Along the Gulf Coast , Houston for instance, the soil is a clay gumbo
in many places. There is a huge difference in the wet season and the
dry . In the wet the ground swells up and to dig is brutal. Every time
you remove a shovel full it is necessary to scrape the clay off the
shovel. In August the clay is like concrete .
In Tennessee the finest modeling and fire clays in the world are
available in the creek beside my house. Using a 70-30 clay to sand mix
with half fire clay and half modeling clay I made some short beams
using native bamboo {American River Cane} , as the fiber . 2 inch
thick beams easily held my weight , 265 lbs. and they lasted 2 years
sitting on the clothes line supports with the heavy rains, hot summers
and moderate winters in Middle Tennessee with little damage and were
still intact and very strong after 4 though rather severely worn down.
I am certain that given protection from the sun and rain {long
overhangs and a good coat of latex plaster} that the material would
make an incredibly strong house and would last for centuries with re
coating of the plaster every 5 to 10 years. The river cane . or any
bamboo for that matter, is strong enough to replace steel re-bar in
concrete and is used for that purpose all over the Far East as well as
for Ferro-Cement water tanks etc. .
If I was going to use that method I would use the cardboard etc. to
make blocks and strip the bamboo into about 3/4" wide strips and use
it to tie the blocks together .
Using 4-5 inch wide blocks I would make a rat bond wall which is 2
walls parallel to each other with a cross block every 2 to 3 feet to
tie the walls together. Also add strips of bamboo every few inches to
tie the walls together and to the interior / exterior walls if such
were added. The last tough would be to fill the void between the
walls with rice hulls, Using 4 inch wide block walls the r-factor
would be about r-50 and the thermal mass would make it a very
comfortable house. On a 100 degree day with adequate ventilation it
would be about 78 degrees inside with no air conditioning and in the
winter it would stay above freezing perhaps to 0 . Of course this
assumes a super insulated roof which I would use 16" of rice hulls to
create. The insulation would weigh about 1400 pounds per square {14'
per sq ft} so you need a roof framed to hold that in addition to the
decking and roofing. Lowes sells a corrugated ferro-cement roof that
is very light and requires no decking for $100.00 a square .You could
build a form using old metal roofing or lumber and make it yourself
rather easily if you had the time and it should last 50 years and then
you could recover it without tearing it off by laying down a thin
membrane {window screening/cloth/etc.} and repainting it with a
mixture of latex paint, Elmers waterproof carpenter's glue , Portland
and sand.
If I lacked the funds or the time to build the clay/paper bricks at
first I would build 12' walls and voids in the floor the same 16" of
rice hulls for the roof and leave the footing for an outside layer of
clay/paper blocks 4 to 8 inches and add those as time and funds
permit.
On 5/22/11, Garth & Kim Travis <gartht@windstream.net> wrote:
> Greetings,
> A cheaper solution is wallpaper paste. I used to use it to repair
> vehicles up North. Makes a very tough paper mache, as long as it is
> painted.
>
> Bright Blessings,
> Garth & Kim Travis
> www.TheRoseColoredForest.com
> Bedias, Texas
> 936-395-0110
>
> On 5/22/2011 5:54 AM, andrew hawthorne wrote:
>> dear Pam I'm new on here but i use the same paper slurry mixed with
>> white school glue or carpenters glue to mold onto paper mache shell. It
>> dries really hard and very light weight and you can seal it with
>> varnish. I do this in small batches using shredded newspaper with one
>> part glue to one part water until I have a Constancy I like. To make the
>> paper mache shell I use one part water. one part glue and one part
>> powder laundry starch. Hope this isn't to far off the sbject and hope it
>> helps you lighten your bird houses
>>
>> --- On *Sun, 5/22/11, Pam Cole /<honeyland12@yahoo.com>/* wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Pam Cole <honeyland12@yahoo.com>
>> Subject: Re: [papercreters] Re: Share your clay recipes
>> To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>> Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 12:34 AM
>>
>> I need something to make my Birdhouses light, hard, and safe from
>> the weather. I guess I'll have to keep using the cement!
