WHAT WAS I THINKING ?????
What was I thinking 4 years ago when I decided to get involved with papercrete?
I knew I wanted to build a house for myself – and I do mean by myself – with my own body, mind, heart and soul.
I was thinking that I needed to find a medium and method that could be easily carried out by a person of little physical strength with few tools and very little money.
After looking into many things such as straw bale, cob, adobe, earthbag, rammed earth, and several others I settled on papercrete. Of all the things out there papercrete met all of my criteria.
It is environmentaly friendly (uses recycled paper), simple to do (just throw all the ingredients into the mixer and take off), provide excellent insulation (3+ R value per inch), requires the use of a few basic tools, can be done without assistance, and results in an aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and beautiful building.
I was also thinking that along the way I could share what I was learning and doing with other people who were looking for an inexpensive and practical way to put up a building for themselves.
Now, four+ years later I am still enthralled by papercrete. I have made over 1000 blocks and have the walls of a 900 square foot building up about 8 feet. I also have a the walls of a basic 12 x16 shed up and have started the roof, also of papercrete.
I never stop thinking, planning, dreaming, eating and sleeping papercrete. It’s the best thing I’ve found to build with and now I want to share it with all who have the dream of building a house for themselves.
Papercrete blocks are easy to make and are light weight.
About The Author
I am impressed by your attitude and the results you got after 4 years of (highly probable) trial and error. You make sense of “why and how” of discovering your building blocks. After reading about you and your experience, I definitely know that I can also do it.
I look forward to taking your class and learning all about papercrete.
Thank you for sharing,
Cheryl Erb
Thanks Cheryl. Yes there has been a lot of trial and error. If anyone who is building anything tells you there is none of that then they are not telling the truth.
Judith, I jsut found this and low n behold, I’m wondering if it is possible to make a yurt type house with this. I’ve a perfect place to put one. am not shy of working with it, either.
cyndy
Yes Cyndy, I believe you are on to something! Have you seen Yurts, Living in the Round by Becky Kemery? I thought when I first read it how great it would be to make a frame panel yurt using papercete as the filler for the frames. It’s sort of like the structural insulated panels they make but using papercrete in stead of rigid foam. There is no reason you couldn’t do this. Please keep in touch with me so I can know how you are doing. I’m very interested in doing something like this. And I would love it if you could come and do a workshop with me. I’m sure you would learn a lot.
have you ever used aluminite and plastic cement.
No I never have. I try to keep things simple but will look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.
OK! This just might work…I live in Central Texas. What do you think? And where does a person begin? Thank you for your blog!
There must be something in the air for us 60ish women to be involved in projects like this. I started building a papercrete pyramid this year. Also trial and error. I’m making my second experimental block today. I’m using a tire foundation in a dug out hill (by hand). The blocks of the actual pyramid will be made of paper.
I see that you have a stack of blocks. Have you started making a structure yet?
This is a great thinking because ond can construct a cheaper and light weight structure, easily by using papercrete.
I am also trying to adopt it by preparing various mixes and testing it.
It is light weight and can be cheap…… but I wouldn’t say it is easy. Simple yes, but make no mistake – this is laborious work. i don’t mean to sound negative but I am writing this after 2 days of shoveling road base for my floor. I got 3 tons off the trailer and went right back for 3 more to be offloaded tomorrow. Thanks for reading the blog and sending a comment. I love comments.
Good for you. It’s fun to fool around with mixes and recipes. Just remember to write down what you are doing so that when you get a really good one you will know what you did. I write this from experience. I have so many times neglected to so this and have had to go back and start over.
Hi Judith
I live in South Africa and have a programme where we help specifically impoverished ladies from the squater camps (shack-villages). We are in the process of starting up a home building project. We are very interested in building with papercrete blocks. Will you be willing to assist us via email?
Kind Regards,
Valencia Kaiser
+27 82 371 3178
Hello Valencia, how exciting. I would be happy to help in any way I can. When I started using papercrete I had in mind developing a curriculum for young women so they could build their own homes. It is a simple material to make and to use although it is messy at times and heavy stuff to be lifting to the high areas, but it is so much easier and more fun with a group. Several years ago I attended a papercrete symposium in Tuscon, AZ. It was the final project of a student in Applied Anthropolgy wherein a group of students taught people in the Mexican town of Nogales to use papercrete. They have built several houses.
So keep me informed as you progress and don;t hesitate to ask questions along the way. If I don;t know the answer to something I can find out.