Tuesday, March 11, 2008

[papercreters] Re: Burlap-Crete photos.

Ernie, to answer your questions:
1) Regarding the idea of spraying the burlap with PC, no I didn't try that or even think of it
until you mentioned it. Personally, I don't think the PC would stick well but I could be
wrong about that.

2) I actually know someone who built a quonset hut out of plastic pipe and old carpets and
then coated the carpets with 50 plus gallons of used paint from the dump. It's been
outdoors for fifteen years and hasn't fallen down but I don't know if its leaked or begun to
rot, etc.

My concern with building a metal framed structure and coating it in wire, was to find a way
to trap the wire as part of a structural matrix with the coating. With burlap draped over the
wire with PC blown onto the burlap, the PC might stick to the burlap, but to get the burlap
then to adhere to the wire seems to me would require a mechanical bond like hog rings
every several inches or something. Same with the carpet. I was trying to emulate
ferrocement using fiber instead of steel, and quickening the pace of the process by being
able to dip the fiber (burlap) into a slurry and drape it over an armature instead of
meticulously suture expanded metal lath onto the wire armature. The fact that the slurry
sets up rock hard inside of half an hour also advances the pace of the process, as night
temps are still often below freezing and I didn't want to wait until later in the year to get
going on the project: freezing while setting up can often ruin cement based curing
processes.

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Ernie Phelps" <eepjr24@...> wrote:
>
> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "John Annesley" <John@> wrote:
> >
> > As for your burlap question: yes, its real burlap bought from the
> > garden supply store, for about $3.40 for a seven foot square piece
> > of it, which 49 square feet.
>
> Just curious, John, did you consider or try spraying the burlap with
> PC? Even a high cement content PC should give you a bit more
> elasticity.
>
> Also, you might borrow a page from another PC'er (clyde curry, I
> think?) who has used discarded commercial carpet for a similar
> application. You could probably get strips of that for free if you
> looked around some, and it would save them from becoming landfill
> material. Obviously, this would be something better applied to an out
> building first to test it out, but perhaps you need a workshop? =)
>
> - Ernie
>


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