Papercrete And Me

Posted By Judith on October 8, 2011

It took about 3 weeks to get the floor done but it was worth all the hard work.

It looks beautiful.

There were several steps involved in getting the floor ready for the final layer.  First I had to determine where the finished floor level would be. This was decided by where the bottoms of the doors fell. Since I couldn’t do much to change that I decided to make the floors to fit the doors, if that makes any sense.

I had to bring the floor up about 4 inches so I borrowed a trailer and picked up 10 tons of recycled base course from the gravel  yard. This is a mixture of dirt and a lot of different sizes of gravel. The loader operator told me it also has some cement in it and whatever was in the road they tore up.

It took 3 loads to get the amount I needed. After shoveling it off the trailer and into the building I raked it out and leveled it then tamped it down, wetting it occasionally with the hose. This brought the floor up to about 2 inches below the final grade.

I still needed more filler so I used some sand I had in my old building across the street. I shoveled the sand into the truck and into the building. After dampening it with the hose I tamped it firmly. To

Floor brought up to grade with tamped sand.

keep the tamper from sticking I sprinkled some fine perlite over the sand.

The next step was to figure out what mix I would use. I had already made a big mistake with the papercrete floor I had put in by not adding enough aggregate. It was a total disaster and had to be completely torn out so I wanted to put  more thought into this and save myself some backbreaking work.

I was so happy with the way the plaster on the walls came out that I decided to pretty  much stick to that formula. I also decided to do the floor in thin layers rather than put down an inch of more at a time.  Starting at the far end of the floor I used short pieces of 1/2″ rebar as guides for a screed thinking this would ensure a nice level and even floor. It worked out pretty well, although by the time I got near to being done I was able to eyeball it.

I realized I had a problem when I got to the part of the floor right in front of the french doors. When I opened the doors I realized there would not be enough room for the door to swing it I had to put another inch of clay on top of what I already had. Since there was no way to adjust the door I had to take out the clay and put in a shallower layer. It really wasn’t as much work as I anticipated and the end result certainly justified it.

I let it sit overnight then came back the next day and put another layer over the first one. I should have waited a couple of days because I was messing up what I had already done but I had to get it done that day so went ahead with it.

I used basically the same formula as I had for the wall plaster but left out the mica and added more wheat paste. I sifted the sand and clay through a window screen so it was very fine and soaked the

Finished floor made with a mixture of sand and clay with a small amount of wheat paste and boiled linseed oil.

clay in water overnight, using the levigated clay in the mix. I used a lot of sand and not much clay to keep cracking at a minimum. For the second layer I added some boiled linseed oil as a waterproofer. I will add more after the floor is completely dry, maybe in a couple of weeks.

One thing I hadn’t anticipated was the grass that grew up through the clay. I know now how I will plant a lawn. I will make up a clay slurry, mix in some grass seed and apply it to the ground as if I were putting down a floor. Anyway, I’m not too concerned about the grass. I figure it will die out when the floor dries. There are some small cracks in the floor but I am not worried about them. I will go back and fill them in with finely sifted sand before the sealer goes on. I really don’t mind the way they look at all.

So that’s it. The floor looks great I am am ready to take it easy for a couple of weeks. Well not really

Grass growing up throught the floor.

easy, there’s always more to do than one would like. But the really labor intensive part is done and I can gaze upon the finished product and feel good about it.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on September 19, 2011

Late summer and early fall are always the busiest times for me when it comes to building. At the beginning of the summer it seems like you have so much time but when it gets to be mid September you realize how much still needs to be done before winter sets in.

So the camera is up and running again and it’s time for some updates.

I borrowed a trailer and spent last week bringing up my floor level. I debated about digging the local sand and soil as I have done for my plaster but opted in stead to get some base course from the gravel yard. Anything you do is going to be just plain hard work when it comes to moving heavy awkward stuff – which is how I would describe road base.  What I got was reclaimed road base at $8.75 a ton. I was glad to see this was available as the entire project (except for a couple of things) is of recycled material.

