Hi everyone,
I haven't posted for awhile, haven't been too active with papercrete for a bit, but starting to get back into it now.
Have had a couple of less than successful mixing experiences here on my first two 'getting back into it' go arounds.
The first mix I used clay to save on my Portland while experimenting with making a panel to use as a roof section for animal shades. I used more clay than I did the last time I made a batch of this stuff (last summer) and all went well until after it was poured and setting up - which takes longer with clay. I have two Border Collie pups who thought my wet slab was great fun to play on. So I ended up cutting it into blocks and will use for filler as needed. Too much clay, didn't look like it was going to work for what I wanted anyway. That batch is on YouTube, by the way, if anyone wants to see it. No shots of it post-Borders though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPno5gWBWqE
Today my daughter and I made a new batch using Portland. I'd just put the cement in and was topping off the water when I found out I forgot to put a block under the back of my tow mixer and I hadn't hitched it up to my truck yet either, next thing I know the tongue was flying straight up towards the sky and there was a very loud splash! So much for saving on that Portland!
But that's not all. I should've stopped while I was ahead. So I got the block and tried putting it under the back of the mixer and it didn't want to fit and I didn't take the time to dig down a bit and make it fit, I just stuck it under my drain pipe out the back on the bottom thinking that'll keep it from flipping over backwards. We get all the newspapers back into it, more Portland, more sand, more water, next thing I know, pop!, and my tank is bent in and my drain pipe thing is facing upwards, and dripping. Well we figured we'd better get this batch made up quick (before my drain thing shot out the back of the tank) and off we went up the street hoping it held and we wouldn't end up leaving a big trail of papercrete up the street and back. We made it back and it held until I tried to open it (the cap screws in) and the whole thing came out in one piece. No biggy really, I can fix it easy enough with a hammer and some Bondo.
So I poured this batch behind another gate, in my back yard, so that my Borders couldn't play on this one. It was looking pretty good, I pulled the form after awhile and checked on it now and then in the dark as I made my rounds. I had thought my goats (3 of them) wouldn't mess with it but sure enough there were deep goat hoof prints in my slab. I managed to smoosh it around enough to fill them back in and hopefully now they know they're not supposed to walk on it... maybe I'll get lucky.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Can't really share this stuff with non-papercreters, they wouldn't really appreciate it or even know what the heck I was talking about.
Terry in AZ
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