Papercrete And Me

Have you ever noticed that when you are right at the end of an important phase of your project you come to a standstill?

This is what has happened to me. I am right at the top of my walls and have just one or two more courses to pour and things have just stopped moving forward. I think it’s been about 3 weeks since any progress has been made with one thing after another interfering with the work. Things like showing up without the tools needed, batteries being dead,  weather too hot, running out of cardboard or cement.

Anyway, today a big milestone is taking place. I am getting a bumper and trailer hitch put on my truck and this should make a big difference in how the work progresses. Up until now I have had to borrow a truck with a hitch to pull the tow mixer around. That means trading trucks with someone. I have to anticipate all the tools I will need and take them out of my truck tool box before they drive away. Not being a great planner I invarialbly forget something important and am dead in the water until I track down the tool I need or improvise somehow. Today all that will change. I will now have everything I need when I need it.

OK as for the update. The walls are up to 8 feet. I put in a header over the door using rough sawn 2 X 6s. In retrospect I should

Rough sawn 2 X 6s set over door opening and extending about 2 feet one each side.

have done it a bit differently but I will explain what I did. I set a piece of plywood over the door opening supported by a couple of blocks of wood and screwed the 2 X 6s from underneath. Papercrete was poured over and around them as the wall went up. What I would have done differently is to have brought the papercrete right up to where the header would go then settle the boards down into the still mushy papercrete. What happened with the way I did it was the the papercrete shrank down and left a void under the header. We had to go back in and gouge out some papercrete and fill it in with new stuff. I could have also used concrete here or a beam of wood or metal. I just want to make sure the vigas will have enough support over the 6 foot span.

2 x 6S supported by blocks of wood. Plywood underneath keeps slurry from escaping.

Anyway, it all came out OK in the end. It just cost us some time.

We continued up with the walls to the point where I want to create a slight incline to the roof. We found when we put a level to the walls that they are right on! So we measured up 3 inches higher on the front than on the back and will pour the final courses that way.  This bond beam will have about twice the amount of cement as I have been using, again taking into consideration the weight of the vigas.

Here’s where the delay started. First of all it was very hot when we got to this point. then we found all the batteries were dead so we got out the generator and the electric drill but guess what. All the bits were in the truck tool box which as who knows where. So we called it a day. Then we had a weekend when we had some thing else scheduled and then it was the holiday and I had a pet sitting gig.

So here we are today with work again put on hold so the bumper and hitch receiver can be installed.

In spite of the delays it is so gratifying to see the building taking shape. As soon as the final courses are added to the top of these walls I can start concentrating on finishing the tops of the walls and the the roof of the first little building. I am so psyched! And with the new hitch I won’t have to make arrangements to borrow a truck. I will be able to go up there and work any time the spirit moves me.

Trhee generations of papercreters. Mom, Eliza and me in front of the building with walls up 8 feet.

After the walls have set up a little I will remove all of the forms and let it cure for about 6 weeks. No lumber will remain as part of the final product. With the monolithic pour method there should be minimal shrinkage and no cracks. The door is formed at 4 feet wide but will be cut out to 6 feet to accommodate some beautiful french doors that I got a the Habitat resale store.

So that’s it for today. I am off to get the bumper put on. Hooray!

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This entry was posted by Judith on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 9:46 am and is filed under What Was I Thinking???. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.