face is covered in the sand or 
gravel that you selected for your sand box. This gives the block a 
beautiful looking face! Combinations of black, gray and white gravel 
gives block faces the perfect illusion of being solid granite. The sand 
box method also provides for vital drainage so even if you plan to 
Stucco your block they still need to be cast on top of a well drained 
sand or gravel area. *The "R" factor of papercrete is about 2.5 per inch 
but foamed papercrete is as high as 3 per inch.*

*A "Castle Block" made of "Foamed Papercrete" or just regular foamed 
concrete has an "R" factor of 30!*

/"Just as an experiment I chopped up ALL the trash from our weekly 
kitchen trash bag. It not only chopped up all the paper but surprisingly 
it also chopped up all the non-returnable bottles and cans without 
missing a beat! This puts sharp edges into the concrete matrix so you 
have to be careful how you use this special blend I called 
"garbagecrete". It makes very good quality block but don't use it for 
casting bench seats. I think we have broken almost every rule in the 
virtual "papercrete-handbook" adding things like used paint brushes and 
roller cartridges, sponges, Styrofoam popcorn, plastic bottles, tumble 
weeds (my personal favorite), sunflower stalks, straw and other fibrous 
plants, tree leafs, twigs and other various yard rakings, holiday 
wrapping paper including those dreaded clamshell packages! *SECRET:* The 
huge castle block shown here contains the entirety of our families 
refuse for one week. Mulched and mixed with water and 50 cents worth of 
cement added it is now very compact! This block is absolutely rock hard, 
is tougher than any cement block, looks beautiful and has an estimated 
lifespan of over 2000 years. A large block like this could easily cost 
$12.50 to buy at a building supply yard but just think, it took only 8 
minutes to make. Is your time worth $90.00 an hour??? For many people 
living in rural areas dirt and time is much more available than high 
paying jobs. In economical situations like this making your own building 
materials makes perfect sense./ /In the larger environmental picture 
just imagine a world without landfills where beautiful energy efficient 
homes are built dirt cheap! This is the beginning of a revolution in 
building materials! A relatively new product called Hardyboard® and many 
other fiber cement products are already making huge dents in the 
building materials market today./ I will stress that the power and speed 
of the Multi-Chopper is almost intimidating! Once you see one in action 
you will have instant respect for it's power and speed. My favorite 
feature about this type of mixer and blade design is that you do not 
have to presoak the paper. Just toss it in dry and it's instantly 
pulped!!! Stay clear of the blades and never put your hands past the 
edge the drum top when feeding it! Do not "stuff" paper down into the 
drum, just let the paper fall in, the Multi-Chopper will do the rest for 
you!"



*It's 3400 RPM 5 HP motor will bolt on to the side of any metal 55 
gallon drum.* *We will also offer a center tilt drum cradle so the 
contents can be easily tilted and dumped.* *The Multi-Chopper kit will 
sell for about $499.95 */(Blades sold separately)/ *The Drum mounting 
kit is $129.95* *The center tilting drum cradle will sell for about 
$399.95* *You provide the 55 gallon drum, */(We also have them in stock 
if you need one)/ We have researched papercrete mixers for over 12 years 
and never really come up with a design that truly made us happy until we 
started experimenting with short gamut / high velocity propellers. This 
type of action really separates the fibers making for extremely tough 
papercrete. Other types of mixers can create huge "curds" of paper that 
don't bond well to each other. We are sure that short gamut / high 
velocity propellers are going to be the future choice of most papercrete 
makers especially once they compare the strength of the end product not 
to mention the increased speed and ease of production. Another great 
challenge we faced was trying to keep plastic bags, string, ribbon, tape 
and other such attenuated / tenuous items from wrapping around the 
shaft. We finally solved the problem with a number of simple but 
interesting solutions. Remember that the Multi-Chopper is one version in 
the MULTI-MIXER series. By purchasing various other blade/propeller 
options it can also be used for:
*/Blade #8 /*/(69.95)/ /- /Blending Bio-Diesel and other low 
flammability oil/fuel solutions. /(For liquid mixing only)/
*/Blade #2 /*($179.95)* - *Standard papercrete chopping blade. For 
pulping *paper only* and making classic papercrete.
*/Propeller #3 /*/($129.95) - /For mixing thick and sandy mortars for 
laying blocks and bricks.
*/Blade #1/*/ /($269.95) - Papercrete/Garbagecrete self-cleaning 
&chopping blade.
*/Propeller #6 /*/($89.95)/ /-* */Mixing lime stucco, paints and other 
thin coatings used for plastering, painting and coating.
*/Blade #11 /*/($199.95) - /Aeration blade for making lightweight, 
floating-foam and other types of cellular concrete. This unique blade 
and shaft design sucks air through the hollow shaft area as it spins and 
releases the air around the rotating blade. This fills your mixture with 
millions of tiny air bubbles. Concrete made with this blade is extremely 
light weight and produces materials with "R" factors (value of 
insulation) that are out of this world! Foamed concrete is surprisingly 
tough too.

