Everyone, please be aware that I was NOT suggesting the use of Hydrofluoric acid in papercrete, or for anything else. I was just responding to the thread regarding a material that will etch glass. It is dangerous stuff, it eats glass AND your skin or lung lining.
Along the same disclaimer chain of thought, I also don't recommend crushing glass to sand consistency. As I said, you might as well just use sand and save the energy and danger. Glass gets really sharp when broken, with shards flying in all directions (toward your eyes), including tiny particles floating in the air that are like micro razors just right for shredding your insides.
Bottom line, it's a dangerous world and just about anything you do involves a risk. Use your head and think about it before you do it. Everyone who has received the Darwin Award deserved it.
Now, using bottles as filler in papercrete is an entirely different matter. As long as you are careful moving the bottles around, and wear suitable gloves just in case, this should be relatively safe. Bottles are lighter than the equivalent volume of wet papercrete, so should be a labor saver. You essentially end up with a small dead air space in the midst of your papercrete insulation. Dead air space is a fair insulator too, especially if it is too small for convection currents. I read about someone who was even bagging trash and using the bags as filler in a wall.
Someone who lives down the road finishes a quart of beer about the time he passes my property on his way home from work. Sometimes his rider has finished a six pack by then. Consequently, over the years I have picked up a pile of bottles by the road near my driveway. I of course have added my diy bottles, assisted by the occasional visitor. This thread has inspired me to toss them into the rest of the small dome as I finish it. Since the bottles will not be at any surface, bonding or not to the papercrete is not a problem. They will just be voids. The dome just has to support itself and strength of a honeycomb is pretty high. This will save portland and paper, and of course lots of labor.
spaceman All opinions expressed or implied are subject to change without notice upon receipt of new information.
On 5/18/2010 12:44 PM, Niel Malan wrote:
As a chemist I would strongly discourage the use of hyrdofluoric acid on a building site. Niel
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