Cob/ferro-cement using carpet

[Dorothy Cady]

Ed wrote:

[snip] "The traditional way to build with ferro cement is to have three
layers of wire over a metal frame and to have teams of two people one
working from the inside and one from the outside pushing and smoothing the
cement simultaneously from both sides.  If you are hoping to get a
waterproof membrane this way, the most important thing is to not let the
cement dry out before it is hardens.  The carpet would be good for this
because it can be wet down from the inside while the outside can be covered
with plastic."

Ed:

Thanks for your feedback.

I've been looking into alternative building materials (what a surprise,
right?). My husband and I are in our over-fortyishes, so we don't want to do
anything that's too physically demanding. We're willing to work hard, just
not to do things (like lifting heavy stuff) that would injure us. So my
first real breakthrough came when I learned about papercrete. But it
requires concocting a special mixer, finding sources for the paper, and most
importantly, fighting for code approvals. I can buy a bag of cement
anywhere, cement is already an approved building material in most places and
can be used for more conventional styling when it comes to building, and
while I've heard a lot of people explaining how many natural resources it
uses to make cement, cement is so practical for many things.

Chicken wire over a simple frame topped by cement that can be applied by
hand seems doable. But, I do want to be ecologically minded if I can, so it
seems that recycling used carpet would be one good way to do it,
particularly if it meant using less chicken wire (cheaper and quicker). I
also thought that used carpet soaked with cement has to be a better
insulator than chicken wire and cement, although I'm sure it's not even
close to papercrete's insulating value. (Any thoughts on whether cement over
carpet has any insulating value?)

Anyway, I'd love to hear more about ferro cement with carpet, and its uses
in building. Any books out there that you know of that specifically cover
ferro cement (preferably with info about its use with carpet)? And of
course, I'd love more info from our practical and creative list members.

Thanks again!

Dorothy


-----Original Message-----
From: Raduazo at aol.com [mailto:Raduazo at aol.com]
Sent: Friday, March 19, 1999 6:22 AM
To: dcady at keylabs.com
Subject: Re: Cob/ferro-cement using carpet


Dear Dorothy:
	Ferro cement is cement and chicken wire right?  There was an article
in
Domebook II about constructing a geodesic dome and covering it with burlap
and
then covering that with wire and cement.  The traditional way to build with
ferro cement is to have three layers of wire over a metal frame and to have
teams of two people one working from the inside and one from the outside
pushing and smoothing the cement simultaneously from both sides.  If you ar
hoping to get a waterproof membrane this way, the most important thing is to
not let the cement dry out before it is hardens.  The carpet would be good
for
this because it can be wet down from the inside while the outside can be
covered with plastic.
Ed