CLIP--Charmaine Taylor, a group member, has done sawdustcrete, and she swears
by it. IIRC she packed it between studs in her wall. I can see where shrinkage would be a real problem for cordwood. That
could be a real disaster with all the joints. That's why I generally don't recommend embedding things in pc. The shrinkage prevents a bond from happening." clip-
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Charmaine
Charmaine Taylor/Publishing & Elk River Press
PO Box 375 Cutten CA 95534
www.papercrete.com
by it. IIRC she packed it between studs in her wall. I can see where shrinkage would be a real problem for cordwood. That
could be a real disaster with all the joints. That's why I generally don't recommend embedding things in pc. The shrinkage prevents a bond from happening." clip-
My sawdustcrete does not shrink much at all..I use lime, clay and redwood sawdust, (seldom cement, but I due use it on occasion- just personal pref) and add sand, etc..I cast large and small blocks, use it as a plaster, and underlayment for lime plaster, and it is not used as cordwood mortar is.
as the wood logs shrink and the cordwood mortar dries you get what is called "thermal nosebleed" that whistles cold air all around each log, and hard to find caulk them all. Rb Roy's cordwood mortar is a diff mix too. ( a good double wall design eliminates most of this problem )
You can use a variety of mixers..but a towmixer does give you volume if you are building a house
Sawdust is great because it is already chopped and ready to use, no grinder needed.and no tow mixer. doesn't rot or smell, is fire resistant, I have used a wringer washer that just mixed it slowly over 30 minutes of chugging ( the washer blade at bottom just swings back and forth and does the job. You can leave the mix in the drum for a while ( if nocement is used) , or drain some on a screen to make a sculpt able mix that is fun for small craft projects..garden animals, pottery. using a plastic planter bowl, covered with plastic bag, and then pressing another bowl into the wet mix, let dry gives a ready made planter.
and plastering the outside of the plastic bowl lets you embed tiles, sea shells, etc. I taught classes using cheap floral straw baskets as the form, and plastering one or both sides with either papercrete or sawdustcrete... adding decorative stuff, adding twig handles, raffia, etc.... fun and easy to do as a starter project.
Use what you have locally...and EPS crete ( a version of hypertufa ) I feel is better than papercrete as the foam ground to dust doesn't take in water, and is stronger, equally insulative. a
friend made a grinder for styrofoam from old mower motor for her wall building. she casts long 'logs' in place with forms. see the article: http://www.papercrete.com/paracreteepscement/freeplanepsshredder.html
PS if people cant clip a long email, just START A NEW ONE with the SAME SUBJECT as the reply.. I also get lost in copies of copies of copies just to read a 2 line reply.
Charmaine
Charmaine Taylor/Publishing & Elk River Press
PO Box 375 Cutten CA 95534
www.papercrete.com
Michel de Montaigne: "The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness."
Socrates: "He is the richest who is content with the least."
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