We got three loads of three tons each. I had some help shoveling it from the trailer into the

Fireplace and nichos plastered, floor ready for mud.

buildings but even so it was a 4 day job. By the end of the week I was really dragging, but the floors look great and I’m almost ready to put down the mud layers.

You can see in the photo that the floor has a white substance on it. What I did was shovel the base course in then wet it and tamp it down. I did this in several shallow layers. What happened was that the clay kept sticking to the bottom of the tamper (tampers are heavy enough without the extra weight of mud clinging to them) so I used a sprinkling of perlite on top of th floor. This is sort of like flouring the board when you are kneading bread.

It’s important at this step to have the floor as level and even as possible. This was really the most labor intensive part of the project, and my back felt it the next day. After shoveling the stuff in I raked it out, checked it with a level in all directions and did the needed corrections. Then I screeded every inch with the level in all directions before tamping. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were an easier way to do this and welcome suggestions. I still have one more floor to do.

I left 3 inches for the finish floor. I’m not exactly sure how I will do it. More research is needed. Since I work mostly alone I need to decide on what is doable for me. I also have to keep in mind the cost of things. I am voluntarily living on very little so every expenditure has to be carefully considered. I am sure I will use the same free materials I used on the walls – sand and clay soils from my land along with some wheat paste made from cheap white flour.

Speaking of plaster, I got the interior done in about 5 days time. I used my free materials along

Kitchen wall with red plaster.

with a 5 pound bag of iron oxide pigment purchased at the pottery store and the wheat paste. I went around the windows using fabric so I could shape them the way I wanted with a nice bullnose.

The picture shows me getting the window ready for plaster when I did the first coat. The final coat was done the same way except that I use a finer fabric – not so coarse.  It involves stapling the fabric all around the window frame, coating it with a clay slurry (levigated clay mixed with water to a batter like consistency), then folding back the fabric and sticking it to the wall with plaster. This makes a nice mold-able edge and reduces cracking.

Using fabric so shape plaster around windows.

One thing I did not do but should have was to save small amounts of plaster to do any future repairs. Well next time I will remember.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I graduated the color around the room. The plaster in the kitchen area is dark red. By the time I worked my way around to the picture window side of the room the plaster is the natural light brown color. See the first pic of the post showing the fireplace.  The floor will be the natural color as well but with a linseed oil finish it may look darker.

Pot rack with deep red plaster.

Pot rack before plaster.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | 2 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on September 10, 2011

I finally got to plastering and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I had a hard time deciding what color to use and how to go about it but once I got started it was really fun.  I went with a sort of dark iron oxide red with

Mica adds sparkle to deep red plaster.

lots of mica in it.

The plaster mix I used was one part each red sand (found locally) and one part clay soil that had been excavated from the site. I fooled around with the amount of iron oxide and put in a lot mixed with a tiny amount of yellow that someone had given me. Believe me, these mineral colors are potent. I dropped a speck of the yellow into the pile of soil and it really colored it. I had to remove that small amount of soil from the pile to keep my ratios consistent.

This is just a short post as I have misp[laced my camera USB and can't get the latest pics into the computer. So I'll let it go at this and post more when I get the USB.

In the pic of the vigas you can see that I graduated the color. What happened was that I didn't have enough red to do all the plaster so I kept adding the clay/sand mix to what I already had, thus diluting the color. By the time I got around the room it was all the natural color. So in the kitchen it is very deep and opposite that it is lighter. I like the effect.

Well that's it for now. I have some nice pics of the finished plaster, nichos, pot rack and some of how we secured the door frames. I will post them in a few days.

I love the contrast with the pine vigas and reed ceiling.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on August 6, 2011

I’m still in the process of getting ready to plaster. I’ve gotten the window trim in (although not as perfectly as I would like) and am adjusting the door frames to fit the doors. One thing I am not too good at is measuring and cutting. One of my longtime idols, Norm Abram always says “Measure twice, cut once” but for some reason I am still not cutting properly. So anyway, my son is here to help me and when we measured the door openings we discovered that the large one in 1/2 inch too narrow. So we took it out and will get another door jamb piece to extend it.

