RE: [papercreters] Stacking PC blocks wet

Hey guys, thanks for the input. It would cut down on the time and labor involved to forego the mortar and put them up wet. My blocks are pretty uniform in width  and thickness so they would look OK. I like the looks of the old time Southwest adobe type structures anyway. I kinda like the slipform with the wood strips to simulate blocks as well. I may try both ways . I have a temporary windbreak made with dry blocks dry stacked. I like the looks of that except for the small gaps between the blocks which of course one wouldn't have with the wet stack approach. Once again, thanks for the input. --- On Tue, 1/18/11, JUDITH WLIAMS <williams_judith@hotmail.com> wrote: From: JUDITH WILLIAMS <williams_judith@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: [papercreters] Stacking PC blocks wet To: "papercreters papercreters" <papercreters@yahoogroups.com> Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 11:24 AM   I have to agree with Spaceman that if you forgo the mortar your wall will go up more quickly and it will look good. They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~ in Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin Follow progress on the new project at http://www.papercretebyjudith.com/blog More papercrete info at http://squidoo.com/papercretebyjudith To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com From: Spaceman@starship-enterprises.net Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:17:06 -0700 Subject: Re: [papercreters] Stacking PC blocks wet   There is a video by Mike McCain showing a wall being built with blocks less than 24 hours old, barely firm enough to move. As the wall went up, fresh batches of block were made. At the end the blocks had bonded together without mortar and made a monolithic structure that looked like block on the surface. Another idea would be to make a shallow slip form the height of your preferred block and add vertical wood strips inside to make the surface appearance of blocks with the strength of slip formed pc. spaceman All opinions expressed or implied are subject to change without notice upon receipt of new information. http://Starship-Enterprises.Net On 1/18/2011 9:21 AM, Desert Don wrote: I'd like to run this by some of you more experienced builders, Judith, Spaceman, perhaps. I have a lot of blocks made and I'm going to start building in a couple of months.I need to make a lot more and rather than spending a lot of time moving and turning and handling them I thought perhaps I could stack them with PC mortar in the joints after they had lost the initial moisture and were stable enough to handle. They would still not be completely dry or even close to that state so they might shrink some. The blocks I make are made with cardboard and clay and the way I pack it into the forms they don't shrink much. I would use newspaper for the mortar mix as it breaks down into much smaller pieces than the heavy cardboard. The slip formed mix seems to bond together well and I thought this method would perhaps act in the same manner. Any thoughts on this? I like the looks of the blocks vs. slip formed walls as I'm not going to plaster the exterior. What littl e rain I get here is absorbed into the blocks but drys out in a day or two so I don't feel that is a problem. ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: papercreters-digest@yahoogroups.com papercreters-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: papercreters-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1191 / Virus Database: 1435/3388 - Release Date: 01/18/11

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