Monday, July 7, 2008

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

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@screwdecaf.cx> 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:

Date: June 28, 2008 7:09:35 AM MDT
To: "Mikey Sklar" <sklarm@screwdecaf.cx>
Subject: Re: Columbus we have a problem
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






-- 
Chinese herbals for the Western Mind
www.ozbotanicals.com
Skype~eve8mon

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