*/Propeller #5 /*($179.95)*/ /*/-* *Fuel log mulching blade. This blade 
turns ALL paper, wood, leafs, saw dust, lawn clippings, weeds, twigs, 
sticks, etc into castable fuel log mulch used for casting your own fire 
logs. You must also add a 1% to 5% ratio of Crystalwax® which is a 
special super low temperature binding wax. We provide you with the 
special "LOG-MOLDS" with the draining wire mess bottoms. Simply pour 
your pulp mixture into the molds and you are in the fire wood business! 
The logs sun dry in about 3 days and they are ready to sell or burn 
(Burns similar to Duraflame® logs). Your wax fuel logs should retail for 
about $3.00 each because of their fantastic long term burn duration 
however they will only cost you about 10 cents each to make. *Note:* If 
your logs turn out flimsy add more cardboard. Cardboard boxes make many 
types of mixtures much tougher when dry. Using at least 10% cardboard or 
more would be highly recommended in all fire log pulp formulations. 
*Safety:* These logs burn very hot so if you use them in a metal stove 
you must exercise caution or extreme overheating of the stove and 
surrounding stove area may result. Only burn one log at a time./ */Other 
Propeller Options Coming Soon/*



*/Advanced Concrete Additives And Chemicals-/* QuickCure® 
<http://www.fiberfoamconcrete.com/concreteadditives.html> - Concrete 
&Cement Hardening Compound - /An essential compound for keeping aerated 
and water logged papercrete from shrinking during casting. Great for 
making lightweight, strong and nice uniform looking blocks./ */#QC10 - 
10 lb. bag only $39.95 plus $12.94 S&H/* QuickCure makes any types of 
Portland and Plastic-cement 'Gel-Cure' within 5 to 60 minutes depending 
on the dose. A 10 lb. bag can treat 2 tons of papercrete or conventional 
concrete. When using fast curing compounds it is vitally important that 
the concrete remain perfectly still after pouring and finally reaching 
the 'GelCure' point /(turning from a liquid into a solid)./ After 
concrete gels any movement will create dozens of micro fractures that 
may weaken the final product. However if you keep it still the overall 
quality and strength of the cement will be as good or better than it's 
initial ratings. You will add the QuickCure to your cement mixer about 2 
minutes before you are ready to pour. After 2 minutes of mixing you will 
have about 30 minutes of work time assuming the dose was about 4 ounces 
of QuickCure added to about 200 pounds of your concrete mixture. Just so 
you understand QuickCure's variability adding an 8 ounce dose will gel 
your 200 lbs. of concrete in about 10 minutes while adding just a 1 
ounce dose will gel it in about 2 hours. These dosing amounts are only 
general guidelines and small scale experimentation is advised before 
dosing huge batches. Read the full instructions when you receive your 
QuickCure hardening compound to learn more. *Caution!* We over-dosed a 
batch of concrete with QuickCure last year and watched it turn from a 
liquid into a solid is just seconds! Ordinarily this would have been a 
joyous moment except it happened in the mixer *: / *QuickCure is a 
highly concentrated additive so seemingly tiny amounts can make major 
changes in the concrete matrix. Practice and use only a little at first 
until you gain some experience. Use less on hot days and more in winter. 
*How does QuickCure work? *It simply attacks the Gypsum found it most 
cement formulations. Cement manufacturing companies add Gypsum into 
their formulations to retard set time. Portland cement by it's very 
nature would set almost instantly on contact of water if it did not 
contain set time retarding chemicals like Gypsum. QuickCure is designed 
to attack the Gypsum timing mechanism's and neutralizes them quickly or 
slowly depending on the dose you choose. Ironically one of the greatest 
enemies of any cement's long term integrity is Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum). 
Buy adding QuickCure® you are actually lengthening the total life cycle 
of your cement indefinitely by causing a chemical reaction that will 
eventually cause petrification of the paper. If you have ever seen a 
petrified tree it's very tough and in many cases millions of years old. 
In other words you could be creating a masonry product that could last 
for thousands of years instead of just 150 which by-the-way is the 
maximum life cycle for many concrete structures built or poured today. 
Most of those big concrete parking garages you see today will need to be 
demolished in just 4 or 5 generations from now due to concrete failure 
caused by the cheap chemistry of modern cements. Building more permanent 
structures with better cement chemistries would be a nice gift to pass 
down to future generations that will not doubt be looking for durable 
housing that is earthquake and fire proof. *CalSeal®* - /Advanced 
Concrete Technology Here today./ /When CalSeal® is added into any 
concrete mixture it will render it totally water proof. Great for making 
totally water proof stucco's. Helps your structures last indefinitely by 
keeping all water away from your bricks or adobe. CalSeal® is a must for 
concrete and block homes in rainy areas of the county./ /Completely 
