Re: [papercreters] Re: Walk in cooler

Depending on what your priorities are papercrete or Rice Hulls should
be considered.
Because Austin is close enough to the giant rice farms of the
coastal areas of Texas that the shipping would not be a deal killer
rice hulls would be hands down cheaper! Sometimes they are free !

Katy Texas is only 130 miles from Austin and there are rice fields
closer. Would have to study a map but there are probably place closer
. Texas is full of farmers with the twin axle dump trucks with the
huge volumes needed to transport rice hulls. For a small job like that
you could have it bagged and move it with a conventional flat bed and
unload w/ forklifts.

Rice Hulls are as good , perhaps a little better, insulation as
papercrete and only weigh 10 lbs. per cubic foot. They have a class A
fire rating without modification and vermin won't eat it. The big
advantage is labor. A strong young man can carry 9 cubic yards up a
ladder with no problem and the foundation can be much lighter.

I would use porous (volcanic rock) under a slab. The walls can be just
about any masonry including papercrete , either blocks or stucco. The
easy way is to build the slab and then put up pilasters on the corners
and every 4 to 6 feet. Stack the rice hull bags parallel to the wall
or at a right angle depending on how much of an r factor you want.
Rice hulls give you a little over 3 per foot so a 3 cubic yard bag
will give you an r factor of around 45 laid parallell to the wall and
90 at a right angle, overkill I would say. The you would add the r
factor of the masonry. The cheapest was is to stretch wire mesh
between the pilasters so the bags will fit snug between them and then
and then using a tool made for the purpose spray papercrete , stucco
or ferro cement . You end up with a structure very similar to a straw
bale house with non load bearing straw bales where the stucco is
actually load bearing. Use a good over hang on the roof and it should
last 200 years or more in Austins climate.

The insulation on the roof is much more critical than that on the
walls or the slab. There are several ways to do this . One is to build
a flat roof with a solid deck that will support the weight and not let
dust through, the red felt used under wood floors works well here.
Build a frame 18 inches high and fill it with rice hulls giving you an
r 56. Then build a truss roof on top of that and use a lightweight
concrete roof over a light weight deck (1/4 inch is fine) with
aluminum foil to reflect Austin's radiant solar energy. . They sell
the concrete roof in 4' x 5' tiles at Lowe's fot $1.00 a square foot.
or you can use old metal roofing as a form and make your own with
burlap coated with latex, Elmer's glue , Portland and sand. It's nice
to work with because the sections only weigh about 20 lbs and go up
fast.

An alternate method is to build it with a modified stick frame but you
would have to use composite wood or one of the tropical hardwoods like
Ipe [False Ironwood) ir Etonge etc, to withstand the high moisture
expected in a cooler.

To see what a modified stick frame and all about rice hull
construction. is go to these places:

www.thelaststraw.org/backissues/articles/Rice%20Hull%20House.pdf
www.thelaststraw.org/backissues/articles/Rice%20Hull%20House.pdf

http://www.realmagick.com/rice-hull-bagwall-construction/

















On 6/15/12, prrr.t21@btinternet.com <prrr@talk21.com> wrote:
> Papercrete is a good insulator, very cheap, and rotproof.
>
> Zeroing sand content maximises insulation. It does also reduce strength
> some, but given youre using thick walls this should be a nonissue.
>
>
>
> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "brightsideatx" <farump@...> wrote:
>>
>> Howdy!
>> I'm designing a new walk in cooler to be built via a workshop format for
>> an urban farming non profit here in Austin, TX. I want to keep this thing
>> at or below 50F year round but never frozen. It gets up to 110 here some
>> days, and can be over 90 every day for six months at a time, sometimes
>> humid, sometimes dry, sometimes thunder storms, and freezing maybe ten
>> days a year. I started out thinking of using straw bale, but I'm
>> concerned it would rot due to constant condensation in the bale wall.
>> Then I thought earthbag, but apparently it's not very insulative unless
>> you can fill it with volcanic scoria gravel which we do not have here.
>> I'm going for a more eco friendly and cheaper option than shed with foam
>> panels, so what do you think, is papercrete the thing to use? What is the
>> optimal mix for insulating / structural walls?
>> Is it feasible to pour a papercrete floor over some gravel and sand bags
>> to insulate from the earth as well? Do you think it would be a moldy
>> mess?
>> This thing needs to be as cheap and easy to build as possible, any
>> thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
>> Thanks!
>>
>
>
>


--
Forrest Charnock


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