Friday, July 27, 2007

[papercreters] Re: Papercrete for raised bed walls?

Ernie:

It would be interesting to see some closeup pictures of your oldest
and newest papercrete that's been on the ground. I'd absolutely love
it if you could expose a spot, check on it, and take pictures every
few months. The super-long time lapse of the same chunk of
papercrete would be very educational.

If you could conduct your own impromptu testing to get an idea how
it's holding up, it would be great. Observations would be first.
Any termites? Carpenter ants? Other investations? Mold? Bad
smell? Some kind of simple abrasion test would be interesting to
give a simple indication about how the strength is holding up. Maybe
you have better ideas about simple tests, but if the same set of
pictures and tests were repeatedly conducted over time in the extreme
conditions you're imposing on your papercrete to, we'd all learn a
lot.

Just a thought. You choose if you're up to the project.

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Ernie Phelps" <eepjr24@...>
wrote:
>
> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, C&H <amar@> wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone use papercrete for creating raised beds for gardening?
>
> No, although I have used it to fill in between concrete block and
> decorative block in a raised flower bed.
>
> > How long would the blocks last being in continual contact with
> > soil, at least on the inside and bottoms of the beds?
>
> Not exactly sure. I have used it as above and as a weed barrier
under
> white marble chips without any problems. My oldest use in this
> capacity has been down about 6 months without showing any problems.
I
> also have two samples that have been outside in rain and shine for
> about a year, just for curiousity sake, and they are not showing
any
> deterioration thus far. I am in Florida, so plenty of both rain and
> sun.
>
> > Chris in New York State
>
> Hope that helped and welcome to the list.
>
> - Ernie
>



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