Papercrete And Me

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.

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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.

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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)

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Posted By Judith on April 9, 2011

Windstorm over Pedernal

It’s been so windy this week that working outside is just too unpleasant, so rather than waste time I started on my interior plaster. I have learned an important lesson about setting forms for slip forming. The more irregular they are the more work you will have when it comes time to plaster. What I am doing now is use a 50/50 clay soil/mulched paper mix to fill in low spots and generally make the surface of the wall smoother.

Plaster made of clay soil and slurry.

A few weeks ago I made some papercrete slurry out of just newspaper and water. I poured it into a form and let it dry. Now all I have to do is break off a piece, take it into the house and mix it with some water and  clay soil and I have plaster. This is great when the wind is howling outside. It goes on so beautifully it’s a real joy to work with. I will admit that I have not done plaster before except for a wonderful workshop with Carole Crews ( www.carolecrews.com) in Taos a few years ago but I thought I would play around with it and see what happened. There will be a final coat going over this so there is plenty of opportunity to correct mistakes.

One thing I had to do before I could go ahead with the plastering was to build out around the kitchen window. I had cut the opening with a chainsaw but

Window before shaping

even with my best calculations it came out about 2 inches too wide. I set the window to one side rather than centering it. Yesterday I cut a 2 x 4 to fit and screwed it in place.

I think one of the most valuable things I took away from the plaster workshop was the method of using fabric strips to shape around openings. Here’s how I did it.

Fabric applied around window frame

I had to adapt the application method to the tools and materials I had on hand. For one thing, I couldn’t find my staple gun so had to find a way to attach the fabric evenly along the edge of the window frame. I decided to use some of that metal tape plumbers use to hang pipes. It is easy to work with and provides even tension on the fabric. It has evenly spaced holes to nail through. I cut the fabric strips the length I needed plus a few inches and wide enough to stretch from the window frame to the wall, about 8 inches. I just went around and nailed it in every 3 inches or so.

Papercrete applied and held in by fabric nailed to wall

I sprayed all around the window with water then took my wet papercrete slurry (just paper with a small amount of clay soil) and pressed it in around the frame starting at the center of the top. I worked toward the corners, pressing and shaping the papercrete behind the fabric and nailing it to the wall as I went along. I should have used smaller, thinner nails but didn’t think of it at the time. Anyway I did three sides of the window and it came out great.

Kitchen window shaped and waiting for plaster

After all the sides were done I was able to stand back and see where adjustments needed to be made. It was easy to push and form the wet papercrete to any shape I wanted. This gives me the idea to try putting papercrete slurry into fabric tubes (like they put over irrigation pipes) and coiling them to build with.

So the window is formed and I will wait till it sets up before I plaster it. I have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime.

By the way, Carole has a very informative and interesting book available at:

http://carolecrews.com/book

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Posted By Judith on April 1, 2011

I could have inserted some sort of J bolts into the wall as I was going up with the papercrete but I didn’t want to commit myself to their locations. As it turned out I decided to put a door in the north wall and moved the location of the kitchen which meant moving the window. I guess I know myself well enough by now to accept the fact that things will always change.

Getting ready to put threaded rods into the frame

I cut some threaded rods to the length of the drill bit. The rods and bit are the same size. I drilled holes into the frames at several places and filled the holes in with expand

Drilling the holes

ing foam insulation.

It’s important to work fast once the foam is in the hole. As soon as it starts to expand stick the rod in the hole and bang on it with a hammer until it is flush with the frame.

After that I went all around the window with the foam filling in all the gaps.

Exterior of insulated window

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Posted By Judith on March 9, 2011

Sorry I can’t find our conversation but I just ran across something for you on another site. You were saying you thought the climate where you are is too damp for papercrete but there are people doing it successfully. Here is an exerpt:

Bob Merrill has been having great success with papercrete in wet weather. He lives in North West Washington state. Instead of pouring P/C blocks that are slow to dry,he sprays on a 1″ thick layer of P/C around his form-work. That leaves a bunch of surface area to dry faster. He keeps spraying on more papercrete layers as they dry.

The guy who wrote this is named Nolan but I can’t think of his last name. He has a website called mortarsprayer.com Hope this helps.

Oh an also, my sister lives in southern CO where there is a lot of precipitation, although nowhere near what  you get, and she says the block she took from me 5 years ago has been sitting outside all this time and looks as good as new.

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Posted By Judith on March 8, 2011

I tried to install a plugin that will automatically post to Facebook when I post to the blog but it isn’t working. If anyone knows how to do this I could use some advice.

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Posted By Judith on March 8, 2011

I have to admit that I wasn’t quite done with the fireplace when the cold weather set in and I had to quit. I had wanted to shape the opening so the top of it came down lower. When I lit a small fire and checked the draft it was acceptable but I thought if I made the opening smaller and brought it down a bit I could improve things. I also thought it would look a lot better if it were evened up a bit and the rough edges smoothed. Once the temperature dropped and the snow started to fly I had to put the whole thing on hold.