I was looking at a magazine the other day and came across a picture of a pot rack that was set into a wall so I decided I would do that in my little place. In order to do it I had to cut out a good portion of the wall that is to the left of the French doors. Since the wall is a foot thick I decided to take out about 6 inches of papercrete, ending up with about a 6 inch space to hang pots.

After trying to use the circular saw and reciprocating saw I was forced to borrow the chain saw again. It is really the only thing I have found that does the job. I wish I still had my little electric saw that was stolen. It was so light weight, easy to start and easy to use. Anyway, since my son is here I have someone strong enough to handle to big chain saw.

I marked where I wanted the niches on the wall and marked the bar at 6 inches to get an even cut then Sam did the cutting.

Nicho outlined with chains saw cut.

He also made some cuts through the niche so we could get the papercrete out.

This is an extremely messy operation. I can’t stress enough the importance of having a mask and goggles before starting. You can see in the picture how much dust is in the air. We had to cut a little then take a break outside while the dust settled.
From the outside with all the dust coming out the doors it looked as if the house was on fire!

Sam cutting with the big chain saw.

It was very hard to get the papercrete out. Remember when I showed how I embedded blocks into the walls as I was slip forming? I found that in trying to chip out the papercrete for the niches that the blocks were much easier to get out than the material I used for the slip forming. The blocks had been made with newspaper and a little more cement than the slip form material which was cardboard and cement. I wish I could use newspaper all the time but with recycling becoming such a big money making enterprise it’s hard to get newspapers any more. I used the Sawzall with a short metal cutting blade. I don’t know why but the metal cutting blades work better than the wood cutting ones.  I bent the blade to get it as flush with the wall as [possible and then just went at it. I still have a bit to do but am almost there.

Me cutting out the papercrete with the Sawzall.

The plan is to cut the large niche which is about 18 inches wide and 4 feet long along with 3 smaller ones strategically placed for candles. The large one, to be used as a pot rack will have some pieces of pipe set in horizontally and the pots will hang from hooks. The smaller niches will be plastered with a light colored plaster with a lot of mica in it to really make the candle light glow.

Speaking of plaster, I am still fooling around with mixes and colors.

Plaster samples.

I’m thinking that with so much light coming in through the windows I could go with a dark color. It’s hard to see from the pictures but I have several versions with iron oxide added. This pigment is available at pottery supply places and is not very expensive. I think I paid about $7 for 5 pounds. The first sample with the straw doesn’t appeal to me at all. The others are OK. I think it is down to the 2 bottom ones. They have different ratios of red to yellow pigments and quite a bit of mica sand to give a soft glow.

I may use the lighter color for the larger walls and the darker red as accents on the kitchen wall and the banco by the fireplace.

So I am well on my way to actually getting to the fun part – the plastering!

I will be sure to keep you updated.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on July 29, 2011

Carole and workshop participants applying colored clay paint.

I know it’s been awhile since my last post. I have to admit I got pretty discouraged with the way the floor turned out. I know now what I did wrong and how I will correct it, but I just had to leave it for a while and concentrate on something else.

That something else was a really great plaster workshop in Taos with Carole Crews. If you don’t know about Carole then I will tell  you she is the plaster Guru. I did a workshop with her about 4 years ago and was so happy to be able to do another. This one focused on finish plaster and we had a lot of fun with putting chopped straw and mica into the mix and fooling around with clay paint and colors. There is so much to learn about plaster and I learned a lot in just a few days.

The Goddess with a fresh coat of paint.

I took a little detour on my way home from the workshop to see if I could find an old mica mine I stumbled upon about 28 years ago when I first came to New Mexico. It’s in a little village called Petaca way off the beaten track about 30 miles from where I live.  I didn’t find the mine but I did find 3 piles of mica just sitting there by the side of the road.

