[papercreters] sources

Hi Sir,    Sorry about your bad experience.   As one who tends to be  ' too trusting  '  on most things....i can feel your pain.    Since i am totally clueless on building i have done as much research as i can on all the different  styles.  Seems the more i read the more i find to read and learn.    About the only thing i felt that being a non-builder might be a plus is that i will not be so programed into the  ' right way '  to build that i can't think outside of the box.    The advice to go to many different sources is what i took to heart when i started this researching.  But a question i have is....how can you find out if the building is still in use ?  Do the perks really happen ?   Case in point....Most sources say that straw built home have a high fire retardation.  But i have read a few souces that talk of how a friend's straw built home went up too fast and showed no retardation.  Were those built wrong or is the fire retardation overblown ?    There is no center point or list  that i know of where you can write and find out from homeowners built  say  7 +  years ago as to how they are working out. Glenna Joy is out beyond the sidewalks. --- On Wed, 11/19/08, Edward Conley <c_edward@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Edward Conley <c_edward@yahoo.com> Subject: [papercreters] Irregular blocks etc... To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 8:58 AM I have been watching this discussion for quite some time just waiting to see the McCain doctrine surface. First I'd like to say I like Mike as a person, but seriously question his expertise and advice because of my disastrous experience with his blocks and technique of building. A lot of people have published books, made videos, and talk a good talk, but the proof is in the pudding. I bought in to the whole papercrete phenomenon about four years ago and being a total beginner bought the whole theory and rap that McCain has disseminated throughout the community, unfortunately there are many flaws to say the least, First of all, unless you are building where you don't need to meet code, have a bunch of your own money to spend, and at least two years to build and ar willing to constantly re stucco, the prescribed methods are crude to say the least and for me a financial nightmare. It does matter that the blocks are not uniform for many reasons, for one thing the walls don't go up straight. Second, the formula he uses doesn't have enough portland, or other additives for the papercrete stucco to stick to and will delaminate from the surface. After my project became a run away train, I spoke with Clyde Curry, as well as Eric Patterson and realize I was lead down the wrong path on almost all aspects of my house. Granted, the house was two stories on the west side,a loft area, tapering to a 91/2 ft high ceiling in the kitchen, but if it was properly executed would not  have failed as it did. Many mistakes were made from the beginning, starting with the inferior blocks that not only look like crap, but are structurally inadequate. There is more that esthetics's at play here, especially considering there was no proven compression data on the blocks I bought from McCain. All the time, I was assured that it didn't matter since the blocks were only in fill and not load bearing, incorrect mixture for the mortar, and inadequate mix and application of the paper stucco on the exterior walls.  I could go on for days point by point listing all the mistakes made here, but the bottom line, be careful about the advice you get without checking in with the overall papercrete community, especially from ones that have actually built structures other than "Hippie houses" that are rarely if ever inspected by building inspectors, ask to see first hand houses that are at least ten years old and determine the integrity of the structure, that is if it is still in fact standing. Unfortunately, I was much too trusting and enamored with the over romanticized approach that was employed by McCain, but in the end learned that there are just some things you can't cut corners on. I learned that the low per square foot estimate for building a paper house was greatly underestimated if one has to meet code. In the end, I would just say, be careful and get more than one opinion and from people that are actually getting engineering tests done on the product, not some back porch theory that sounds good.  Clyde Curry is a good source, as well as Eric Patterson, and Mikey Sklar. Sorry if I offended any McCainites on this forum, but I've not heard a peep from him since my catastrophic failure and consequential foreclosure and loss of my property and $50,000 of my own money. When it came to support, all I got was blame shifting and finger pointing, and a lot of criticisms and deep debt.

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