[papercreters] Patty LaTaille and Jack Sciacca house.

Here is an article about an interesting project.

$100 per sqft sounds a little steep, but they have a very nice looking home.

Patty LaTaille and Jack Sciacca built a house in Villa Grove made of The Mountain Mail.

Papercrete is an environmentally friendly form of building, using recycled paper, concrete, lime and sand, said LaTaille. It allows people to recycle paper – or shredded Mountain Mail newspapers in LaTaille and Sciacca's case – and use it as building material.

Both LaTaille and Sciacca emphasized the economic and environmental benefits of using this type of material. "Material-wise it is economical; while a normal house costs about $150 per square foot, this one was about $100," LaTaille said.

Despite these obvious benefits, LaTaille qualified, the building process is very labor intensive. "Stacking the blocks is a lot of work. They are 3 feet by 1 foot and weigh 36 pounds," she said.

It took 4 years until the couple could move into the house, "and there is still a lot left to complete," LaTaille said, referring to jobs such as sanding and lime washing a couple of the walls.

Sciacca said one of the main motivations behind using papercrete rather than more traditional building materials, aside from environmental considerations, was its efficiency in regard to thermal mass and insulation.

"The house is structurally very good, there is good insulation, it's very snug, and while the rating of insulation in most houses is around R8, ours is R30-plus," LaTaille said.

There are two ways to build with papercrete: cast and place or by using blocks.

Sciacca explained that while they employed the block method, in the future he would prefer to cast and place as it would cut down on time and labor.

To create the blocks, they used a special mixer, fashioned from a stock tank and blade, which turned the newspaper into pulp as it moved. Once it was pulped, they added cement, water and lime, poured the mix into their block molds, and put the blocks in place once they had set.

"Some people think it's a hippie house, but it's not," LaTaille said. "Jack's big thing, when choosing papercrete, was that it was low maintenance. We have harsh winters, and we have not had any issues structurally."

When thinking of a house that Sciacca said is as much as 60 percent paper, one of the first questions many ask is if it is more susceptible to rain and more flammable. As it has been built with mostly concrete, LaTaille said, it is actually extremely hard to burn down.

As for the effect of water, LaTaille said that, as papercrete is built with more concrete than paper and is covered in mortar, it is unlikely to fold under some rain. She does, however, warn that it does better in dry climates because if it gets damp, it can develop a black mold.

Sciacca added that while damp can cause a problem, as with many building materials, with a good seal and large quantities of lime, which acts as an inhibitor, the problem should not occur.

Another benefit of the material is that it is easy to manipulate, Sciacca said, and its shape can be molded with a chainsaw once it is in place.

LaTaille pointed this out in the shape of the walls. As each brick in the house is a different size and shape, there is more artistic license, "though hanging pictures can be a little challenging," she said.

"We wanted to build an environmentally friendly home," LaTaille said, so in both the building and decorating process, they tried to avoid using harsh chemicals so it could be as eco-friendly as possible.

The inside of the house is a combination of the lime-washed plaster, wood and corrugated metal to create an appealing aesthetic, LaTaille said, attributing the choice of materials and design to Sciacca.

She also said that as the papercrete needs to breathe, you cannot use regular paint on it. Instead Sciacca lime washed the interior of house. He said one of the other reasons he chose to use many metal surfaces in the house is that they provide vapor barriers and reflective surfaces.

LaTaille said she would definitely advocate others building this way. "It is economical to build and run, pretty earth friendly, very solid and cool in the summertime too."

Sciacca seconded this positive opinion, but suggests that anyone considering it should go to a workshop so they can better understand how the material works and how to utilize it most effectively.

In the future he said he would also include sand in the mixture as it helps prevent shrinkage.

Source:http://www.themountainmail.com/free_content/article_761a88e4-1a2b-11e3-9025-001a4bcf6878.html

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