[Cob] Paper cob...

[James]

I would be concerned about it's tensile strength too... though adobe 
buildings have been built for hundreds (thousands?) of years without 
straw in the mix.

The biggest disadvantage to using paper that I can see is that paper is 
a recyclable product.  As soon as you put it in cob, you can never again 
turn it into more paper.  Straw is (generally speaking) a waste product, 
which might otherwise be burnt or tossed into a landfill.

James

yewberry at wavecable.com wrote:

> I've been having some fun recently playing around with paper cob 
> (shredded paper instead of straw).  I've tried pre-soaking the paper 
> and adding the "mush" in lieu of water.  I've also tried adding it the 
> same way as straw. The resulting test bricks seem very hard and strong 
> (at least as strong as the wheat straw cob I've made) and are almost 
> completely crack-free.  Paper is also much easier and infinitely more 
> fun to work with than straw.
>
> If I were to use paper cob for building, however, I'd be concerned 
> about its tensile strength.  Any thoughts? Could paper cob be a viable 
> alternative to straw cob?
>
> Brina
>
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