Plaster samples

I took enough to make a few samples and got to work on them the next day. It’s hard to tell from this picture but you can see there’s a bright white patch in the center. That’s 100% mica. I think I’ll use that in the nichos with a light gold plaster. The one in the upper right is a mix of equal parts sand, clay and mica. It’s pretty but I would need a lot more mica for that.  The one I think I’ll go with is a mix of 2 parts sand, one part clay and one part mica. To that I will add some wheat paste to bind it and give it a nice finish. So this plaster is costing me a few gallons of gas and cheap bag of flour.

There is so much to do to get ready for plaster. I had put the door frames in a few weeks ago but was not happy with the way they looked so I took them out and redid them. I also had to put the trim around the window. The trim I had bought a few weeks ago was warped so I went and got some more and mitred it to fit and urethaned it. I’ll put that in tomorrow.

I spent quite a bit of time digging sand and clay soil from across the street.

Sand and clay sifting table.

I set up and area to sift the sand and clay soil using an old sliding glass door screen on 2 x 4s. This way I could back right up to it and shovel the stuff to be sifted right on to the screen. There is another way to sift the clay called levigation. You put the clay soil in a container and cover it with water. The particles will sift themselves out ending up with the finest clay on the top and the coarsest gravel at the bottom. I did that with the clumps of clay that were too hard to get through the screen.

Today I mixed up some of my old clay/paper stuff that I had stored.  I had some left over from the plaster I did before so I poured it out onto weed barrier fabric and cut it into rough pieces. I just take those chunks and soak them in water.

Chunks of premixed stuff soaking to be used in plaster.

When they are rehydrated I can mix them with an equal part of sifted sand and have the plaster I need to even out the wall. My walls need a lot of evening up because the forms were not really done well. I have learned my lesson. Next time I will make the forms 4 feet high and have only one seam in the wall at the half way point. Anyway, I soaked the chunks and mixed up a few batches of plaster in a 5 gallon bucket with the drywall attachment on the drill. I got one wall done and will finish the rest this week.

Then I will be ready to do the finish plaster. I may need to go to Petaca one more time to get more mica and I will need to mix up the what paste. So this week it’s tying up all the loose ends and then the fun begins.

Clay soil/paper mix left over from a previous project.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on June 14, 2011

It’s taken a lot longer to get this floor down than I ever imagined it would. What with the extremely windy weather and the truck breaking down it’s been quite a challenge. But yesterday I finally got to the point where I can leave it to set up and be ready for the final layer when I get home for the workshop in mid July.

I started out by making a mix of cardboard and the clay soil from the site. As it turned out the mix didn’t have enough soil so it came out very uneven and shrank quite a bit.

Large cracks and uneven finish of first sub floor.

Things may have worked out better if I had been able to pour the entire floor in one session. Having to leave it to partially set up before continuing probably led to these huge cracks. And by not having enough clay soil in the mix the floor never got really hard. It was still sort of springy to walk on. But it was level and in the end will provide a good insulating underlayment.

In this picture you can still see the lines around the perimeter showing the finish levels for the sub floor and the final floor. I still had plenty of room to add another layer to the floor to fill the cracks and even out the surface, which was very rough from the consistency of the mix and the high pumice content.

I decided to use newspaper for this mix because it mulches up to a much more uniform consistency (and doesn’t need to be soaked as cardboard does). In my enthusiasm I added too much paper and didn’t take the time to separate it. I added water, but not enough, so the blade didn’t really do its job of tearing up the paper. Then I made my second big mistake by adding a large amount of clay soil on top of the newspapers.

Final result of my troublesome newspaper/clay soil mix.

Just at that time I got word that something important had come up and I had to leave for the day. I topped off the mixer with water and left it there for the night. The next day I went back and pulled the mixer around as usual. The contents did not even move  a little bit. Everything was stuck in a huge mass in the bottom of the mixer. I had to keep stopping the truck, climbing onto the mixer platform and digging to the bottom with the shovel and a metal fence post to try to loosen up the mix. After 2 hours of this I finally got it to where it was pretty well combined.

In fact the stiffness of the mix was perfect and it seemed that the ratio of paper to clay was good. It went on so smoothly it was a joy to work with.

