Cob A Test--Fibrous Cement--Hypertufa?

[Margaret_Kosco]

Hi Cob folks-

I am also very interested in this fibrous cement.  The recipe reminds me
of the hypertufa recipe that I read about in a Fine Homebuilding
gardening article.  It was a mix of roughly one third each of sand,
cement, and peat moss.  You can then use a mold (such as a plastic lined
box) to make garden planters-either huge things, or something smaller
containers that you could lift.  The picture of these planters looked
like carved stone water troughs, or japanese water basins, or just
shallow bird baths. After the mix has set and before it is totally
solid, you un-mold it and use a wire brush to roughen up the outside so
it looks more like carved stone/granite than a molded cement lawn
ornament.  Having the peat moss in it lets it grow moss eventually on
the outer surface for a mossy effect.   I'm sure the peat moss would be
more expensive than the newspapers, but I thought I would mention this
recipe for those who like to do thorough research.

I am also interested in wattle and daub, and was not able to find much
on it.  I am planning to use wooden pallets for the walls of a garden
shed, and then I was originally going to use wattle and daub in fill,,
with a plaster, mud stucco surface-but I was much more attracted to the
Leichlembaum method of straw/light clay fill that Paul Valerio told us
about a couple months ago.  It is lighter and better insulating than
straight mud which is the daub in the wattle.

I am also building a studio and I want to frame it out with bamboo
timbers.  I have access to bamboo that is 4-5 inches in diameter, and I
have been researching joinery methods, and I just took a 4 day bamboo
furniture workshop that really helped me to understand how to work with
round, hollow posts and beams.

Margaret
Asheville, NC

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Mary S. Miller [SMTP:a0007086 at airmail.net]
	Sent:	Thursday, June 11, 1998 7:46 PM
	To:	Cob Folks
	Subject:	Cob A Test

	Bear with me folks.  I have started my own little test of the
fibrous
	cement.

	Here's my recipe that I used:
	1 Large section of newspaper, slightly shredded
	   I didn't count the pages but I should have
	3 lbs road base screenings
	   Yes, this isn't sand but it was all I had available on the
place.
	Left-overs from putting in a new floor in the goat barn.  Next
time I'll use
	builders sand and only 1lb of it.
	1 lb Cement (I believe now that this was too much cement; I'll
use 4oz next
	time)

	Allen, are those weight or volume ratios?

	I mixed the shredded paper up by itself with a LOT of water as
much as I
	could using a 2X2 with 4 twelve-penny nails through it, one for
each side.
	When there were not any more obvious strips of paper left, I
added the
	screenings and the cement and kept stirring.  And stirring...and
stirring.
	Bring on that mixing machine!

	A hardware cloth (1/2 inch) draining area was put over bucket to
catch the
	water.

	I poured the super paper-mache mixture out onto the hardware
cloth a little
	at a time so that it would sorta clump and not run through.  A
good portion
	of the screenings had settled in the bottom of the bucket around
the edges.
	I did pour this out onto the top of the rest of it, then formed
a rough
	brick.  It appears that the brick will be almost in layers
(mixing problems)
	of larger pieces of paper on the bottom up to smaller pieces on
top and then
	a gritty mixture on top (the screenings).   The brick size right
now, still
	dripping, is 2" thick, 8" x 12".

	I hope this one turns out as well as Allen's did so keep your
fingers
	crossed.

	Yes, I have ordered the magazine, Earth Quarterly, and also the
first issue
	with the fibrous cement article. But I just couldn't wait to try
this. You
	know how it is.

	Does anyone know anything about Pumice-Crete in Taos? They are
using pumice
	rock and cement poured into forms. Just thought I'd ask.

	Take care everyone,
	Mary *wishing I was up east at the building symposium* Miller