waterproofs slip formed basement walls. Use CalSeal® when stuccoing 
pools and ponds./ /Excellent for treating footing blocks and making thin 
ferrocement roofs totally waterproof. Great for ferrocement boat hull 
builders. (Ferrocement is interesting stuff so do some web searches on 
it : )/ */A must have item for stuccoing over all abode or mud brick 
structures!!!! Water is the enemy of mud, rammed earth and adobe. Keep 
it dry and watch it last forever!!!!/* /Use a 1/2% ratio in all 
concretes high in lime content or a 1% ratio in standard high strength 
cement mixtures./ /One gallon size $49.95 plus $11.94 S&H - Enough to 
treat 1 cubic yard of lime stucco./ *Rockcrete® *Coming soon. 
/(Colloidal Aluminum Silicate Dispersion)/ /Rockcrete® is sold only as a 
dry powder packaged in 5 gallon pails. It is soluble in water and foams 
a clear solution./ /It will thicken concrete mixtures and can be used as 
a topical coating to waterproof and toughen all types of cretes./ /When 
air dried it is clear and is as hard as porcelain. When soaked into 
paper and then air dried it makes paper as hard as rock. A very 
interesting compound with endless uses./ MORE CEMENT AND CONCRETE 
ADDITIVES AND CHEMICALS COMING SOON! MORE CEMENT AND CONCRETE ADDITIVES 
AND CHEMICALS COMING SOON! MORE CEMENT AND CONCRETE ADDITIVES AND 
CHEMICALS COMING SOON! MORE CEMENT AND CONCRETE ADDITIVES AND CHEMICALS 
COMING SOON! MORE CEMENT AND CONCRETE ADDITIVES AND CHEMICALS COMING 
SOON! MORE CEMENT AND CONCRETE ADDITIVES AND CHEMICALS COMING SOON! 
*Making your own paper concrete blocks is almost an addictive venture 
for many enthusiastic owner/builders. **Once most owner/builders mix up 
their first batch of paper cement they can hardly wait for the next 
batch of junk mail or news papers to come in! Any paper product can 
easily be mulched into an almost free building material. You can make 
blocks, flat panel boards or even use it as a plaster to cover free 
formed wire shapes like rocks, waterfalls, columns, domes or even create 
an indoor cave style living room */(See photo below)./ *Like many others 
you may find yourself looking at your weekly garbage as a source 
potential income, savings and joy! You will never look at waste paper 
the same way again! Paper mixed with dirt and cement is treasure!* *The 
bricks you see below cost only pennies to make and are surprisingly 
light and strong. They have great compression strength but can be cut 
with a rip saw making them easy to work with.* *The harness and strength 
of your paper concrete depends on how much cement and dirt you use in 
the making of your blocks. There is no right or wrong formula depending 
on what you are trying to build or create.* *This is only one of 7 block 
molds we will be offering including the big "Castle Block Mold" which 
allows you to build your own medieval castle or heavy duty block walls. 
The "R" value of the castle blocks (not shown) is about 30 so they are 
VERY eco-friendly for saving energy in most types of structures.*

*Free-form wire and paper concrete cave *

*style living room in Earthship - NM*



*As far as building codes hopefully you live in a fairly progressive 
city. Even in cities with tough building codes most engineers will sign 
off on paper concrete homes as long as the roof is bolted to self 
supporting beams and the block is only used as wall fill. In yet many 
other cities you will find grand fathered agricultural laws that exempt 
farm buildings from permit fees if they are under 800 square feet or 
used for barns, work shops, farm equipment and grain storage or other 
agricultural needs.* *In most cities walls up to 6 feet high almost 
never require building permits!* Let 's Have Some Fun Making Your First 
Papercrete At Home! Start by procuring some paper from any paper 
shredding machine! Using an old discarded kitchen blender simply add 
water and paper and until the pulp is nice and thick. Now add a few 
heaping tablespoons of Portland cement into the blenders vortex (No 
Sand!!!) and mix for about 30 seconds. Pour the thick creamy papercrete 
into some old plastic wear and let it sit perfectly still for 48 hours. 
Over handling the container during set time can create micro-fractures 
and weaken your end product. When properly cured you will find 
papercrete made in this fashion is an extremely light weight and shock 
proof material!
papercrete, fibercrete, fibrous concrete - Living in Paper 
<http://livinginpaper.com/current.htm>  (make a smaller papercrete mixer 
to supplement the large one I think I posted a few days back---the large 
one is an automobile rear end mounted in a trailer frame, with the drive 
end facing up to drive a shaft in a big tank.  When you tow it down the 
road a half mile or so, the paper and water will be mixed to a slurry. 
Do not put cement in the big trailer mix, it will set up too soon.  Mix 
smaller quantities including cement in a barrel, with the above smaller 
papercrete mixer.  It is is very simple, the lower end is taken from an 
old outboard motor, and a 7.5 hp or so vertical-shaft lawnmower engine 
mounted on the lower end.  Fasten it securely to the garrel, it is an 
accident waiting to happen if you don't.

