<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Papercrete]]></title><description><![CDATA[Pages]]></description><link>http://www.papercrete.info/</link><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright Papercrete]]></copyright><generator>sNews CMS</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Papercrete pros and cons]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why consider papercrete? There is an ongoing debate whether papercrete should be used for housing projects. On the other side are the people that support the idea of using them because of the environmental significance while on the other side is the people who don’t support them because of safety measures. Both of them have their own point to prove and we’ll take a look at them one by one in this article.    

The major argument for those who advocate the use of papercrete is its ability to use cheaper and more environmentally friendly materials. Papercrete uses mainly paper. Almost 50% of the materials in papercrete are made of recycled paper and the rest is the combination of cement, sand and water. With proper procedure, you can be assured of something really sturdy with very little cost.    

This brings us to the next argument of those who advocate them. Since you’ll be using recycled paper, you don’t need to pay for a more expensive material such as sand, and cement. Some even use lime stones to make sure that the strength and durability of the material is guaranteed. You won’t need a calculator in comparing the savings that you need if you’re constructing a papercrete home compared to a house made of concrete and tiles. Based on the things that were just noted, those who support them are clear in their vision in creating more earth friendly and cost efficient homes.    

On the other hand, you might want to consider the thoughts of those that doesn’t really approve in using them in your homes. No, they are the people that don’t want something earth friendly in their house but what they’re more concerned of is the safety that comes with the creation of papercrete. Sure some professionals make sure that these materials will last as long as regular concrete, but there are so many variations in creating papercrete that you really don’t know which one is correct or which one is the best. At this stage in history, it’s all hit or miss in creating the best papercrete. Because of this, it quite impossible to create a standard in creating this type of material. Careful consideration and control still has to be done to ensure the safety of these materials.    

Another bad thing about papercretes are the ability to get a loan using your house as a collateral. We all know that lending corporations don’t just give you money for something because you have a cute little home as collateral, they will also take a look at the home if it’s worth the money they will give to you. Unfortunately, papercrete can’t be classified into anything so the you’re going to have a hard time looking for a good creditor willing to give you the loan. If you’ll find one, the rates could be higher than normal homes.    

In the end, papercrete will definitely be part of the common home in the near future. However, at this point we still need to know more, talk to more persons and create better standards for this to be accepted in any community in the country.
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:03:55 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.papercrete.info/home/papercrete-pros-and-cons/</link><guid>http://www.papercrete.info/home/papercrete-pros-and-cons/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Building with papercrete]]></title><description><![CDATA[Aside from helping nature through recycling, you’ll also experience great savings when you use papercrete as one of the main materials that you use in your house. Even though some people don’t really consider the social aspect of building with papercrete, the financial aspect is enough for them in considering using these types of material.    

The best way to save in papercrete is to get as much paper as you can. If you’re considering papercrete, you’ll see the initial savings that you’ll have since a bag of recycled paper is considerably cheaper compared to a bag of sand and cement.    

Because construction with papercrete could be quite risky in terms of safety standards, you need to contact experienced professionals who know how to handle papercrete and getting the right mixture for your homes. We can take it for ourselves in creating them but as an amateur trying to build an important structure, safety should be your number one priority. The books that you read may not be enough as some of the hands-on papercrete workers know their way around. You can still save in hiring the proper manpower. This will save you time and effort and the resources that you bought will be placed on where they should be. Instead of trial and error in building and creating a wall for your home, you can be safe when things are created by the professionals.    

Considering that this is ore of a social project rather than something financially helpful to some people, you can still ask for help for volunteers who wanted to have a better, cheaper and safer home. There are volunteer groups who are enthusiastic in building these types of homes. There are groups that also love to show the benefits of recycling and volunteering your home to be one of the experiments should be enough for them. Don’t worry about the term “experiment” as most of the volunteer groups are experienced in handling these projects.    

One thing that you should consider as well is the ability to get a mortgage out of your house. If you have a vacant lot, that’s ok. But if that’s not your lot and you need some cash for debt consolidation, you can’t use your home as collateral. There might be specialized companies that will cater to these kind of materials as a mortgage but you need to look for them carefully as the rates will be higher than the normal mortgage rates.
    
If you’re considering building using mainly papercrete, remember that you’re in for an experimental construction. Unfortunately, the government has yet to set the quality requirements in order for this material to be accepted in the public. In order to ensure that you have great savings now and in the future, make sure you save enough money to invest in building this type of homes. With the money that you can save, you can built a home based on cash and you’ll never look back in terms of the payments that you’ll need to consider.
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:01:57 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.papercrete.info/home/building-with-papercrete/</link><guid>http://www.papercrete.info/home/building-with-papercrete/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Papercrete how-to]]></title><description><![CDATA[Papercrete is really easy to make as long as you have the proper materials and manpower to build them. Around the country, groups that support recycling have found that the right mixture could create a good construction material.    

