Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Re: [papercreters] Slurry Stink -- was -- Re: my first baby steps

PC slurry with the cement in....... can be kept for how long?

What changes are there in the set properties of PC with Portland Cement
in it after 4 hours or so as compared to fresh?

Cement sets up as a function of hydration and time....... not
dehydration. That means that the cement in PC will set up in a wet
slurry or in a drying block. If "kicks" and completes it's chemical
reaction while in a high liquidity slurry, and is held over and used the
next day, what if any structural properties does the cement add? It
cannot be a binder if it has already reacted.

Is Portland cement the optimal material for PC, or just the most
commonly available and cheap?

What differences both long and short term are there if something
else..... say lime or bentonite are used rather than portland?

Howard

slurryguy wrote:
> How stinky a slurry becomes depends upon several factors. How much
> alkaline materials are in the slurry? How much bacteria are
> present? Temperature? Time?
>
> Want to have some fun? Mix up some paper and water only slurry and
> add some bread yeast to it. Cover, and set in a warm place for a
> couple weeks. You'll get a nasty very diluted alcoholic mash.
> (WARNING! Don't drink it if you value your health.) (This mix is not
> appropriate for any kind of papercrete it's just for fun.) You might
> be able to make a solar still and capture some of the little bit of
> alcohol and burn it. Don't get too excited about creating fuel this
> way. It's terribly inefficient. You'd be far better off creating
> woodgas out of the paper, or just incinerating the paper outright.
>
>
>
> The ideal conditions for stinky slurry is to soak only paper and
> water for long periods in a warm environment. If you have mold
> allergies the results can be downright hazardous.
>
> If you add the borax to the water, Putrid GAGification can be
> drastically reduced if not eliminated if you are using a soaking
> technique. Please be sure to keep it covered so that pets or other
> critters won't get into it.
>
> Rarely does soaking longer than overnight provide any practical
> benefit in my experience. Soaking glossy paper seems to help it the
> most while newsprint seems to need the least amount of soaking.
> Glossy cardboard almost is unuseable without a good soak. (It's a
> pain to use with a good soak.)
>
> Last, but not least, after spending a hot day working with slurry the
> Papercreter's musty aroma might benefit from a nice long soak too! I
> know when I've spent a hard day sweating, I sure smell better after a
> long soak.
>
> Did I gross everyone out yet?
>
> heh heh heh
>
>
> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "al" <alpinekid@...> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm building a house off-grid. I'm too far along to use papercrete
> in
>> the main house but I'm starting to play with the suff inpreparation
>> for the next phases.
>>
>> Right now I'm just playing with the paper and water. I want to get
> my
>> tubs, mixers etc together before I make a mess with stuff that get
>> really hard.
>>
>> I put a weeks supply of junk mail into a 5gal bucket and added 4
> gals
>> of water. After an hour I tore up the paper by hand and then let it
>> soak over night with a plastic bag over it to keep it from drying
> out.
>> It absorbed all the water so I added another gallon and tore things
> up
>> some more. The next afternoon I took the bag off and found a lot of
>> bubbles comming off the mixture. There was no smell. I'm assuming
> that
>> this must have been air that was in the paper fibers that had
>> coolessed(sp) and as I played with it the air bubbles broke free and
>> came out.
>>
>> I took a gallon of the mixture and packed it into a ss pan and set
> it
>> out into the sun. The next day it was dry enought to dump out and
> keep
>> its form. It dried in two days. It was obvious that I have to
> mixture
>> up the paper a lot more. There was lots of air space and the paper
> was
>> still, mor or less, just torn paper.
>>
>> I had to leave for a week and when I got back I notices that the
>> mixture had an oder but not a rotten oder. I had to add more water.
> I
>> mixed it more and made another brick. This one was more glop and no
>> torn paper look. It is taking a very long time to dry.
>>
>> I wondering if the paper starts to rot if left for a week in water
> and
>> thus becomes useless for papercrete? It was easier to mix:-)
>>
>> I'm now looking for a source of borax. Is it still available in my
>> favorite chemical supply store, safeway?
>>
>> Al
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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