I can't say I've had a lot of experience with Homasote, but I've had a
little. My great aunt had a lot of the stuff in her house. Way back
in my teenage years, Grandpa and I did some renovation work for her.
I've also ripped some out in demolition projects.
I'd describe Homasote more as a fiberboard. It's somewhat flexible,
and really tough. When fastened to studs properly it's a nightmare to
remove. The stuff will cause a sledgehammer to rebound without causing
much damage. Before sawzalls became common, you'd have to cut the
stuff out with a circular saw. Very dusty miserable work.
At my great aunt's house, part of the project involved installing
retrofit electrial boxes. Oh man. Drilling and cutting out the box
holes with a hand keyhole saw (a dull one) was the gruntwork task
Grandpa passed on to the teenager with too much extra energy. It
wasn't fun work. :( He was probably getting even with me for denting
his pickup with a wheelbarrow. "What the heck were you going so dad
gum fast for?" No ice cream for desert that night. (Grandma snuck me
some candy.)
When the board has been exposed to mosture it degrades dramatically.
It expands when wet and dries in it's expanded state. Once dry it
crumbles.
The fibers are very itchy on exposed skin. Not as bad as fiberglass,
but the dusty fibers fly around a lot more and get all over you a lot
easier.
The fibers are a very coarse rugged fiber. Think industrial cardboard
very loosly pulped and pressed into 3/4" sheets. Papercrete has a much
finer texure.
I have no experience installing it.
They may have improved the product over the years. I don't have any
experience with Homasote that has been manufactured within the last 40
years (guessing).
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Robert Merrill"
<robertmerrill1953@...> wrote:
>
> I am forever amazed at the desparity between what I thiunk I know
and
> harsh reality. I consider myself an expert (relative) in the field of
> fibrecrete. So I was blown away by a conversation at our new town
> micro-brewery about the oldest and most world reknowned producer of
> papercrete. They have been doing it famously for decades and I had
> never heard of them or seen their product. The company has been using
> sustainability as a manufacturing process goal since befor people
knew
> how to spell it! Maybe it is just me and the sheltered life I lead. I
> mean I really thought this wheel needed inventing...........
>
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