I attended a 4 day conference this last weekend. I learned about papercrete, foamcrete, concrete spray equipment, mixing equipment, made a concrete door, a 10' diameter hollow concrete sphere, and visited local underground homes. It was the best conference I have ever attended.
I have always had an aversion to papercrete. My mind has changed. You can make lots of things for almost no money. I watched a guy mix the stuff, and make blocks from a little bigger than a phone book to the size of an entire wall. He plastered the surface and it looked exactly like adobe.
I watched a 70 year old man mix EPS beads, Portland cement, and fly ash. He made a miniature water feature (4'X6') and an arch. The arch was 2 foot across and 1 foot high. It was 1 inch thick. The arch cured for 2 days and he stood on the top without breaking it. It withstood the impact of a 50 pound weight dropped from 2 feet. It has an R value of nearly 3. It wouldn't burn with a torch flame directly on the material for several minutes. It was light weight, easily shaped, didn't shrink, and strong enough to make beams. You can plaster right over the surface. EPS is free if you can imagine a way to break it up into beads.
We inflated a 10' vinyl balloon shaped like a short cylinder with a rounded top. The fan was a small squirrel cage. We used a wall/ceiling texture sprayer with a special mix of cement and PVA fibers. We brushed something sticky on the vinyl and sprayed paper thin layers of the cement and fibers. Several layers and a few days cure time the fan was turned off. This was approximately 1 bag of portland cement and fly ash(65%-35%), 2 bags of sand, 1% PVA fibers and some latex.
We helped build a cement door. It was an iron frame with the outside edge of the door and the matching door frame made from 1 inch angle iron. The curvy spaces in the door were outlined with 1 inch metal strap and welded in place. The window spaces had little tabs to hold the glass. The solid spaces were closed with a layer of metal lath. It was shaped into 3 dimensional french type curves. The lath was parged with a mix of white cement, white silica sand, and PVA fibers.This was carefully worked until the cement barely cover the form. Another layer of cement without fibers was added carefully and worked until the shapes were smooth. We didn't finish the door.
I have already written a lot. There is so much more. This is perfect for homesteaders. I have links to more information on these things and 158 photos to be posted soon.
I have always had an aversion to papercrete. My mind has changed. You can make lots of things for almost no money. I watched a guy mix the stuff, and make blocks from a little bigger than a phone book to the size of an entire wall. He plastered the surface and it looked exactly like adobe.
I watched a 70 year old man mix EPS beads, Portland cement, and fly ash. He made a miniature water feature (4'X6') and an arch. The arch was 2 foot across and 1 foot high. It was 1 inch thick. The arch cured for 2 days and he stood on the top without breaking it. It withstood the impact of a 50 pound weight dropped from 2 feet. It has an R value of nearly 3. It wouldn't burn with a torch flame directly on the material for several minutes. It was light weight, easily shaped, didn't shrink, and strong enough to make beams. You can plaster right over the surface. EPS is free if you can imagine a way to break it up into beads.
We inflated a 10' vinyl balloon shaped like a short cylinder with a rounded top. The fan was a small squirrel cage. We used a wall/ceiling texture sprayer with a special mix of cement and PVA fibers. We brushed something sticky on the vinyl and sprayed paper thin layers of the cement and fibers. Several layers and a few days cure time the fan was turned off. This was approximately 1 bag of portland cement and fly ash(65%-35%), 2 bags of sand, 1% PVA fibers and some latex.
We helped build a cement door. It was an iron frame with the outside edge of the door and the matching door frame made from 1 inch angle iron. The curvy spaces in the door were outlined with 1 inch metal strap and welded in place. The window spaces had little tabs to hold the glass. The solid spaces were closed with a layer of metal lath. It was shaped into 3 dimensional french type curves. The lath was parged with a mix of white cement, white silica sand, and PVA fibers.This was carefully worked until the cement barely cover the form. Another layer of cement without fibers was added carefully and worked until the shapes were smooth. We didn't finish the door.
I have already written a lot. There is so much more. This is perfect for homesteaders. I have links to more information on these things and 158 photos to be posted soon.
