Oh yeah, I'll throw in cackleberries and salsa. I make some mean huevos rancheros that you can slip under the eggs.
Judith, I thought that a bale or more was thrown in with cardboard, so I don't remember. I don't think a half bale would make a tow mixer full unless it was a 200# bale. The bale I bought at Lowes was $12 and change, plus 8.25% tax, so about $13 for 18# of paper and boric acid. I used a little over half for the triangle, so call it $7. The fifteen pounds of portland cement was worth about $2 making the material cost $9 for the triangle, ignoring the water and electricity. This triangle started out at 3.94 sq. ft. x 7.5" thick. That's a bit over $2.50 per square foot or $4.10 per cubic foot. At 5" thick after shrinkage that is maybe R15.
I need 150 of these, actually 120 of them are about 25% more in volume so say 120@$11+30@$9=$1,590 for the dome at a final thickness of about 5". I just went out and measured, after two days in 100 degree dry weather but no wind, the triangle has shrunk from 7.5" thick to 5" thick, and the long side has gone from 38.35" to 37" at the top. The top generally shrinks more than the bottom giving me a tapered triangular panel. I expect more shrinkage, though the block sounds like wood when knocked on it is still too heavy and wet to move without damage. Tomorrow I'll try to use the rest of the cellulose for another triangle just to see how much more than 1/2 I used and how far off my guesstimates are. Shrinkage will make the cost per cubic foot go up, of course, and I just realized that my numbers are based on the mold size and not the smaller final panel, so bump that up at least 10% to maybe $4.50 per cubic foot.
My problem with that is even buying paper I can get shredded office paper for $75.00 a ton, or $.0375 per pound compared to $.72 per pound for cellulose insulation. Free paper is even better. The labor savings is great, and for a small project the cost of a large mixer would be eliminated so would offset some of the cost of cellulose. You could mix in a bucket with a plaster blade, don't even need a mortar or concrete mixer. You could probably use a paddle and stir up a batch in a plastic drum.
Now before anybody starts budgeting a house at $4.50 per cubic foot, remember that these figures are just close guesses, and prices at the big box stores are changeable.
spaceman All opinions expressed or implied are subject to change without notice upon receipt of new information.On 7/7/2011 11:34 AM, JUDITH WILLIAMS wrote:
I will have to go through my paperwork and fine the cost I got from Applegate. My reasoning was that if you figure it into the bid for someone else and they could afford it it would be good. I would have had to take a trailer load to get the low price. Spaceman, do you know what a bale of that stuff costs at Lowe's or Home Depot? Perry, maybe you could get that info off the web. I remember we used a couple of bales that Lex brought with him when we got together here in Abiquiu. I think we used 1/2 bale per load but am not sure. One advantage to using it is you don't need a papercrete mixer. You can do it in a cement or mortar mixer.
To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
From: perryway@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 14:51:05 +0000
Subject: Re: [papercreters] Cellulose Insulation
Beans, rice and home made bread sound good, but some eggs and salsa and some mexican cotija queso would top it off for me!
I like how fast it sounds to make those insulation batches. What do you think the cost would be per square feet based on a decent thickness? Maybe this technique would be an acceptable cost to some folks, as you say.
__._,_.___
