[Cob] paper cob, paperadobe, papercrete

[Copper Harding]

Friends,

A report on my curiosity.  This summer we made a small
cob oven.  The door was the most difficult.  Two cob
doors were actually broken, due to various
circumstances, mishandling etc.

So I experimented with some alternatives.

I am, currently, limited in my access to power tools. 
So newspaper was soaked overnight and one small
handful was placed in the blender with the rest filled
with water.  This pulped the paper thouroughly.  I
then poured that out into a fabric mesh inside of a
colandar.  I could pick up the fabric and squeeze out
a fair amount of the water.  (a huge waste, I started
squeezing the water out into a soaking bucket after a
while)

I then did three mixes:

1. pulp + clay + sand

2. pulp + concrete (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup per blender full
(my estimate)

3. pulp + concrete + clay + sand

Unfortunately I did not measure anything exactly but
mixed until it felt good, looked good.  Somewhat like
the consistency of bread dough with sand in it or a
bit stiffer like a good cob mix.  It was all hand
mixed.

Mix number one was good and had some shrinking but not
too much.

Mix number two took the longest to dry, had lots of
shrinking, and had an accident during the drying
process - about three weeks.  It was bumped, and I say
bumped only slightly and that portion broke off.  I
don't know if the other mixes are as fragile as they
were not bumped and I was not risking it after two
previously damaged doors!

Mix number 3 was wonderful, had the least shrinking
and the fastest drying time about 1.5 weeks.

It is currently being used as the oven door on the cob
oven.  It is lighter weight - almost a one handed lift
and place into the oven - doesn't seem to be showing
any signs of burning and I'm quite happy with it.

Please don't take this as an advocation of concrete. 
I know the dangers and damage that it causes.  it was
an experiment for comparison purposes as many people
on the net have had good results with Papercrete - or
concrete and paperpulp and this was a modification of
that recipie.  So I wanted to see that recipie in
COMPARISON to the cob/pulp mix.

i would say that the clay/cob and paper pulp mix is as
good as if not better than the straight papercrete. 
However, for some reason the slight addition of
concrete to that mix seemed to be the best overall.  I
don't know why.

I don't really want to add the extra cost of concrete
to my home, however, the application of a paper pulp
and clay/concrete panel - which would be significantly
more lightweight than cob alone strikes me as a
potential application for ceiling insulation, etc.

I hope some other more creative people can come up
with a better mix and unique ideas/application than
this!

Ok.  I'm off to bake bread in that cob oven!!

:)

Copper

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_________________________
Ms. Copper Harding

If you can walk, you can dance
If you can talk, you can sing  --- from Zimbabwe

When you're out of balance
  gravity tends to get you down. -L.L. Harding


		
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