Building A Papercrete Wall, Part 1

What I'm about to say would have probably been obvious in a couple minutes anyway, but I'll go ahead and say it.
I know little about building.
The angels generally protect me, though they are not beyond letting me spend some extra money. The 8x16 ft. shed I constructed about twenty years ago probably has more wood in it than my house does. If there is ever a tornado, that shed will be the place to go.
On the other hand, it's still standing despite it's many structural insufficiencies.
Admittedly, I had to replace the roof.
Anyway, one day, I know, my luck will probably run out.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd try building a wall with papercrete.
My footing was some old cement blocks that were laying around. My plan was to drive some old metal fence posts, which were also laying around, through every other hole. The post would support the wall, which I imagined would be light and perhaps a little more flexible than conrete. After I filled in the holes in the blocks with concrete, they'd keep the papercrete a few inches off the ground.
I purchased what they called a "mini-load" of sand from the local sand mine. The guy dumped about a fifth of what he had in his front loader into the bed of my fabulous 1990 Ford Ranger and, I swear to God, the bumper was touching the ground. So...I didn't get much for my $20. Still, as long as I didn't break down on the way home, it was cheaper than buying it for $3.88 a damned 50 lb. bag from Lowes.
Back then, I was still towing my papercrete mixer with my truck. Actually, this was my very first batch of "industrial" papercrete. Prior, I'd mixed it by hand with a 5 gallon bucket and used it for sculpture.
I soaked my old newspapers in a trach can for a couple of days. It was December, and not particularly cold unless you had your poor old hands in cold water shredding newspaper.
I couldn't wait until summer, though.
I was excited about this project. My little cat Dylan Thomas, who is since deseased, hung out with me that day. It was a good time.
I used slip forms to make my wall. I made them of plywood. You can see the finished wall section and gate here: http://papercreteparadise.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drip Irrigation Experiment 2

Image
I placed another four inch block under the barrel (I think the higher it is, the better) and changed the middle four way connector to a tee, eliminating the middle emitter pipe. Then I graded the bed a little toward the barrel and water flow is much better. I think the 1/8” holes may be too large. I’ll be making another drip irrigator for a smaller bed, and I’ll drill 1 /16” holes instead. Also on this barrel, the mosquito screen top is in place, held on with a band of hanging wire. Since getting that screen to stay in place was a bit of a pain, I placed a 2” PVC fitting with cap near the top of the barrel as a filler. We’re excited and can’t wait to plant.
Read more

Drip Irrigation Experiment 3

Image
The second drip irrigation barrel was easier and less expensive to make. I drilled a 7/8” hole near the bottom and forced an old ¾” hose bib in. It took a lot of force to start turning that hose bib, but once it was in, no leaks, and no need for a washer or even a nut or fitting to hold it in place. The same went for the 2” PVC fitting used as a fill spout. Cutting the hole just slightly too small made for a tight fit and no fitting on the inside to hold it in place. This bed is not as wide as the other, so I used two emitter pipes rather than four. I drilled 1/16” holes approximately 12” apart. It takes about six hours to empty the 50 gallon barrel, which means, I hope, my irrigator will water our garden plants for six long hot hours each day this summer. I used a product called “Liquid Tape” to seal the 1/8 inch holes on my first effort, and re-drilled on the other side of the pipe with the 1/16” bit.
Read more

Improvised Shelves for our Frigidaire Refrigerator

Image
Well, this is not necessarily recommended. Ask me in six weeks, or six months, how it's going and maybe I'll recommend it then. These machines--these Frigidaire Energy Star refrigerators (like the one we purchased at Lowes only four short years ago) are frail. Seriously. All the cheesy, half-ass components that make this feeble milksop of an appliance come to life supposedly work together to make it more energy efficient. Cheap, frail plastic and glass shelves included. Of course, the energy efficient aspect of these newfangled appliances are supposed to save us money. That's the sales pitch, anyway. We replace our shabby old energy hungry appliances with new ones (appliance purchases usually indiiate an emergency, so we might well be using our credit card to make the purchase), and we're rewarded not only by a cleaner environment, but with a slightly fatter wallet. Only so far, this particular appliance is begging to be replaced after only four years. That's not le...
Read more