Rather than using "lots" of cement to guard against termites, consider borax or boric acid. I use borax, from a commercial laundry supply. Not only does it help with fire proofing, bugs hate it.
If you are saying twice as much cement as paper, that's way too much unless your are using it as a sidewalk or driveway. I use 1:1 for areas where I need strength and much less cement for most purposes.
You can mix using a barrel (bucket, tub) with a power spray washer. They have gotten cheap lately, a couple of hundred dollars will get one that will work. Curtis uses a 0 degree rotary nozzle for fast results, I stayed with the stock 15 degree nozzle and it works. I recommend a pair of goggles, or even better a full face shield.
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I oversize my molds for shrink to fit. Pouring layers is just asking for a shear zone(s). This is probably not a problem for blocks since the shear would be horizontal. If you are consistent with your mix (including water amount) then you can get a fixed shrinkage and size your molds accordingly. For the recipe I commonly use I oversize my molds 10%. As has been mentioned by others, a little compression will also affect the shrinkage. It doesn't take much, I often just play patty cake on the mold to make sure it is full of fiber and not just mostly water content. I have driven over wet papercrete, but not on purpose. I backed over a panel one day and it left a perfect tire track with a bit of highly compressed pc. Too bad it ruined both the panel and the mold : (
spaceman
>>it seems you have too much cement...<<
I'm all for using less cement, but I was shooting for an all-purpose mix as I'm pouring molds for two projects. The large 6" x 12" x 52" blocks are insulation for a DIY heating unit I'm designing. Not shown in my last pics are smaller molds for my garage insulation project discussed in an earlier post.
One poster suggested that I use "lots" of cement to guard against termites and I also wanted to ensure the fire retardant properties. Other materials indicate that 1:2 paper to cement ratios should be used for outdoor and high-wear projects, so I figured 1:1 would be conservative yet adequate for my purposes.
>>looking at your forms if you can roll your mixer over them to load them would be your easier way...<<
I'm a suburbanite and this is a back-yard project. So I don't have room for a proper tow mixer. I'm currently using half a plastic barrel as my mixing bowl and a hand-held heavy duty electric mortar mixer. About 10 liquid gallons is the most I can make in a batch. Boy is it a lot of work!
If there's a "medium" sized mixer I could buy or make, I'd sure be interested.
Anyone have insights into my original question? Should I pour the molds a full 6" deep on the first pour, then backfill the shrinkage, or should I fill the mold in smaller increments?
Thanks
Dan
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