papercrete.com <http://www.papercrete.com/>   (a LOT of URl's, many 
papercrete-related)


I remember sending you the below e-mail a long time ago.  Probably some 
of the links are now dead, and I did not save the full message and 
photos as I should have.


                                                                                                                            
http://network.idrc.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=5316&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&reload=1057848550  
(Making microncrete tiles still cheaper, still better in Cote D' 
Ivoire---good economic lesson here, look how many it now employs in a 
short time, and the low cost of business entry---simple plastic molds 
and they use a battery-powered vibrating table---must use a solar panel 
to keep the batteries charged---now electric power lines in that part of 
Africa, engine-generators and fuel are expensive as hell.

I like the idea of this business---roof and floor tiles have a lot wider 
market than masonry stoves and microconcrete in tile manufacture has 
proven to be durable, which is the important thing.  The tiles could 
also be made decorative by putting a textured polyurethane cast sheet in 
the bottom of the mold.  This is done in the United States to make 
common concrete block into wall siding that simulates the appearance of 
wood grain, brick panels etc.)

For a Canadian business, you could get a lot of free help from  
Ottawa-based Institute for Research in Construction at the National 
Research Council of Canada.

http://www.dainet.org/livelihoods/shelter2.htm  (some of the best ideas 
in building cheap houses and low cost-of-entry home businesses (that 
really work), are in India.  This is a TARA technology put to work.)

http://www.iisc.ernet.in/depts/astra/alternativebuildingtech.htm  
(alternative building materials and technologies, concrete variants)
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/depts/astra/buildingtechimg.htm  (pictures of 
CEB houses and FC half-cylinder, self-supporting roofs---cheapest and 
best way to make a roof in the world, forget about center posts and 
rafter-beams, or trusses.  Convex side up is ok in a warm climate 
without violent winds---an easier-to-tie-down channel-beam is better 
where you have hurricanes, typhoons or tornadoes.  Install it with the 
flat side down, seal the top lips where they join with a metal or 
plastic cap-extrusion and bolt through the lips.


http://www.bestpractices.org/cgi-bin/bp98.cgi?cmd=preview00
http://www.bestpractices.org/cgi-bin/bp98.cgi?cmd=detail&id=5783&key=
(How about a $110 dollar woodless house?  A little spartan for U.S. or 
Canada tastes, but I've seen some CEB and channel-beam roof houses in 
Colombia that would sure as hell sell here.  They cost $600 then, ten or 
twenty percent more now. That's foundation, walls, roof.  Doors, 
windows, electric wiring, lights, plumbing and bath, kitchen fixtures 
extra. Today, you'd probably have to put up a demonstration house (use 
it as an office, or even live in it) but after that you'd be working on 
customer money, not yours.  I used to get about ten percent down 
payment, and the customer or their mortgage lender would pay me three or 
four payments as the house went up.

http://www.skat-foundation.org/resources/downloads/pdf/as/basinnews_21.pdf

http://www.gtz.de/basin/news/magazine/basinnews_20.pdf (really 
thought-stimulating stuff on bootstrapping a dead economy with 
housing---doesn't work if people are basically charity-recipients.  If 
they contribute labor and learn construction business, it does.

For a small building contractor it should provide some lessons in how to 
build sufficiently high-value houses for a lot less money that will sell 
well in competition with present higher-cost materials and methods.  You 
said I like to think about CEB---you got that right.  If I were younger 
I'd be doing that today---along with FC channel-beam roofs, built-in 
plumbing and wiring raceways which would save a lot of time in 
installing pipe and wire, and be accessible without a jackhammer for 
repair or modification.  A lot of other stuff could be conventional, but 
with some of the above savings reflected in sales price, you wouldn't 
have to sell your product---people would be standing in line begging to 
buy it.





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