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* Donald Miller <donald1miller@yahoo.com>
>> *To:* papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>> *Sent:* Fri, May 20, 2011 7:31:38 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [papercreters] Re: Share your clay recipes
>>
>> There is a difference between experiments and actually making and
>> using papercrete/paper adobe. I have stopped using cement long ago
>> and only use clay for a binder in my blocks. I use cardboard for the
>> pulp and it works very well indeed with clay. I don't even use much
>> clay as I have found that very little is needed, perhaps one small
>> shovelful per block. I too am not much on details but rather focus
>> on results. I also make blocks with only cardboard pulp and they
>> work very well and are of course lighter than the blocks made with
>> clay. The idea that clay does not adhere to anything is rather
>> ludicrous as it sticks to everything and is a pain to remove when it
>> dries. It also expands when subjected to water, which is why
>> basement and foundation walls in heavy clay soils benefit from a
>> layer of gravel next to the concrete.
>>
>> --- On *Fri, 5/20/11, ashokchand2000 /<ashokchand2000@yahoo.com>/*
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: ashokchand2000 <ashokchand2000@yahoo.com>
>> Subject: [papercreters] Re: Share your clay recipes
>> To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>> Date: Friday, May 20, 2011, 12:12 AM
>>
>> Dear Pam,
>> Consider the following thought experiment.
>> In a papercrete mixer put the newsprint and water but do not put
>> in the cement and run it.
>>
>> What will result?
>>
>> In my understanding, the mixer, working as a pulper alone, will
>> shred the newsprint into wood fibre and mix air in the mix
>> making it quite light and foamy.
>>
>> If you add cement to the mix, papercrete results.
>> So what is different in the two experiments?
>>
>> Cement actually coats the shredded newsprint (wood fibre) with
>> itself protecting the wood fibre from the environment so that it
>> no longer decays. Also, to some extent,the cement expands and
>> fills the voids created by the mixing. The long setting time of
>> papercrete allows the voids to gather some strength.
>>
>> Clay has no natural affinity to anything. That includes wood
>> fibre. It will not coat individual wood fibres but will mix
>> between the wood fibres.
>> It does not expand on coming in contact with water.
>>
>> This suggests that the resulting mix will have very poor
>> strength and will decay with time.
>> Regards
>> Ashok
>>
>> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>>
>> <http://us.mc1106.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=papercreters%40yahoogroups.com>,
>> JUDITH WILLIAMS <williams_judith@...> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > How about starting out by substituting clay for cement in the
>> same amount then adjusting from there. Please share if you do
>> this. I have been doing it and am having good results, but seem
>> to think more clay than cement is required. I am serious about
>> your sharing your results. Attention to detail is not my forte.
>> >
>> > "There are none happy in the world but being who enjoy freely
>> a vast horizon." Damodora
>> >
>> > Follow progress on the new project at
>> http://www.papercretebyjudith.com/blog
>> >
>> > More papercrete info at http://squidoo.com/papercretebyjudith
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>>
>> <http://us.mc1106.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=papercreters%40yahoogroups.com>
>> > From: heerkitty@...
>> > Date: Thu, 5 May 2011 20:28:29 +0000
>> > Subject: Re: [papercreters] Share your clay recipes
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>> >
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > I live in Alabama so red clay is abundant, I would think that
>> the clay would have to be dried and sifted to use in papercrete?
>> Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®From: "PamC"
>> <honeyland12@...>
>> > Sender: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>>
>> <http://us.mc1106.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=papercreters%40yahoogroups.com>
>> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2011 20:22:14 -0000To:
>> <papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>>
>> <http://us.mc1106.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=papercreters%40yahoogroups.com>>ReplyTo:
>> papercreters@yahoogroups.com
>>
>> <http://us.mc1106.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=papercreters%40yahoogroups.com>
>> > Subject: [papercreters] Share your clay recipes
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Hello everyone Pam here from east TN, I'm looking for a clay
>> recipe so I can quit using cement in my papercrete, plz help
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> >
>> > Pam
>> >
>>
>>
>
--
Forrest Charnock
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