I used a mix of approximately 1 part clay soil, 5 parts sand and 2 parts mulched newspaper.

Mixing mud in wheelbarrow

I mulched the paper in a 5 gallon bucket and mixed it with the electric drill with a special mixing attachment usually used for drywall mud. If I were making a larger quantity I would have used a mortar mixer but I don’t have one and this is a small project. However mixing in a wheelbarrow is hard work and I had a problem getting a stiff enough consistency to build up the front of the hearth. So it took longer and still needs to come out farther but it is OK.

Mud brought up to serve as window sill as well and bench and shelf.

I wanted the banco as a bench to add seating area and to serve as a plant shelf in winter but I also wanted to bring the level of the hearth up to improve draft and have a continuous surface as a window sill. Built-ins are always a good idea in a small area and having surfaces that connect on one level make the room look more spacious.

I worked from the sides toward the middle and right through the fireplace, bringing up the floor of the hearth about 2 inches. It took four days altogether working about 3 to 4 hours a day. Working on something like this is a sort of meditation for me. I got so into it that I found it hard to stop, but my body didn’t  agree  and I had to quit way before I wanted to  and go soak in an epsom salt bath.

I may bring the hearth out more into the room but other than that the banco is finished and waiting for plaster. The mud probably should have been left rough  to give the plaster something to grab onto but I absolutely loved working with it and couldn’t stop myself from smoothing it with the trowel. I always enjoy working with mud but adding the paper to it really makes it delightful material. I must add that the mud that will be in contact with fire has very little paper in it. I am going to have to observe carefully what happens when I light a fire. We did a 5 minute flame test for the DVD (The Making of Papercrete) and it didn’t catch fire but did smolder slightly where the flame came in contact with the papercrete block.

Now that the banco is done I can move on to getting the walls ready for plaster. More on that next time.

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Posted By Judith on January 28, 2011

New window in cut out section of wall.

When building with papercrete there are two basic methods of construction. One is similar to building with concrete blocks. You mix the papercrete and form it into blocks. The other way is to make forms right where the walls will go and pour the slurry into them. As I’ve shown before I am using a hybrid of the two methods. I make my wall forms, pour in the slurry and embed blocks in it.

Notice the crack at the left top of door.

There are several advantages to using this modified slip form method. The one I am going to highlight today is the fact that the walls actually shrink very little. I noticed when I was building with blocks and mortar that the mortar would sometimes shrink a lot or the walls would separate at certain weak points. When pouring the walls in place and making sure they wrap around the entire building with no breaks there is little shrinkage and no cracks. Cutting out openings after the wall has cured for a couple of months (or however long it takes in your climate) eliminates weak areas and cracks.

After curing you can cut out the openings for the doors and windows. I have tried using a sawzall and my small chain saw but neither was up to the task. The blade of the sawzall was too thin so that when the piece of wall was cut out it was hard to push through because it was sort of wedged in. The small chain saw didn’t work well because the bar was too short and didn’t go all the way through in some places.

What I had to do was borrow a chain saw with a 24″ bar. What a difference! It cut like butter. Made me wish I hadn’t spent so much time with the other tools. So when you are planning to do your cutting borrow or buy a suitable chain saw and save yourself a lot of work.

Of course before you can cut you have to mark where your openings will go. I have this peeve about windows and doors being at different heights. Is it me or is it annoying to look at some of these mobile homes that have windows of all different shapes and sizes placed any which way? I hate that! So I used the French door opening as my guide (because it was the highest) and went around from there with the level marking the tops of all the openings. Then I marked the width and height of each opening. I added 1 1/2 inches to each side of each opening to allow for the frames. Then I fired up the saw and cut them out.

WARNING: I have never seen so much dust in my life. It looked as if there was a fire in the building with smoke-like dust pouring from every opening. You literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and it was absolutely impossible to breathe while cutting. I didn’t use a mask or respirator and am sorry now. So don’t even think about doing this until you have the proper protection.

Cutting out a window. Always use proper respiratory protection.

I used 2 x 6 lumber for framing. I just screwed them together and squared them up. Then I slid them right into the opening. I haven’t done this yet but I will probably put some anchors through the frame and into the wall a few inches to keep it stable. The doors will definitely need anchors. I have some threaded rod but may try the masonry ones. I forget what you call them but you slide them in and turn a sort of screw and the end in the wall spreads out – like a molly.

Large window.

Once the frames and anchors are in I will use some of that expanding foam insulation and go around sealing all the gaps.

Hanging doors is an art I’ve never developed so I’ll need to get some help with that. I’ll keep you posted.

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Posted By Judith on January 8, 2011

We lit our first fire today. at first it seemed like the draft would have to be adjusted but after everything heated up it was fine.

First fire in the new fireplace.

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