Papercreters: Re: [papercreters] PPB's

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Re: [papercreters] PPB's

Your idea with the plastic tape adding strength sounds plausible but it
actually decreases strength. The tape creates wide areas within the block
that prevent the paper fibers from interlocking, which is what gives the
block it's strenght. The pulp needs to be poured into the mold as a
slurry to alllow the fibers to interlock and then as the whole lot dries
it shinks as it hardens, pulling the fibres into a tightly locked solid
bond, hence the extreme hardness of the blocks. This is what enables the
blocks to accept a screw succesfuly. Having a free draining base in the
mold will allow the excess water out quickly. It's like combining
papercrete skills with paper making skills. Parecrete on the other hand
relies more on the hardening of the cement to create the strength which
actualy prevents the fibres from shinking tightly together. This is my
assumption as to why it has not been succesful in my extra wet climate as
an outer layer.

Getting even more of topic I am currently building a brick kiln to fire my
first ever batch of kiln fired clay bricks to use as my outer structure.
I have heaps of clay so I am keen to see if I can master this. I just
love using natural products to build. My biggest challenge is coming up
with an all natural roofing material. I am expecting to build the roof
structure from paper but I am still searching and experimenting on the
outer roof layer. Fired clay tiles are an option but heavier than I would
like for my roof. Ideas anyone??

Wayne

> I've been making paper adobe and paper blocks out of cardboard mixed in
> the
> usual papercrete manner with a tow mixer doing the pulping. I make the
> paper
> blocks using my forms I use for the paper adobe, 12"X16"X6". I find that
> the
> paper blocks shrink more than the ones with clay in the mix but not that
> much as
> I squish the mix into the forms and when some of the water has drained
> away top
> them off with more mix and level the tops. I lhave a large sheet of heavy
> plastic tarp nailed to the ground and I place the forms on this which
> enables
> the water to run off rather quickly and doesn't create a big mud hole.
> Â
> I pull as much of the plastic off the cardboard as is feasible when I
> stack it
> but there is always quite a bit left to deal with. I leave this
> plastic tape in the blocks as I feel this material will help bind the
> blocks
> together. I try to put it in the middle of the blocks and work it in the
> mix and away
> from the edges but on occasion some will find it's way to the edges but is
> easily trimmed away.
> I use this method with the larger pieces of cardboard as well as there is
> always some
> that hangs up on the front of the blade and stays in bigger chunks.
> Â
> The paper adobe blocks made in the forms described above shrink to
> approximately
> 5"X11"X15" while the paper only blocks shrink perhaps 1/4 to 1/2" more on
> all sides.
> Soaking the cardboard is almost a must as it is quite tough and resists
> the pulping
> operation much more so than newsprint, especially large multi layer boxes.
> The blocks made in this manner do take a long time to dry, but once dry
> they are
> as strong as the paper adobe blocks I make using clay as a binder and they
> are lighter.
> I live in a very hot dry climate (SW Arizona) so this works in my favor. I
> also have a lot of
> room to spread out the blocks while they are drying.
> Â
> I bought some boric acid online and I am going to spray this on the
> surface of the
> blocks for fire retardancy. I will have to experiment with this and may
> have to add it to
> the mix. The blocks themselves will burn but I believe in a wall where the
> air can't get
> around the entire block it would be like a slow smolder. Even out in the
> open the burn is still a smolder so I think the fire issue can be
> resolved.
> Â
> I will try and post some pictures of my operation.