1. It's normal that almost everyone's first block or sample of
papercrete to be very crude and unlikely perform at all like what is
intially expected or desired.
2. It's normal that someone's second attempt at making papercrete is
drastically more successful than their first attempt.
3. It's normal for papercrete that has not dried long enough to
crumble or break apart. Your last message wasn't very long ago.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/message/6045
In that message you commented that you thought it was too wet.
Typical papercrete takes weeks to dry thoroughly. When completely
dry it may have a similar weight and feel to a dense stryofoam, but
with a slightly different texture.
4. It's normal for someone to make a first try at papercrete and
handle it too quickly.
5. It's not normal for papercrete to crumble easily when completely
dry.
6. It's NOT NORMAL for any papercrete to be waterproof.
7. It's not normal for most any papercrete to even be water
resistant, let alone waterproof.
8. Normal papercrete even when mixed and handled properly, does not
handle moisture well. Some recipes handle water better than others,
but it's never a good practice to expose unprotected papercrete to
water for long periods of time. It's asking for problems.
9. It's normal to install papercrete and then seal it or cover it
with a waterproof material. This might be stucco, shingles,
clapboards, elastomeric paints, metal sheathing, or some other
waterproofing material.
10. It's normal to mix papercrete and pour it onto a permeable
surface, like a sand bed. This allows excess water to drain out.
After an hour or so, the forms are carefully removed. When removing
forms, moving the damp papercrete can cause cracking or crumbling.
11. It's normal to try to protect papercrete during the drying
process. Plastic or tarps can be draped over it if a rain storm is
approaching and then removed once it is passed. This prevents extra
water from rewetting it.
12. It's normal for someone to experiement with several slightly
different recipes before they find something that will perform in a
manner that they like.
13. It should be normal for anyone to keep posting about their
successes and failures in this group. That's how the normal people
learn.
14. Sadly, I'm not normal. Truth be told, I'm very strange, but we
all just do the best we can.
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "bdkcu" <bdkcu@...> wrote:
>
> Remember my blender mix of paper/cement/lime that was supposed to
be
> waterproof because of the lime? Well, it's monsoon time in Silver
> City, NM, and I just looked at the "block" and it actually breaks
apart
> like a stale cookie. My thoughts: it's only an inch thick; it had
not
> properly cured, if I had kept my hands off it and let it dry out it
> might have been okay. Additionally - the block had been (sigh)
dumped
> in the back yard and been rained on for a number of days. I've
checked
> the formulas on the linked site, but I'm not sure which to use for
a
> waterproof/resistance block. Any suggestions?
>
------------------------------------
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