Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Re: [papercreters] Re: PC insulating board -mix question

Somewhere I'd gotten the impression you'd used ferrocement for the outer layer . . . Please keep us posted on how the paint holds up and any revelations you have regarding same.
 
How much shrinkage did you see in the poured papercrete as it dried?  Was it significantly less than block shrinkage?  How did you get the papercrete up in the peak of the entrance and the very top of the dome?
 
ElfN
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [papercreters] Re: PC insulating board -mix question

When I built my battery room dome the primary lessons I learned were:

1. Papercrete is a warm weather / dry weather sport. When doing thick walls get it all done during spring/summer/fall. I went into the winter and that greatly slowed down drying.

2. I did a thin layer of papercrete (one spray coat) both inside and outside the dome after pumping it full. I should have done 3 coats. Trowling only the final one. This would reduce cracking and give a much strong exterior/interior.

3. My lime wash I am still figuring out. Basically keep it thin when using the lime wash pool coat (1 part white portland / 1 part lime) as a slurry. The lime wash is probably best applied with a roller which leaves a thin coat. Otherwise cracking is common.

4. build a rebar ladder into the dome to make getting on top easier. It was a hassle to drag scaffolding around.

Things that worked well on the dome were:

1. welding rebar is fast, and reasonably strong - one person job

2. a pneumatic hog ring gun was critical to getting a dome up fast, we were hanging 14 sheets of diamond lath a day with the gun. Only four sheets without.

3. the trash pump worked out, took me a while to get a 9HP motor pump. I'm skeptical of smaller pumps.

4. spraying has been great, vertical sprayer and side style tirolessas were both utilized.

5. starting small with a 10' diameter dome was nice. We didn't make any BIG mistakes on our first go around. 

On May 27, 2008, at 11:59 AM, ElfNori wrote:

<nods>
 
What significant things did you learn building your dome?  If you were going to do it again, what would you do differently?
 
I ask because what you did is close to what I want to do . . .
 
ElfN
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: [papercreters] Re: PC insulating board -mix question

Drapped cloth or forms might have brought the costs down a lot. If one person can do the work alone that is where the real savings is. As soon as two people are needed all savings are lost. 

I currently just build everything from rebar, add remesh, then lath and can do it all on my own. That has been a tremendous savings despite the materials being a bit more expensive.

On May 27, 2008, at 11:46 AM, ElfNori wrote:

Mikey, what would the expense have been if you'd drapped netting and sprayed or used forms to pour or . . . ?
 
ElfN
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:40 AM
Subject: Re: [papercreters] Re: PC insulating board -mix question

Yes, my 300' fence cost me just under $10,000 so about $33 a running foot to build from papercrete panels. $5,000 was spent on labor. The other $5,000 was lag screws, self tapping screws, rail ties, framing studs, portland cement, and concrete. 






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