Please don’t take this to mean putting down a floor is easy. It is a tremendous amount of hard, heavy work. I would strongly suggest that anyone who sets out to do this have someone to help. After doing this entire floor myself I am now convinced it is a form on masochism  — well maybe not that extreme, but surely quite punishing to the body.

I have voiced my opinion before on the subject of dogs on the construction site. I’m not a big dog hater (although somehow I have gotten that reputation) but I feel that for their own safety and the smooth running of the job that dogs should be left at home.

Cute little dachshund tracks

It must have felt so good on BB’s little paws to have that mud squish up between her toes. It was easy enough to smooth the floor with a trowel but of course that just adds another step to the process. After the floor had set up for a day another dog visited the site and added her prints. They are much larger than BB’s but not so deep. They will remain until the finish floor covers them.

It took a total of about 7 hours of hard labor to get the sub floor in working alone over 2 days. But in the end it came out really nice.

This floor should be ready for the final layer in a month.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on May 23, 2011

Well I started the floor the other day. To me this marks a division between the rough construction work and the finish work. Once the walls, roof, and floor are in place you can start to have some fun. I know it’s not that simple but it helps to think of it that way.

I started by marking a line all around the perimeter of the room. I decided where I wanted the floor by the position of the large French door on the south wall. I measured down 6′ 8″ from the top of the door frame and marked that as the finish floor level. Then I measured down 2″ from there which will be the level of the papercrete sub floor. I used a laser level to mark the finish floor lines. The dot that the laser beams out is much higher than the level of the floor will be so I used a shim to measure the distance from the laser dot to where I wanted to mark the floor.

Line near top of stick is where laser dot falls. Bottom of stick marks finish floor level.

I marked the bottom of the door on the jamb then measured up from there to where the laser dot was. I took a shim, put the bottom of the shim at the finish floor level then made a line across it where the laser dot fell. That meant I could go around the room, lay the line on the shim where the dot was and draw a line at the bottom of the shim. I hope this is understandable. I have explained before that I am almost 100% visual in figuring out how to do things and sometimes what I  see very clearly is not so clear to others. Hopefully the picture will shed some light. It doesn’t seem to show the red laser dot at the top line on the shim but take me word, it’s there.  As it turned out this was the best way to do this because it worked for areas where there were things in the way, such as the banco. We just put the stick vertically where we wanted a mark, shot the laser and marked the bottom of the stick.

So now the levels of the sub and finished floors have been marked. We put in some rough plumbing, very simply a line coming in and one going out then got to work mixing up some slurry.

Lines of floor levels and form board in place. One mixer load of paperadobe poured.

I wanted to drain off a lot of the water because I thought it would speed up drying time to have a drained mix. So work is progressing pretty well in spite of the fact that my truck broke down last night in Santa Fe and I had to borrow a car to get home. Then I realized today that I had left a lot of things I needed in the truck so improvising took another 2 hours of my time.

The plan was to nave the floor done by the end of the weekend but too may unforeseen  things got in the way. So there will probably be two more mixer loads required. I’ll keep you posted.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on May 16, 2011

Things are looking good to get started on the floor this week. I went and got a yard of pumice at the pumice plant today and the mixer is patched up really well. I can’t wait to see how my gutter seal and roof patch will work out.

Sorry no pics. I have to take the batteries out of the camera between uses and forgot to stick them in the camera case. I will get some tomorrow.

So that’s the news form Abiquiu. Time now to sit on the porch and have a glass of tequila.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags: FLOOR, MIXER, Papercrete, PUMICE

Posted By Judith on April 29, 2011

What a difference it makes when you finally get to the plaster stage. It’s like what they say about being able to make huge changes with just a new coat of paint. The little place is really starting to look like something now.

I got ready for the plaster by taking a wire brush and knocking all the loose stuff off the walls. Then I used a very helpful technique I learned at a plaster workshop given by Carole Crews in Taos a few years ago.

Getting window ready for plaster

I used an old cotton curtain I had around, cut it into strips wide enough to fit the area I wanted to cover, stapled it to the wood trim, folded it back and filled it in with papercrete plaster mix. I nailed it to the wall as I went along, starting at the middle of the top and working my way out to the edge. The mix I used was mulched paper mixed with an equal amount of 1/2 sand and 1/2 clay soil.

