JUDITH WILLIMS SAID: was having a bad day one time and forgot to add
the cement to the mix. What I ended up with was a big rice cake like
thing. It was incredibly light but firm. I just interspersed the
resulting blocks throughout the wall. But now I am planning to expand
my small shed and make it into a little cabin for myself.
a woman after my heart--
I made up a batch of spaghetti length shredded paper strips and
coated it with clay slip + hydrated lime added, with very little sand,
and poured the light doughy mix into the 2' x 3' card board lids of
paper case boxes. ( thank you Staples)
I called it "wafflecrete" the light clay encrusted stranded looked
sorta like waffles or Ramen noodles in a package.. the filled box
lids were dried in the direct sunlight here, and in a few days I had
simple wafflecrete blocks I could lay between studs of my studio.
I liked this alot, it is fire resistant, and any clay plaster or lime
plaster over it fills the nooks & crannies easily.
You can make some blocks based on the width of your wall studs, or
space to be filled. and allowing for shrinkage when dry, you have a
perfect FREE block of insulation which can be "buttered " with more
clay slip or plaster and tucked into the spaces/ very easy to do, can
be done alone, and not heavy to handle. Allows for people of any age
or ability to do it. Also, a big-ass mixer is not needed... if you
have just regular shredded paper from a school or legal office, and mix
in some finer cross shredded stuff, you can have a suitable block for
ceilings, walls, etc. not load bearing, I use lime, others could add
borax, etc..but clay fireproofs and bug resists most anything it
covers.
Charmaine Taylor Publishing
Green Building DVDs & Books
www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
Tel: 1-707-441-1632 PST Eureka, Calif.
