Papercrete And Me

I cut the blocks to fit snugly into the slip forms

I mentioned in a previous post that I had some experienced papercretes come back in September to help me with a new project. I wanted to try using a hybrid slip form and block construction method. I had tried the slip form method on an interior wall of my original project and loved how it came out so I wanted to use it on a new building. I also had a lot of blocks lying around that needed to be used up so I came up with the idea of setting the blocks into the slip form then pouring slurry all around them. First I had to cut the blocks to a 12″ width so they would fit right down into the form.

We made a framework out of a modified box beam design using 1/4 inch plywood and lumber, 2 x 3s for the horizontal forms and 2 x 4s for the verticals. With the use of ready made blocks the walls went up fast. They were also beautifully even and neat looking.

We were all pleased with this method, realizing the amount of effort we saved by using the ready made blocks. It really cut down on the amount of fresh slurry we had to mix. And by putting cured blocks into the wall we were able to go up more courses per day. If you are using straight slurry you have to be very careful about lower courses being compressed and pushing out.

As the form moves up a nice neat wall appears.

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This entry was posted by Judith on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 3:52 pm 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.