Papercrete article

[Daddymem]

My May 2006 ASCE Civil Engineering Magazine had a great surprise in it...an article about papercrete.  Here is the abstract for the article: http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline06/0506abs.html#abs3  You probably can obtain the article if interested enough.  I haven't had the chance to read it, but there is a lot of testing results on the various mixtures of the materials and looks to be pretty interesting.

[glenn kangiser]

Here is a link to one of Charmaine Taylor's websites with free papercrete info.

http://www.papercrete.com/

[Daddymem]

threadcrap
Now I've had the time to read the article, it is pretty interesting.  There is very little scientific testing available on papercrete.  The purpose of the study was "...to determine whether the mechanical and physical properties of papercrete make it suitable for use as a construction materials for homes, to find out if certain anecdotal evidence collected about the material can be verified, and to delineate areas warranting further study."  -May 2006 Civil Engineering  Arizona State University took 60 samples of papercrete that were prepared by "experts" in papercrete and ran compression tests (squeeze it until failure), pull-out tests (measures the bond strength of the material), and a creep test (constant load over time).  The results indicate that the material is good for house construction (duh) and can support two story houses (duh).  It appears the best bang for your buck is paper/portland cement at 1:2 ratio and paper/portland cement/sand at 1:1:5 ratio.  The most important outcome of this study, IMHO, is that more study is needed to analyze the potential use for larger structures such as interior walls in high rise buildings.  This article/study is good news for papercrete.  When the Universities study materials, they begin making their way into "mainstream" use and codes begin to allow them with less restrictions.  
Ain't concrete just some neat stuff?  

More ongoing info can be found at the Arizona State University's Center fo Alternative Building Studies (nonprofit organization) here: http://www.livinginpaper.org/ (with those prices, how do they remain nonprofit  :-? )

Evidently the article was based on a paper given at the 2006 Arhitectural Engineering National Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, entitled "Structural Properties of a New Material Made of Waste Paper"

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks, Daddymem-- I'd love to see more on the pull-out test. :-/  You know --- how the experts do it.

[Amanda_931]

Some of those so-called building experts think they don't have to talk to them's that's done it.  It kind of sounds like these guys have.