I gave that a few days to set up then made up a plaster mix that was not the right one. It was more of a finish plaster with way too much clay and sand.

First plaster attempt. Too much clay.

The color was beautiful but I felt the work was progressing too slowly and what I was getting wouldn’t be a good base for the final plaster. So I switched gears and did something different. I made an entire mixer load of shredded paper and newspaper with no cement. To this I added 7 buckets of clay soil and an equal amount of sand. One problem I had was that the sand would fall to the bottom of the mixer so I had to add sand to each batch as I went along. I can’t give exact amounts here as each person’s sand and soil will be different but I added as many shovels of sand as seemed right.

It’s important to wet the walls pretty well before applying the plaster. I used a pump garden sprayer and wet the wall just before putting the plaster on. I used a plasterer’s hawk and a wooden float to apply it to the walls, starting at

Getting ready to plaster.

the bottom corner and working left to right. After I was done I checked with Carole’s book and found I had done it opposite to the way she showed us but it worked for me.

It took me 6 days working about 3 to 4 hours per day to get around the 12 x 16 room. It took extra time to work around the vigas.

I am really happy with the finished product. The room is so nice now and it’s much easier to imagine how it will look when it’s all done. Now I am starting to experiment with the finish plaster. Mom and I took a ride up to the monastery last week and I got a sample of some very dark red, almost purple soil that should be interesting.

I still have to install my beautiful French doors before I can proceed and that is something I am not able to do myself. I will start at the far end of the room and work my way toward the door opening. Maybe by the time I get there I will have found someone to help me hang the doors.

Fireplace and large window with first plaster coat.

First coat of plaster on kitchen wall.

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | 2 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Judith on April 9, 2011

It’s time to get the mixer patched up and ready to go.  This involves climbing inside, chipping off the dried on papercrete and cleaning the surface of the tank with a wire attachment on the drill.

The best way to clean the mixer is climb in and bang away at the dried on stuff with a screwdriver and hammer.

After that I rinse it well with a mild solution of white vinegar and water and let it dry. I’ve tried more patching methods than I can remember including roof patch, bondo, Gorilla Glue, spray foam sealant, and several others. The only success I’ve had is with gutter seal. It’s that self adhesive tar-like stuff with silver backing that comes in a roll. After the surface of the metal is completely clean and dry I  start at the seam and apply it in overlapping layers about halfway up the sides of the tank and well into the center of the bottom. I have even squirted a good amount of Gorilla Glue around where the biggest gaps in the seams are. As it dries it expands and gets very hard. I should mention here why the mixer gets such a buildup of dried papercrete on it and why it tends to separate at the seams. First about the seams. After much observation I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the inflexibility of the metal tank that causes the seams to come apart. The area where I pull the tank is a rather rough road and all that bumping makes the seams weak. Once a leak develops I usually leave a small amount of slurry in the tank so that when I start the next load it is slightly sealed. As soon as I drive and the paper gets mulched the seam will self seal. Of course after many loads the gap in the seam is so wide that there is nothing to do but patch it.

Blue door in little house

OK now that the mixer is in good shape it’s time to decide what to do next. I am at the point where I am starting to plaster inside, especially on these dreadfully windy days. As soon as I have the first layer of plaster on the priority will be the floor.

My plan is to use just cardboard and clay soil for the underlayment. This will be about 4 inches thick and will have to completely set up which will take some time. The final layer on the floor will be some sort of mud. In this part of the country mud floors are not uncommon and there are many different formulas and methods. I will do some research and find what will work best for me. And there’s always the possibility that someone with experience will agree to work with me on it so I can learn.  While the floor is drying I can go ahead and start the exterior plaster or finish building #1.

If anyone is interested in coming for a day or few please get in touch with me. There is still a lot to do on this project and help is always appreciated.

Come to Abiquiu, make papercrete, get muddy, get a tan. (PS This is NOT me)

Category: What Was I Thinking??? | No Comments »
Tags: