Cob: remodelling - Strawboard- Papercrete recipe??

[Arlie Haig]

Here is the address of a company (I can't tell if it is still in business),
but the idea is great: wheat straw put under pressure to fuse it together
making non-toxic interior wall panels or coverings.
http://www.agriboard.com/QuestionsAnswered.htm
Agriboard Industries L.C.
100 Industrial Park
Electra, TX  76360
(940) 495-4620

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-coblist at deatech.com [mailto:owner-coblist at deatech.com]On
Behalf Of Chris Holmes
Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2001 8:15 AM
To: Scott Gregorie Howard; coblist at deatech.com
Subject: Re: Cob: remodelling - Strawboard- Papercrete recipe??


Suggestion for a material is a product called ISOBOARD, it is a fibreboard
made of straw
and non-toxic glues. If you coat it with linseed oil, or a non toxic
verethane, it has a
very interesting mottled golden look, manufactured in Alberta and one
western state
somewhere near you, you should be able to find info from a search engine.

As to Papercrete, does anyone have a recipe?  What can it be used for?  Is
it similar to
the wood fibre concrete  blocks that are available?

Please keep the list updated on what you choose for the Cafe, I am always
keen to learn
about new materials to use in interiors that are interesting, inexpensive,
durable, and
non-toxic.

Chris.
cholmes at medserv.ca

>
> My good friend is opening a philosophy cafe/ art gallery in north Portland
> soon and she has to fix up the interior to get a deal on rent.
>
> She and I are both students of natural building and we had some ideas
> about how to approach the problem in some cheap and non-toxic,
> non-polluting ways.
>
> First, the walls are just standard walls with no insulation at the moment,
> and the same goes for the ceiling. These are the two main tasks.
>
> My best Idea was to try making papercrete blocks just the right size to
> fit between the joists (16 inches apart?) and make a shitload of them-
> enough to fill the entirety of the walls up to the ceiling.  Maybe they
> could be mortared in with a light lim-sand mortar. My only preoccupation
> is how future remodellers will be able to deal with a lime and paper wall-
> seems fine I guess.
>
> Now the ceiling could just be covered with boards of coarse, but maybe
> there is some other alternative I haven't heard of that is available and
> cheep- like some of those fiber and lime (was it?) boards that they make
> by hand in Germany. We would be able to make the boards our selves to the
> required dimensions.  Someone mentioned these fiber (hemp maybe) boards
> recently on this listserve. Please tell me again.
>
> Other Ideas we had included using rock board, or making our own fiber
> boards for the walls and buying eco-friendly insulation.
>
> Under all of the above scenarios we would like to finish the wals and
> maybe the ceiling with a fine earthen plaster with some sort of pigment. I
> know there are some great resources out there for this by Bill and Athena
> Steen and others. But I have also wondered for some time if any one out
> there has ever tried simply applying pigment along with a coat or three of
> linseed oil of some dilution just as a pointer doing an oil painting
> would? I would really like to hear about anyone who has tried this.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott
>
> Portland, Oregon
>
>
>
>