Papercreters: [papercreters] Re: Compressed Blocks

Monday, November 10, 2008

[papercreters] Re: Compressed Blocks

Thanks A. Hume.

I was wondering if allowing it to dry a while would work.
I am very interested in what you mean by pavers, are you using
papercrete as driveway or sidewalk paver's? How do you moisture proof
them for ground contact? What is the investment for the press?
I am planning on transplanting quite a bit of RiverCane this winter
and am at present designing and building prototype lower cost outdoor
wood burning heaters/ovens for the area I live in, Middle Tennessee.
In the spring I am planning on building some ferro cement roofed
drying sheds for cane and wood as well as adobe garden walls and a
small house. I am debating using a modified stick from or rustic
timber frame infilled with rice hulls on the east , west , and north
sides and papercrete or paper-adobe on the south .
I would like to get set up to build demonstration blocks for market
research as well as building the heater / ovens our of adobe and paper
adobe.
At the moment the rice hulls seem more practical imho as it is a hard
sell to show someone a lousy looking block and telling them, trust me.
It may be that it won't matter when all is finished and the papercrete
houses can be stunning but perception is everything.
Livinginpaper.com has a pick of a perfect block made by machine but
they do not respond to e-mail.

Another avenue for the owner builder with ceb or papercrete might be
equipment rental and that could be profitable for the rental company.
Produce blocks when it is not rented and sell them when it is.
Assuming the equipment needed, a bobcat, which they can get locally
will run about 400.00 a week and has other uses , if they could rent
the mixers and block making equipment for couple weeks from say a
grand or so it might make sense. of course I am making up numbers . Or
perhaps even more logical to test the soil and have a backhoe operator
have all the soil ready and all the other supplies and local labor
and then the equipment owner could come to the site and make all the
blocks in a few days for say 2500 which would be profitable for
him/her and competitive. with other methods. The big factor would be
distance.
And for the poor boy method you could rent tom mixers but you would
have to be close .
Does that make sense to you?

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, <pepperh@...> wrote:
>
> We used a 1000# manual lever press not automatic to test the
process. We have experimented with CEB using all forms of equipment.
We organized this manual press design for missionaries - paper design
with a particle board mock up model shipped - then they build in
their location. The CEB issue here for us was to find a knowledgeable
block builder. Difficult! CEB is the most practical of the building
materials I have seen. But the construction "cost effective" is
deceiving. Similar to adobe but the dry mix needs to be experimented
with before you build 5000 blocks - every time! The blocks go into
the wall immediately no drying time concerns - press and place! The
return on investment is in utility savings. But DIY is not practical
accept as a personal choice - cost of equipment or that "green" block
builder is over the top.
>
> What we did with papercrete was make 7"X10"X3" pavers with an artsy
embossed stamp using a CEB manual 2 to 1 press. All worked as
assumed. Out of 20 blocks - 2 "crumbled" after air drying for 7 days.
The rest seemed to be fine. We will get back to this next year.
When we compressed the mixture the chamber was full and compresses to
half ( 2 to 1). Only watery liquid came out of the press. When
liquid dried it was a film of concrete. We next allowed the
Papercrete mixture to set for 24 hours and then compress - lot less
liquid! seems to be a better block. The CEB press process will make
a block every minute - two people working moderate hard with no real
rush. The messy paper crete mixture adds a few oh my gods - but not
over the top.
>
> How many blocks do you need? We assumed 5000 for a standard CEB
house. 500 per day for 2 weeks? Does the papercrete need to be
compressed 2 to 1? Air Dry? Solar oven dry? Can you stack them in
the wall for drying? Jill is experimenting with her decorative eco
blocks. This press system was borrowed and then purchased by her, an
artist friend. She is making eco decorative pavers. Again, I will be
talking to her next year. But she is leaning toward CEB and adobe.
Papercrete is a bit of a mess!
>
> She did compress soda cans in to pavers - she now wants me to build
her a pneumatic press. Eco pavers? Artists? Green? I am teaching
her husband to weld in self defense.
>
> A Hume
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: peddler8111
> To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 6:05 PM
> Subject: [papercreters] Compressed Blocks
>
>
> Has anyone tried making compressed blocks w/ papercrete or paper
adobe?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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