I did some no cement papercrete, or more accurately just paper panels, and some sprayed infill. If you use just paper, you really need to seal it with a good fireproofing material, because if it ever ignites it will smolder, glow, and turn to ash until it is all gone. It does not have a flame, just smoke and lots of monoxide. I managed to ignite some once with a welder, and had to flood the wall several times with a hose to finally put it out. Lesson learned - don't weld on a frame encased in paper.
There is some debate on whether compressed papercrete has less insulative value than non-compressed pc. Our beloved founder, Slurry Guy did some experiments with molded pc containers, melting ice, thermometers (and probably some beer) that indicated that compressed pc has higher R factor. It is counter intuitive to me, and I can see several things that might skew the results like wet pc losing its insulating value. However, he's not around lately so we can discuss his results.
spaceman
On 2/4/2012 6:46 PM, prrr.t21@btinternet.com wrote:
The way I completely eliminated shrinking was to fill the mould, then insert a plug, and stand on it until it was pressed down level with the mould's edges. Such compressed blocks can be demoulded immediately and dont shrink. The only issue is that a large block like yours would take numerous people to press it down. I did this with medium and high cement mixes btw, I expect it would work with less cement too, since the cement has no control over dimensions until it begins to set. More cement does mean a bit less trapped air, and a bit less insulation, but also less spread of fire and more strength. NT --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "trendawareness" <trendlinesystems@...> wrote:Thanks for the suggestion. I don't want them to be too heavy as their primary purpose is insulation. My understanding is the harder the mix, the less insulative qualities it has.
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