[papercreters] Re: underground papercrete house? How do I waterproof it?

I would like to echo some of the thoughts expressed by others already.

Using papercrete underground, especially in contact with soil is A REALLY BAD IDEA.

I love papercrete. It is great stuff. I encourage its use in many situations. Using it underground to build a shell to support earth above it is a prescription for disaster. Please don't try to do this. No matter what someone uses to try to waterproof it, it will be insufficient.


There are other far more effective and reliable methods to build an underground shelter. Many of them can be very inexpensive.



Second... if someone is considering building underground, please make certain that you are building on HIGH GROUND!!!! Building underground in an area where water will be cascading down a slope toward you is asking for water problems. Short of building a submarine buried in the ground, your waterproofing is doomed to fail regardless of the construction system you employ. Underground structures only make sense at or near the top of a hill that is completely outside any flood plain.

Site selection is probably the single most important decision in building. It is even more important when building underground. Get that first step wrong, and the entire project will be one nightmare after another, no matter how hard you work and how much money you spend on the project.


Finally, a word on taxes.
If you are looking to keep your tax bill down... I have several suggestions.

1. Select a State/County/Community that has low property taxes in the first place. If you elect to build in an area that has higher tax rates than you are comfortable with, you are never going to be happy. You will always be looking over your shoulder and defensive. Selecting such a site to build probably guarantees that you will lead a very angry, frustrated, and miserable life in the house you built. Personally, I can't think of a bigger tragedy than for someone to be constantly unhappy in a home that they built themselves with their own two hands.

2. Build Small. The smaller your house is, the lower the taxes. Don't build more house than you absolutely need. Remember, you can always build an addition if you absolutely need to.

3. Build Smart. Remember, the structure with the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom is your HOUSE. That will be taxed at the highest rate, so keep it very small. That doesn't mean you cannot have a huge amount of enclosed space in other structures. If you need more storage? Build a shed, which will have extremely low or no property tax assessed. A shed can also serve as a workshop, an office, a tool shed, and any number of other useful functions. These structures can give you all the convenience and functionality of a large house, but with a drastically smaller tax bill.

Keep in mind that small sheds are GREAT structures to learn and gain experience. Build a shed or two first, before you begin to build your house. Make your mistakes on those small inexpensive structures so that you learn to avoid the mistakes that cost you lots of money and effort on your bigger more expensive structures. Besides, you'll need those sheds to store tools and materials as you build your house anyway.

Garages and Barns are also useful, but taxed at a higher rate than a shed, but also taxed at a lower rate than a house. Don't hesitate to build a Garage or Barn if that is what you need, but don't build a garage or barn to be a storage shed. Sheds are the cheapest storage you can build.

Want to invite people over for a big party? Great. Hold it outside, or in your barn.
I watched the Superbowl at a friend's farm shop building. He just moved his truck and tractor outside and pushed all his tools to one wall. There was a huge expanse of space and he rolled out a carpet and moved in a bunch of furniture and a big TV. BBQ was plentiful. We played touch football with the kids indoors. Great fun.

No need to have a big house to throw a fantastic party.

4. Keep it simple. The more simple and basic a structure is, the lower the tax bill will be. If you are single, and plan to stay that way, don't build a house designed to hold a family of 4. The more you restrict the possibilities for comparison of your property to other properties that families tend to own, the cheaper your assessed value will be. If your house is designed to only sleep one person, it severely restricts what an assessor can value it for because the number of people that might ever want to purchase it will be extremely limited.

5. Be happy and secure. Nothing is less secure than living in a situation where you know that the authorities will evict you if someone reports your illegal structure or the authorities find it. That is simply a nightmare existence. You're far better off to build a place custom designed exactly to fit the needs of your lifestyle, and the authorities simply think it's not worth their trouble to mess with someone that appears insignificant to them. Nobody is more free than the person nobody notices.


I wish you great success in whatever project you choose to undertake.


--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "waterengineman101" <shanerileyservices@...> wrote:
>
> Hello people. Long time no see! Well guys work and daily life gets in my fasinasion about papercrete a lot so I end up not getting to spend much time on it. However soon (like in 2 months) I will be able to start my house. As you should know, the earth is absolutely the best insulater against the heat of summer (think, far south texas, 100 degrees everyday for months on end...for real!). And, I have access to a backhoe and can operate it. AND, if its underground I won't have to pay taxes on it. So here's the BIG question. What is a sure fire no guessing truely proven way to make papercrete waterproof? Now I want to clearify. I don't mean I want to know if it will work just a little bit, I want to know it will work FOR SURE! no cactus juice works well, no I heard you use linseed oil...I need it to actually BE waterproof as now I am concidering building the house underground. To ease fears, I allready think I know about how to keep it from colapsing in. right now I am only researching on how to make papercrete WATERPROOF. Totally waterproof, no seapage, No dampness threw the wall...TOTAL waterproofing. NOW.....can anybody tell me what I need to know. I will await an answer and I will check back after work today. Thanks for your time.
>
> s.
>




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