Hi Connie-
Jack Bays is the name of the man who made paperadobe mixed with asphalt emulsion for
decades, starting almost 80 years ago. There's a book of his I got through Dirt Cheap
Builder Dot com.
The recipe I used for the sticky paper/clay/lime/borax mix involved my specific type of
'adobe soil' which is roughly 20-30 percent clay with the rest being very very fine sand
and about zero top soil. I was using 21 three gallon pails of that soil, at 35 pounds per
pail, for 735 pounds of 'dirt'. I weighed out 100 pounds of shredded office paper, which
would have slightly different characteristics than newsprint I imagine. I did it by weight
instead of volume because depending on who was helping me, I was getting a wide
difference in the weight of a 30 gallon trash barrel filled with shredded paper. Even when
they looked the same, I was getting upwards of a ten pound per barrel difference, which
affected the outcome of the mix. I did not measure the volume of the water, I simply drew
a line on my tow mixer and always filled it to that line with water, then came up with the
amounts of paper and dirt in order to work well with that amount of water. If the line is
still visible (haven't used the mixer since October), I'll measure the diameter of the tank
and the height of the line and do the math to determine how many gallons that is. I
hydrated two 50 pound sacks of lime in the water overnight before mixing the rest of the
stuff in, and to finish the recipe I added 2 four pound boxes of borax. Another idea would
be to experiment with putting some asphalt emulsion in the mix, as it waterproofs and
acts as a fire retardant and bugs don't like it. Two sacks of lime cost me $18, and two
boxes of borax cost me about $6.50, so if you didn't add lime or borax and instead used a
five gallon pail of asphalt emulsion at $27 (which is roughly the amount Jack Bays used for
200 gallons worth of paperadobe), you'd get the sticky quality of the asphalt emulsion,
and you'd get something pretty waterproof and insect resistant at only a couple dollars
more than the lime and borax. I haven't played around much with the asphalt emulsion,
so I don't have any first hand knowledge of how well it works and in what quantities.
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Robert & Connie" <losee04@...> wrote:
>
> My apologies, John, for missing your first response.
>
> More questions though--do you mind sharing your specific recipe for
> that paper/clay/lime/borax mix that is good and sticky? I notice you
> didn't mention sand in that mix. Interesting.
>
> Also, how would I find info on this guy you referenced that came up
> with a mix for the floor, foundation, etc.? We are interested in
> that as well if it will save us money over standard construction.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Connie
>
> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "John Annesley" <John@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Connie,
> > Well in kind, let me repeat my already given answer, copied and
> pasted
> > from my last response to you-
> >
> > "How am I going to insulate my yurt shaped thingy? That's still
> > debatable as I like a lot of other folks on here like dense
> papercrete
> > and paperadobe because its inflammable. (I've built an oven out of
> the
> > stuff and it doesn't even char the surface after hours and hours of
> > burning scrap wood in it.) However, that stuff isn't very
> insulative.
> > I don't like the idea of insulation that smolders, or walls that
> > smolder but don't burn. I live in an area without a fire district,
> > meaning no fire department. I acknowledge the sentiment of many
> folks
> > on here who say they'd prefer to live in a house that smolders and
> > gives ample warning so you can get out with your life and remove
> your
> > valuables, or even break apart the offending sections of wall and
> > fight the smoldering fire, rather than in a home that burns down
> > around you before you can get out. Personally, I'd rather live in
> > neither. I like the idea of perlite because its light weight and
> > doesn't burn or mold, but I don't know that it would be a good admix
> > with papercrete to make the paper less apt to smolder because unlike
> > cement or clay, perlite isn't going to infiltrate the pores of the
> > paper. Perlite instead of paper might work well, but six cubic feet
> of
> > perlite is still about twenty bucks where I live, I'm not sure if I
> > can get it by the truckload which would definitely be cheaper. I'm
> > thinking of perhaps slipforming several inches of perlite, adobe
> soil
> > and a little lime, but this could be costly unless I can find a bulk
> > source for perlite. Then, because I'm a glutton for punishment, I
> > intend to erect a thermal mass wall inside of the insulating layer:
> > probably sandbags filled with tamped adobe. I'm also looking into
> the
> > various Jack Bays Rub-R-Slate mixes- he started building with pulped
> > paper, clay soil and asphalt emulsion back in the 30's. I was
> > intrigued to see that the EPA considers asphalt emulsion non-toxic
> and
> > it waterproofs papercrete and paperadobe. He made floors, walls, and
> > roofs with the stuff in various mixes and proportions, often adding
> > sand for compressive strength."
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Robert & Connie" <losee04@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > So, to repeat my previous question, John, how do you plan to
> insulate
> > > the structure? What are you going to use inside the burlap
> structure
> > > to make the walls energy efficient on your present structure?
> > >
> > > If you were going to build a dome with the four layers of burlap,
> > > would you do the same thing to insulate the walls or would you do
> > > something different since the shape of a dome sometimes makes
> using
> > > standard house insulation more challenging?
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > Connie
> > >
> > > --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Nick Boersema" <picknick@>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > 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.
> > > >
> > > > John what about using your burlcrete as the shell. Then
> spraying
> > > successive
> > > > layers of papercrete with borax and lime (relatively light high
> R
> > > value).
> > > > Once you have your R value gradually switch your mix to a
> heavier
> > > mass
> > > > oriented recipe and continue to spray layers or slipform which
> ever
> > > you find
> > > > easiest. If your light papercrete is sandwiched between a hard
> > > sealed outer
> > > > shell and a heavy almost adobe inner shell how can it smolder
> much
> > > less
> > > > ignite?
> > > >
> > > > Nick
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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