Cob Fibrous Cement & How To Join ESSA/ earthship listserv (reply)

[J McNiece]

< I'd be interested in Allen Gooch's original email, and I think most 
 of the group would too. 
 
 By the way, how does one sign up for the earthfriendly and self 
 suffiecient architecture list?
  >>

MEEE TOOO....  <G>


Thanks, Will, for posting Allen's fibrous cement 
msg originally on the cob list.  I'm fascinated by the
stuff.  

After Allen's msg below, I've included directions for 
how to subscribe to the earthship list, which is having some
discussion of this issue. (try "SUBSCRIBE" if the stated
"SUB" (sic?) word doesn't work).

Joanie


*******************************************
>-----Original Message-----
>Subject:	Fibrous Cement
>
>There is a man name Mike McCain in Columbus New Mexico building roofed
>insulated structures for .75 cents per square foot.
>
>Does that get your attention Earthshippers?  I will be using this
>methodology to build some other structures near our 'ship.  If I had
>found Mike McCain first, I would have probably used this technology in
>the construction of our Expanded Nest.
>
>Mike uses a material that is made on site in a home made machine that
>cost less than $100 to build from scrap.   Mike calls this material
>"Fibrous Cement" because he uses a mixture of 10% cement, 30% screened
>dirty sand and 60% water soaked paper.  Yep, I didn't stutter and this
>is not a typo. I said PAPER, as in discarded newspaper, junk mail, slick
>circulars, even cardboard.  Staples, paperclips, small rocks, high clay
>content or pretty slick paper can all add to the strength of the
>mixture.   Yha-hoo finally a good use for junk mail!
>
>Fibrous cement is amazing stuff.  Mike makes adobe like blocks from it
>and uses it like adobe blocks.  Properly mixed fibrous cement has a load
>bearing strength greater than adobe, and is lighter than adobe and has
>an R value of 2.8 per inch.  That means a 1' wall has a value of about
>33+ R value a 2' wall would be 66.7. It will hold a screw, you can build
>the structure then cut the doors and windows with a chainsaw.  Mike
>builds the walls and roof from this material.   Fibrous cement will not
>burn and termites will not eat it. You can paint it, use it like
>plaster, seal it with hot tar or cover it with elastometeric plastic
>coatings.  It is easier to work with than regular cement since it is
>lighter and too much water simply drains away instead of weakening the
>mixture.   It is not satisfactory for footings or situations where it is
>subject to high continuous moisture saturation.  Mike does construct
>buried structures.
>
>This methodology is almost as low tech as a sledge hammer and dirt yet
>is much faster and easier. Yhea for that little tid bit!  ;-)  This
>method makes Cob look simply onerous. You can construct any size or
>shape building you can dream up with Fibrous Cement. You can use a slip
>form and pour solid walls if desired.  Fibrous cement blocks are hard
>enough to stack after a few hours in the New Mexico sun and may be used
>after a few days of curing.  Mike constructs domes and round buildings
>with simple poles or cable ceilings/roofs covered with fibrous cement.
>Any shape is possible.
>
>Mike makes simple machines to mix this stuff out of discarded auto
>differentials, old lawnmower blades and 55 gallon barrels or old stock
>tanks.  Currently he is using an old used 7' x 2' high stock tank and a
>22" lawnmower blade.  The tank is mounted over the driveshaft of the old
>differential and the lawnmower blade is attached inside the tank.  This
>makes a device similar to a large blender.   One of the axles is
>attached to a universal joint and drive shaft which is then attached to
>the lug nuts on a drive wheel of a vehicle on jack stands.  When the
>vehicles drive wheels turn so does the lawnmower blade.   This does
>require a high torque drive system to move the 22" blade in a full tank
>of slurry, i.e., needs a V8!
>
>Mike starts the vehicle and starts filling the tank with water.  As the
>tank is filling he is tossing in slightly separated old news papers,
>junk mail etc, etc..   The lawnmower blade begins creating a slurry out
>of the wet paper immediately.  When the tank is almost full, Mike adds a
>few buckets of dirty sand and a bag of cement.  After churning for a
>while, mike drains the tank onto some wire mesh to extract a lot of the
>extra water and to make the slurry easier to handle.  The water is
>clear, it contains no cement as the fibers of the paper have soaked up
>the cement.  This water could be collected and used in the next batch.
>I have pounded my share of tires and I don't find it over bearing but
>believe me this looks a lot easier.
>
>I made a test batch in our kitchen this afternoon using the above
>formula and the wife's blender.  (She was not here and did not witness
>the mess I made. I did not ask permission to put cement in her blender,
>thank God I didn't have to go through that).   I made about 1000 Ml of
>slurry and I have a 3" x 4 " block about a 1.5 inches thick now drying
>in the sun.   Here's how I did it.   Too make it easier on our 20 year
>old dime store blender I soaked a 2 quart sauce pan full of news paper
>cut into strips before putting them in the blender.  I put about 400 ML
>of water in the blender and started it on its highest setting.  Then I
>started dropping in wet newspaper strips in gobs.  Watch it, that damn
>stuff tries to come over the top when you add paper and it goes in every
>direction.  ;-) The old blender would groan for a while then change
>sounds as it liquefied the mess.  Sometimes I added water, and sometimes
>I added paper until I had a thick slurry of paper and water up to the
>600ML line on our blender.  Then I added 300 ML of dirt and 100ML of
>cement. (This is a 60% paper, 30% dirt 10% cement formula. A tablespoon
>is 150ML).  Boy did that old blender groan.  It also got kind of hot.
>Finally, when the old blender seemed to have had about enough and was
>ready to choke down, I stopped and poured the mixture over some hardware
>cloth to drain.  After about 30 minutes the slurry could be formed into
>a block for drying.  Pretty impressive, if you're significant other
>doesn't witness the stress on the kitchen equipment.
>
>There is far more detail than I really can go into here.  If you want to
>know more about Fibrous Cement then here is the info.  Get a great new
>magazine called "Earth Quarterly" from Earth Quarterly, Box 23, Radium
>Springs, NM 88054.  It's about $3.00.  You can subscribe for $10 for 4
>issues per year.  Get issue # 1 for a super article on Fibrous Cement.
>These people used to publish Dry Country News and have a web site at
>www.zianet.com/drynews  but this site mentions nothing about Earth
>Quarterly or Fibrous Cement.  Their new website is www.zianet.com/earth
>and should be up shortly. Look for it. Phone # 505 526 1853.
>
>Order Mike McCains book for $29 including shipping at:  New Vision
>Building, Unltd., Box 695-EQ, Columbus NM, 88029.
>
>That's all for now.  I got to go clean the kitchen a little more before
>the spouse returns.
>
>Allen Gooch
>_____________________________________________________________
>"People deserve to live in gentle, Loving environments where
>aliveness, delight and joy are the norm.  Anything less is an
>insult to the human Spirit." dr. michael ryce
>


***************************************************

ESSA:

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