The basic materials used to create a paper crate are water, cement, sand, and lots and lots of paper. The trick in creating the perfect papercrete is to really shred them. This will make sure that the mixture could easily be done. Because of this, shredder is an important tool to make a successful papercrete. Most of the time, there will be more time spent in preparation rather than the actual creation of the papercrete. You’ll be challenged to shred as much paper as you can while collecting other things for creating a good papercrete. The required weight of shredded paper in order to make a successful batch usually weighs from 30 to 50 pounds when wet.    

The paper part of your formula will compose a total of 50% of your construction material so be sure to have all the paper that you need. Other things such as sand, cement and water could be found everywhere so you don’t need to be concerned about them. However, what will be required from you is to have a great mixer. It’s recommended that you have a very fast mixer. But if you’re creating only small stuffs, you really don’t need to have a mixer. You just mix them carefully and the shreds should be very fine. However, if you’re thinking in going to professional construction of papercrete, you need to buy a mixer created of papercrete or anything that is close to that.    

The next thing that you should consider in creating papercrete is the molding material. Anything that you would want to create needs some molding material to form something. You should at least create a molding material made of wood or steel will not stick. Some user cedar wood so that it will be easy in removing them when you’re already done.    

Once you have placed the solution in the molding material, you need to place them in a cool and dry place. If you can place them under the sun is even better. A no-no is if you’re not protecting them under the rain. Papercrete when finished are really durable however the materials that are not finished are not really strong. Any interference will greatly affect the quality of your papercrete.    

Here’s a tip: the finished product is already strong in itself and you can still make them stronger. Instead of using sand as part of your formula, use limestone. The finished product is definitely stronger than your sand based papercrete.    

Papercretes are always an obvious choice of material among the groups that wants to help other as well as protecting the environment. With cheaper materials where most of them are free, they can easily create something very usueful. What makes it even better is that when the qualities of creating these materials are kept in standard, you’ll be sure to have stronger, fireproofed materials.    ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:00:19 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.papercrete.info/home/papercrete-howto/</link><guid>http://www.papercrete.info/home/papercrete-howto/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[General information about papercrete]]></title><description><![CDATA[Papercrete is one of the innovative products that are used as one of the building materials. This type of construction material is quite special since instead of using the conventional materials such as wood, papercrete is mainly made of paper – most of them recycled. The recycled paper can come in any form as long as their paper and with some standard construction materials such as cement, what comes out is a strong material usually used as walls in homes. Because of its value in nature, there is a strong support to use this type of material. For some, it has become a business and a quest in helping nature through recycling of materials.    

The idea of using papercrete started to be known throughout the country in 1980. However, the original idea was already put in place as early as 1928. During its revolution during the 1980s, it was under attack in someway because it lacks the proper strength to actually support homes in strong winds. Papercrete was nothing more than stronger paper mache during those times as the formula of mixing cement, paper and other products doesn’t seem to work. It was only by Eric Patterson and Mike McCain, who actually developed the stronger form of papercrete. They called their separate inventions “padobe” while some referred to it as “fibrous cement” that refers to the fibers that were extracted from the paper and cement. Their separate invention helped most of the papercrete manufacturers in developing stronger and better products for mass production.    

The basics of creating papercrete are really simple. People usually require themselves with a considerable amount of paper and cardboards to create a decent papercrete. The manufacturers or even amateur creators of papercrete will use a special mixer to mix water, cement and paper-based materials. They built a specialized mixer for this simple production. It could either be a very big construction like mixer or some can just use an oversized blender to make them work together. As the mixing process commences, they prepare a special molder that will hold the mixed materials until they are dry and ready to use.    

Even if the development of papercrete has been offered to the market for more than 20 years, there’s yet to be an established formula to create the safe and strong papercrete. Since it’s not formed from strong amounts of cement, sand and stone, it can get weak with strong wings and continuous change in the weather. The lack of standardization is what kept the market if papercrete still in infant stage until now.    

To answer this, there are papercrete companies that created their own standardization. Placing their products in rigorous tests, the buyers are assured of having some construction materials that are safe, affordable and very earth friendly.    

When you’re planning to buy papercrete from Local hardware and even hobbyists be sure to check first the materials they use. Some hardware stores make more cement than paper products thereby defeating the purpose.    

If you want something in your home or in your recreational houses that are earth friendly, be sure to get papercrete as a construction material.]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:53:53 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.papercrete.info/home/general-information-about-papercrete/</link><guid>http://www.papercrete.info/home/general-information-about-papercrete/</guid></item></channel></rss>