Tuesday, July 8, 2008

[papercreters] Re: Ed Conley - Silver City Papercrete Home

Mikey,

Thanks for sharing Ed's story and pix. What a great house it could
have been!

Though after the fact for Ed, perhaps my story will be a good lesson
for future papercreters, even though it isn't about papercrete per se.

Living in the humid south (Alabama), we are all well aware of the
dehumidifying aspects of an AC. Perhaps his problem would have
solved just with the addition of moving air, i.e. big box fans,
ceiling fans, just something to keep the air moving.

Many years ago, as a librarian in an un-airconditioned building built
circa 1920, we had the good fortune to move to a new, tightly
constructed, modern building with central ac. We moved in April and
school got out in early June. They turned the ac and the fan off for
the summer to save money. When I got back to school in August the
entire collection of books was covered in mold. The accumulated
moisture that the books and bindings had absorbed over the years had
nowhere to go. As the schools in our community got AC or additions
for libraries that had AC, the same thing kept happening. (The
central office people were not quick learners...and besides, they
weren't having to clean the books so what did they care?)

After that summer, we always kept the fan on the ac on and it never
happened again.

Even now, as I do what I do with paperclay (a cousin of papercrete
and used for artwork) I have a small fan that I place things in front
of to speed up the drying. This is after learning that placing LOTS
of paperclay items in the return vent of my HVAC system will cause an
overload of moistureladen air to do mean and nasty things to my HVAC
unit in the attic (and to my ceiling) when the overflow pan, umm,
gets too full....

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, Mikey Sklar <sklarm-yahoo@...>
wrote:
>
> A great deal of Ed's blocks were being stacked in late
December '07.
> It is cold and a little wet that time of year in Silver City, NM.
Ed
> kept the windows and doors locked after work hours so the
ventilation
> was minimal. At one point he was looking for dehumidifiers, but
that
> is sort of a joke in dry New Mexico. It has been suggested to me
that
> air conditioners work well for this. Ed eventually started
spraying
> (EM) effective microbes on his mold infected areas and was
reasonably
> happy with the effect.
>
> On Jul 7, 2008, at 7:26 PM, Evelyn Vollmer wrote:
>
> > How very sad! Heartbreaking, really. I am glad that he will get
some
> > relief from the frustration which, I can see, has been acute. Can
the
> > mold issue be talked of? Ev
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 4:02 PM, Mikey Sklar <sklarm-
> > yahoo@...> wrote:
> >> I have some sad news about a high profile papercrete home in
> >> Silver City. Ed
> >> Conley who had been working on a 2000 sq. ft papercrete home
for
> >> the last
> >> year on has given up on the project. I asked his permission to
> >> send a e-mail
> >> to the papercreters mailing list so that others could learn from
his
> >> experience. I've visited the home before and been impressed at
how
> >> beautiful
> >> it had come out. Sadly the mold, stucco, and electrical issues
> >> along with
> >> all the labor and financing problems have ended the project. I
> >> have no idea
> >> what will become of the home as the bank takes possession of it.
> >>
> >> Below is a letter from Ed explaining his frustration.
> >> Begin forwarded message:
> >>
> >> From: edwardc@...
> >> Date: June 28, 2008 7:09:35 AM MDT
> >> To: "Mikey Sklar" <sklarm@...>
> >> Subject: Re: Columbus we have a problem
> >> Reply-To: edwardc@...
> >> Mikey,
> >> I am so disgusted with the outcome of the "final" part of this
> >> project that
> >> I have no choice but to walk away completely for the sake of my
> >> mental and
> >> physical well being.
> >> This house has consumed my entire life for over a year now and
in
> >> spite of
> >> some great successes and encouraging spurts of progress, the
over all
> >> process has been trying and impossible at times. I'm not usually
a
> >> quitter,
> >> but in this case feel that the stress and despair around trying
to
> >> make it
> >> work will continue for a long time and I am not willing to have
a
> >> total
> >> meltdown because of a house.
> >> The violations were all screw ups, or just nit picky by the
book
> >> violations,
> >> but at the same time costly and time consuming. The person doing
the
> >> electrical has basically held this project up and delayed the
> >> completion by
> >> at least four months, and frankly I don't foresee the
corrections
> >> being
> >> completed for weeks further exasperating my financial problems.
As
> >> I said,
> >> the bank has already reported me being in default of the
building
> >> loan and
> >> offered no support in finding a solution. Bottom line is they
want
> >> their
> >> money now.So, bankruptcy is an option I am considering at this
> >> point.I am
> >> going to visit my family in Tucson for a week and getting an
MRI
> >> on my back
> >> to see how extensive my spinal condition is. All I know is that
I
> >> feel a
> >> great sense of relief not having to spend 12 hours a day, seven
> >> days a week
> >> toiling on an endless money pit.
> >> I chose papercrete from the beginning because I was convinced
it
> >> was the
> >> most economical,energy efficient, relatively simple way to build.
> >> Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the people that convinced
me
> >> of it were
> >> nothing more than snake oil salesmen with a line of bullshit and
a
> >> convincing rap that gave me a false sense of confidence in
their
> >> expertise
> >> and conviciton.
> >> I can't totally blame them since I blindly trusted them and
should
> >> have
> >> recognized some red flags in the process, but my desire to
build
> >> my own
> >> home, one that would be a model for others outweighed common
sense
> >> and
> >> reality on many levels. Those factors combined with the lack of
a
> >> skilled
> >> work force and my own miscalculations created a run away train
> >> that I had to
> >> finally jump off of before it wrecked completely.
> >> I must say though, the experience and knowledge I have gained
will
> >> be a
> >> wealth of resources for anyone considering this method of
building.
> >> I still have confidence in the concept, but know that you have
to
> >> be careful
> >> of who you are dealing with. I bought it hook,line and sinker
> >> because Willy
> >> was my friend and supposedly had built at least eight other
> >> papercrete
> >> houses, more that anyone else I knew of and after all he was a
> >> friend and
> >> would be watching out for me. That was a wrong assumption and
> >> unrealistic
> >> way of doing business as the entire process was pretty much a
> >> "gentleman's
> >> agreement" and in spite of my repeated requests for estimates
and
> >> invoices
> >> from the people doing the plumbing and electrical, was never
clear
> >> as to the
> >> true cost of anything. Just wanting to complete the project in
a
> >> timely
> >> manner, let it slip by the wayside and lost control of it.
> >> I am in no way trying to finger point my way out of this mess,
> >> since I am
> >> just as responsible on many levels but just needed to shed some
> >> light on the
> >> picture as it was painted. As for now, I will enjoy the freedom
of
> >> not
> >> having to wake up another day with the frustrating and
sometimes
> >> futile task
> >> of keeping a project alive that needed more than a little CPR.
> >> In retrospect these expensive and hard lessons are good content
> >> for a book
> >> or video.
> >> I plan to share my experiences with any and all who are toying
> >> with the idea
> >> of building this way.
> >> Ed
> >>
> >> -Mikey
> >> http://blog.holyscraphotsprings.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Chinese herbals for the Western Mind
> > www.ozbotanicals.com
> > Skype~eve8mon
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
> -Mikey
> http://blog.holyscraphotsprings.com
>

------------------------------------

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