| Nick, I have spent several years using an adobe mix for my earth bag domes. We used 7 coffee cans of good red clay to 5 of sand and 2 of lime or quickcrete and mixed it in a cement mixer with varying amounts of water. (The quick crete hardens faster). This year I started adding shredded paper to the mix What a difference! The R value is increased, the bulk of the mix is lighter, it dries slower and is easier to work with, it cleans better from the mixer, and we use less dirt (which is less labor!) I have also worked with regular papercrete. We love the padobe mix best of all and it makes great bricks! Our new mix is 4 cans sand, 5 cans clay, 1 1/4 cement, a 5 gallon bucket of paper smashed down plus another handful, and about 3/4 of a bucket of water. You can use the same mix as mortar, but I use 4 sand, 6 clay,1 1/4 cement, and one can of lime, same paper, and more water for exterior mixes and mortars! It whips up like chocolate frosting and cracks very little.Thats my two cents! Michele in Midpines, CA --- On Fri, 7/3/09, Nick Boersema <picknick@sympatico.ca> wrote:
|
__._,_.___
