OK it is coming clearer now. The skirt part was what I wasn't envisioning. I can't wait to try it. Making a stiffer mix will be easy enough. I can even let the stiffer mix sit for 1/2 an hour or so and the water will come to the surface of the towmixer that can be drawn off prior to pouring.
You said "I can even imagine using clear or black plastic and creating a very long "pup tent" like structure that might act like a solar greenhouse." In an earlier post I mentioned I was making mini-greenhouses for my garden, and I stole one to try and get my blocks dried faster. IT DOSEN"T WORK. Yes, it gets hotter than ambient, yes, it holds the heat of the day longer than ambient, but the water coming off the blocks condenses on the inner surface and drips right back to the blocks or down the plastic to add to the humidity. I even tried opening up the ends to allow the moisture to escape but it didn't change much.
Thanks for sharing!
Ron
From: Bob <criswells.ok@sbcglobal.net>
To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 5:42:21 AM
Subject: [papercreters] Re: Side Slipforming
I wish I had read this post when I first logged on to this site, it would have saved me a lot of money and I would have been a lot further along. This post started me thinking out side the box. So I decided to construct a slipform that is total length 30" x6" tall, I wanted to be able to make any size block with this one form. My first attempt will be 12" wide, I want to be able to pour one block after another and later come back and pour more on top of these, and I don't want to have to wait weeks for it to dry before I can make a wall with them. In my photo section you will see how I made the forms, the first form was poured against a existing brick wall, so I left the end out of the 30" form, I drilled a hole into the brick wall and inserted rebar, I also inserted rebar into the slab below. I had to line up with the outside of the brick and that made me have to pour off the slab below, no problem I just stood a 2x6 under the edge of the form and poured away. I also had to meet an 1 1/2 off set where the patio rises above the porch slab, I laid down some scrap 2x's and solved the problem. I will go back later and set my "T-Lock" forms on top of the block's I just poured and continue pouring away. You may ask why make the forms 30" long? The reasoning behind this is since I'm using 2"x6" red iron to make the forms, if I set the depth 3" from the end that will allow me to make a 6" lock opening when I place one form against another. I still need to perfect my mix, right now I'm using 50% office paper pulp, 30% local soil (ours is clay) 10% sand and 10% cement. I think I will increase the cement some, I want a quicker set up time. I can forsee digging a footing ditch wide enough to put the forms down into, pouring the first two courses in real concrete and then "T-Locking" papercrete into these first two courses of concrete and continue right around the entire building, setting bucks for the door and window openings and installing rebar from the get go every 4 ft x 4 ft high and taking this to the top plate where a bolt will be installed to tye the top plate to the concrete footing.
Bob
--- In papercreters@ yahoogroups. com, "slurryguy" <slurryguy@.. .> wrote:
Several posts recently have referenced slipforming.
I'm not sure where my following thoughts fit in to the discussion, so
I'll offer them as a separate topic. Feel free to bash them and pick
them apart.
I've been thinking and looking at a variety of different techniques
for working with papercrete and I keep coming back to something I am
going to call Sideslipforming.
"Slipforming" does not have to have forms that slide UPWARD. The
forms can slide in any direction. In almost every case where
slipforming has been mentioned in this group, the forms are intended
to slide upward. I'd like to expand everyone's thoughts on the topic
and consider thinking in other directions.
I propose building very narrow forms that are the full height of the
finished wall. These forms could be made porous. A frame could
easily support expanded steel mesh covered by hail screen. The form
would need to be 3 sided. The exterior face of the wall, the
interior face of the wall, and one edge. A temporary 4'th side, the
other edge, would be required for the very first pour. The forms
would be held vertically plumb with temporary bracing.
I'll describe pouring a simple rectangular structure.
The first pour would use a 4 sided form. The forms would be firmly
attached to the floor platform or to the foundation wall. A simple
rectangular column of papercrete would then be poured inside. After
it initially drains, a beam could be placed across the top and strap
clamps or cable hoists could be looped over the top of the beam and
used to pull it down inside the form and compress the papercrete.
More papercrete could be added and compressed until the form is full
and tightly packed. Having the formwork extend above the finished
wall height would probably make the process go a little faster. The
compressing beam would squeeze downward until the finished height is
achieved.
Then ... wait. Wait until that papercrete is set and SELF
SUPPORTING! The papercrete need not be completely dry, but it must
be able to support itself.
Then the forms can be stripped off and temporary bracing should be
installed to prevent the papercrete column from tipping over in any
direction.
The forms would then be slid over and attached to the foundation
adjacent to the first papercrete pour. One open side of the form
would be filled by the existing first pour. Repeat the pouring
process compressing the new pour just like the first one.
Wait.
Repeat.
If 2 sets of forms are employed. You can work twice as fast around
the wall. You can expand in both directions on either side of the
initial pour.
I see a great number of advantages to working in this manner.
No constant fiddling with blocks. No turning them over, no stacking
and mortaring them together.
Some tarps along the ground and small pit with a pump should be able
to capture runoff water for recycling into the next papercrete batch.
The width of the formwork is variable. Ideally, it should be the
amount of papercrete that someone can easily fill in one day. If you
want to use more forms and work even faster, you can install more
slipforms adjacent to yesterday's pour that is still drying.
Using narrow forms should allow someone to pour a curved wall.
Any wall thickness can be accommodated.
Protecting the papercrete as it dries should be a lot easier. A very
small surface area is exposed and tarps can be draped over the
forms/walls when it rains. This should be a lot easier than trying
to cover an entire yard with tarps to cover a bunch of blocks when it
rains. I can even imagine using clear or black plastic and creating
a very long "pup tent" like structure that might act like a solar
greenhouse. If a fan is placed at one end of the tent, it may be an
excellent method for speeding the drying process. (always move the
air from the dry end of the wall toward the wettest end of the wall.)
If the forms are covered in wax they should easily separate from the
papercrete as it shrinks away from the form.
This technique lends itself well to the bailing twine reinforcement
technique I described some time back.
Credit where credit is due:
This idea blatantly steals bits and pieces from many other people's
ideas.
Some comes from standard concrete pouring techniques,
Tim Pye and Spaceman's experiences contributed.
ElfNori's perforated slipform idea.
Mikey Sklar's battery dome.
Strawbale wall tie down compression techniques.
and probably several other idea sources that I can't remember. My
apologies to anyone who I left out.
I encourage anyone to pick apart the idea and point out the flaws, or
at least the areas where I didn't explain it very well.
__._,_.___
