Update: The DVD is now available! (MakePapercrete.com) Papercrete is an amazing building material you can make. This video shows you how to make papercrete using a tow-mixer which you can also make in one day! The same mixer can make other materials, like fibrous adobe (adobe with paper pulp in it), sometimes called 'padobe'. The new DVD covers everything you need to get started: What Papercrete is and how it's made, What you can make with papercrete (walls, houses, sculpture), How to make a Tow-mixer (step-by-step instructions, with photos, video and detailed graphics), How to use your Tow-mixer to make Papercrete and fibrous adobe, How to make Gang-molds, How to cast Papercrete into molds to make blocks and panels, Sample buildings made from papercrete and fibrous adobe. Much more information at Makepapercrete.com.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
@AlamoDoorSystems – One is glad to be of service. Love to see your home when you are done.
Thank you so much for sharing this. My foundation is now done and I’m beginning construction of a papercrete home. You are most generous!!
What a great idea
@OK55OK55OK – Yes, it’s a catamaran, and yes, you can ‘Gilligan’ with one. Pack some gear and food and take off for a week with a friend, camp on an island or beach someplace where there are no people. Those interested in such things can see my other videos here on YouTube and my web site RebelCat.com.
Yeh, I watched your video about the pontoons. Was that you “Gilligan” on all the videos? Pretty cool, I really liked the …..catamaran? I forgot what it was called, but, I never could understand how to control the sails. Really nice build!!
@OK55OK55OK – Pontoons? Well, pontoons are part of another project of mine, making a sailing catamaran from PVC pipe (pontoons). See my other videos for that. I don’t think pontoons are related to papercrete, so it may have been my mistake – I get emails all the time about both.
You mentioned something about “pontoons”……can you elaborate on the construction of these?
@heartshapebox88 – Save yourself. Bamboo leaves are fibrous, as are many other plant parts. Papercrete is a mixture of cement, water and fibers, and it really doesn’t matter what kind of fibers. I suggest making some experiments using a blender or food processor, using grass, leaves of various common plants (including bamboo), paper, cardboard, and use about the same weight of cement or less. Let each test cure for at least 24 hours (keep wet). Dry completely and compare them.
hello
i am a student from Malaysia. I saw your video and i it is amazing how people could think about this papecrete! You did a very great job.really. Since I’ve read all of the comments, i noticed that you gave an opinion about using bamboo leaves. i really need your help about it for my final year research as i am taking civil engineering study. please help me..i need to know more about it in how they do it.
send me an email me nadzirah_duh@yahoo.com
save me please
@a2zhandi – You’re most welcome.
@OldSchoolSkill – I’m pleased that you found this useful. If you ever need to make your own Papercrete Tow-mixer, my DVD shows and tells everything in a step-by-step video. It also covers making gang molds, making a batch of Papercrete and casting it into blocks. Fibrous adobe (just paper and dirt) is another option and is covered as well. My web site has additional information. Good luck with your projects.
Brilliant! I love it.
Thanks
@porpoisefathom – Good question. Well, there are so many different recipes for Papercrete, it will depend on how you make it. Add sand and the compressive strength increases. Increasing cement will help too. My suggestion is to make small samples with different amounts of all ingredients, cure wet for a week under plastic, dry out and test them.
whats the compressive strength of this stuff??
@didaskalos777 – 1) Consider it termite-proof. Won’t burn either, even if you hold a torch to it. 2) Tensile strength? PC is not like wood or concrete in a panel, but the fibers will hold it together, making it moderately structural. I suggest a 2″ thickness minimum, unless you’re just covering a wall with PC as insulation. Use a food processor or blender to make samples of PC, using various amounts of cement, allowing them to cure wet, then dry them out. Test for structural qualities, etc.
@marjamada I have seen that in several of your responses that you emphasize that PC is like wood and treat it as such to avoid mold and rot… two questions: 1) Is the PC mixture termite resistant? 2) Do PC have a more concrete-like or a more wood-like tensile strength if poured into panel molds instead of block molds? Great video. Thanks!
@AnnihilatingAngel By all means LIVE your dreams. Growing up in the ghettos of Brooklyn NY, we would manage to find some way to build a “club house” out of recycled materials. Thinking back on the situation today, I can now see that as youth, we had a desire to BUILD something. Today I hope to encourage you to let that Gothic castle dream of yours come to fruition. We’re rooting for you.
@marjamada I support your response. We have been taught to be irresponsible when it comes to what to do with waste paper. People not talk about it that much, but the fibers within waste paper helps to create an ingredient for Papercrete that can help to produce bricks that are very solid. In addition to being energy efficient, Papercrete can also be formed to be fireproof as well. The possibilities are endless as far as I can see.
@marjamada Thank you for your response, and please forgive me in return for taking more than 6 months to respond to your message here on YouTube. You have a *good* point regarding the challenge with Papercrete not being able to dry inside the bottle. Back to the basics of making blocks without bottles.
An excellent example of DIY. I’ve often toyed with the idea of making a small-scale Gothic castle out of papercrete, straw bales or mud – since I’ll never have the cash to afford to live in one otherwise.
@Robbi165 – Code legal… that’s good news, thanks for that.
Very nicely done video and explanation. Thank you!
I was told in Arkansas that a Papercrete House is legal when the foundation laid is regular Concrete with a height of three bricks over that on the sides…and that this is what constitutes compliance with building-codes for whatever county it’s in to have it be registered as a house legally. Great Video, guys!!
@waellerbe – Possible, but not advisable. Papercrete will cure inside bottles but not dry out, so your bottles will be very heavy. Second, bottles are too smooth to stack or bond well to each other. If you find a use for cylindrical blocks, you can use bottles to mold papercrete, then dump out the cured ‘blocks’ and try to use them. Looking for free molds? Good idea, but bottles are less than ideal, even though they’re free.
@JohnnyO3333 – Well… got a calculator? I got 42 blocks, each block 12 x 8 x 5.5″. If you multiply those, you’ll get volume in cubic inches – just guessing, about half of the volume of your block. But we could have used more of the capacity of our mixer and less cement – ours were stronger than needed for the purpose. We could have made 56 blocks, 4 gang-molds in a full mixer.