[papercreters] Re: Load Bearing Wall

Dear Teresa:

   Your idea would only work if you made proper cement with proper steel reenforcement  and used the paper, rice hulls, old styrofoam or whatever to make the concrete lighter and have better insulation qualities. This is called lightweight concrete but you would have to use a heavier mix than for instance when you use lightweight concrete for a floor or `ceiling.

Concrete has tremendous compressive {load bearing} strength
but so does dirt.What it lacks is tensile strength, the ability to resist twisting loads that try and pull it apart, that is what the re-enforcing steel {re-bar} is for. You probably already know this but just in case.

One solution if you just have an aversion to using wood is to use cement blocks for support.That method involved tying the first, or the first few, blocks to the perimeter beam with re-bar running the steel the full height of the support columns.
Then fill all the cavities with proper concrete and use
papecrete blocks to fill in.

Unless you are building directly on bedrock I would not even attempt to build such a heavy wall on earth bags. They are fine under the perimeter beam but that is all. If that wall should fall it could kill someone and do tremendous property damage.

hope this helps
 
--
Forrest Charnock

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