Papercreters: [papercreters] Re: New to the group

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

[papercreters] Re: New to the group

Hi Gina,

Am in the Tulsa/BA area and successfully cast about 2000 large
papercrete blocks over the period of 6 mos while living in Norman, it
can work although the sudden thunderstorms tend to set you back!

I dried them in the backyard and was quite diligent about covering
with a plastic tarp if rain was in the forecast. Once dry enough, I
stacked them on old wood pallets covering the lot with plastic tarps
to prevent rain absorption. I would say on average the blocks
required 1.5-3mos to dry thoroughly depending on how wet it was
outside. Once dry they were hard as a rock. Currently I have them in
a storage unit and am looking for land in the area to construct.

I do believe from my experience that if I ever were to attempt a
slipform or cast in place build, I would construct the roof or a
temporary canopy first to shield the wet papercrete b/c on several
occasions when my tarps blew off in heavy winds, the top layers of
block became saturated and yep, took about another month to dry out-
though they are quite usable even after getting wet and drying out
several times.

Good luck to you on your project, I haven't had any experience with
domes, but 80 acres sounds like a dream to have, keep us posted on
your progress!

Blake

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, Redhair Witch <redhairwitch1@...>
wrote:
>
> Hello All I'm new to your group and thought I would say Hi !
>
> I'm starting a project here in Oklahoma.
> I have 80 ac and am building domes. I have been intreged by covering
a dome with papercreat. I have seen domes that where covered with
burlap and concreat and thought that papercreat could be used in the
same way. I have been talking to a man in NY who builds dome frames
from elect. conduit and covers them with shrink wrap that they use to
cover boats with. It got me thinking that I could use his idea and be
able to reuse my frame over and over if I could get the mix and fiber
support right.
> I have done some scree work with just concreat. Has anyone used
papercreat for this?
> Is anyone else in Oklahoma? I do have some concerns about the
humidity here wich can be 90%.
> Any info would be great
> Gina
>