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On Wed, 9/25/13, slurryguy@yahoo.com <slurryguy@yahoo.com> wrote:
Subject: [papercreters] Patty LaTaille and Jack Sciacca house.
To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2013, 4:29 AM
There isn't much to be learned from this article, only another "green" couple spending way too much money per sq. ft. and using information on PC that has been written about for many years and implying that it is all new stuff. The real need in the PC community is getting building codes and building departments to recognize the merits and "safety" of building with PC.
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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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Re: [papercreters] Patty LaTaille and Jack Sciacca house.
