Built from Trash!

Before the Build

Papercrete Maven — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:48:34 +0000

It’s mid-August, hot and humid, with record temperatures in the upper 90′s. We’ve been terracing the hillside, digging out for the waterfall and filling the retaining wall tires. Hoping to stay a little cooler, today, we decided to take a break from digging and write bit about the house building.

We bought this land in the fall of 2004, a 6 acre pie-shaped, wooded parcel on the side of a mountain. Since there wasn’t even a driveway onto the land, we decided to go back to Florida and stay that first winter, near the grandkids. Before we left we were able to contact a local guy who owned a backhoe and arranged for him to return the following March to make a driveway and platform upon which to build. We told him what we wanted and he gave us a reasonable price. He also hooked us up with someone who would dig our well and another guy to haul and lay gravel on the driveway. We had an agreement that we would return in early March of 2005 and “the guy with the backhoe” (he shall remain anonymous) would immediately begin working on our project.

After it was all said and done, the work performed by the well and gravel guys turned out just fine, but the “guy with the backhoe” was pretty much full of BS. He didn’t start for two months AFTER we returned, forcing us to camp in the RV in a friend’s back-yard and he only did about half of what he originally said he would do. Still, it was inexpensive and we were happy to be rid of him.

The well guy brought his wife over to ‘witch’ for a good place to start drilling for the water well. She clearly knew what she was doing because our water tastes great and is plentiful. The well guy’s wife held a “Y” shaped twig cut from a cherry tree which she held out in front of her chest, loosely in her hands (see illustration). When she came to the spot where the well was eventually drilled, she could barely hold on to the twig as it tugged downward, pointing to the ground. She let us try it out and we swear, it really works!

After the driveway was cut, just before the gravel was delivered, we found someone who was giving away a mobile home. We went to look at it and it was worth every penny (in other words, it was worth nothing). We probably should have spent a few thousand for something we could live in while we were building. But then, we may not have seen as inspired to finish.

After the trailer was delivered, the telephone poles were placed, electricity connected, the well was dug – we were ready to move our RV here. It was a 1988 27-foot Ford Catalina that we found on eBay for $4,000. The bidding ended on Christmas Eve. We had three windows open on our computer, and placed the last bid 5 second before the bidding ended – and won! We bought it to use as a support vehicle for a cross-country bike ride we were planning in the spring of 2004. It needed some repairs, but made it all the way across the country and back, and just barely to the land. In fact, in stalled at the bottom of the driveway. We thought it was dead, but after a few minutes, in it’s last breath, made it up the driveway and stalled again a few feet away from the RV plug we had just installed. It was home.

Now, finally, with all the workers gone, we were ready to start building our house. But where to begin?

To be continued…

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Hanging Out to Dry

Papercrete Maven — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:02:34 +0000

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Today I decided to do something to change the world. I built a solar clothes dryer. It wasn’t my first, and it only took about an hour to put it up. One thing is for certain, it’ll save money and won’t foul up the air and water.

Here are step-by-step instructions for how you, too can build a solar clothes dryer:

1. Choose two parallel points about 15 feet apart in a sunny part of your yard. Try to pick a spot that is relatively flat.

2. Using a post hole digger, dig a 3′ hole at each point. Set two, 10 foot posts at each point (use a level to make sure they are perpendicular from the ground) and then concrete or tamp fill dirt into the hole until the post is sturdy.

3. place another 4 x 4 post, 4 ‘ long, on top of each post and secure it with brackets. Now you’ve got two wooden letter T’s staring at each other, 15 feet apart.

4. Screw a holding hook into the ends of the 4 by 4′and then string a taut line between each hook.

5. If the line is sagging, use a branch to prop it up.

That’s how you build a solar clothes dryer!

Think about it… what if this one small act inspires others to do the same? Imagine this one small project inspires you to hang your clothes out to dry? And what would happen if inspire your family, friends and neighbors to do the same? And each of them inspires their friends, and on and on…

NOW we are talking about RADICAL change. And to think, it all started with me — today — hanging my clothes out to dry! Wow.

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Finding our Magic Land

Papercrete Maven — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:56:31 +0000

Fall leaves frame the roadway

September 2004: We had just finished our 2nd cross-country bicycle ride (from San Francisco to New York City) in August when the Realtor called to say he found a buyer for our cottage in Fort Erie Canada. The bad news was that the buyers wanted to expedite the closing and we were stranded on Stanton Island — in a broken down vehicle — hundreds of miles from home. We bought the Canada cottage a few years earlier and tried living the snow-bird lifestyle, residing in Florida over the winter and Canada in the Summer. But what we really missed were the seasons and therefore wanted to relocate to a place we could afford to live and where we would enjoy a more temperate climate than either Florida or Canada could offer.

After getting the RV repaired, we finally arrived at the Canada cottage on a Wednesday morning only to learn the closing was set for the following Monday. Remember, at this point we had been away from our house for nearly a year (we spent the winter in Florida training for the ride) and did not know what to expect. Since we had only four or five days, we decided to stay in the RV in the driveway (we had been using it as our support vehicle for the 3800 mile bicycle ride) rather than move back into the house. Somehow in that short period of time we purchased a box trailer in which to store and move what we couldn’t sell or give-away and held a yard sale on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was, to say the least, a whirlwind that I can barely recall.

Once the house was sold we headed to West Virginia where we planned to buy land on which to build our papercrete house.

Why West Virginia?

When people ask us why we wanted to build in West Virginia, we ask them “Have you seen it?” The state is located entirely within the Appalachian Mountain range and all areas of the state are mountainous. It is beautiful, rugged, wild and filled with ancient forests, valleys (called hollers around here), ridges, mountain laurel, rhododendron, creeks and rivers. The forests are full of critters: deer, turtles, snakes, squirrels, raccoon, possum, chipmunks, fox, an occasional black bear and a wondrous variety of birds.

West Virginia: An Explorer’s Guide (Explorer’s Guides)

Land is cheap, taxes are low, building codes are relaxed (in fact, the state’s motto is “mountaineers are always free”). And if all of that isn’t reason enough to live here, our closest neighbors are our grandchildren!

We parked our RV in a friend’s back yard in Morgantown WV. Then we looked for listings that met our criteria: rural, inexpensive and reasonable far from the nearest neighbor. It also mattered to us if the neighboring properties were reasonably well-kept. That last criteria proved to be the sticking point on several otherwise good possibilities.

October 2004: In early October, after driving all over North Central WV and traipsing through acres of woods and fields, we found an ad for 6 acres in Harrison County, about 60 miles from where we were staying. After driving for what seemed to be hours along winding country roads bordered by trees whose leaves were bursting with the colors orange, red and yellow, we finally came to Big Elk Creek road and wound another 3 or 4 miles until we found the ‘Land for Sale’ sign.

There were no stakes in the ground designating property lines. No buildings, no utilities, no driveway. The only information the Realtor gave us over the phone was the size (6 acres) and the price ($10,000). We walked up what appeared to be an old logging road to a “landing” that looked like a good place to build because it was quasi-flat with just a few small trees. While we stood there looking, we both felt that there was something special –possibly magic – about this place — a feeling we did not get from other sites we visited.

We hiked up the steep hill and made our way through the thick woods. We came upon the ruins of an old oil derrick whose frame was rusted and toppling. The ancient iron and wooden wheels that turned the pump so long ago were still attached to the axle.

Just beyond the derrick we saw what looked like the entrance to a camp. There was a grassy path that curved along under a tree that was bent to create an archway. We ducked under the tree-arch into a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a circle of stones sticking upright, like gravestones. In the center of the circle was a dirt mound and on top of that, a deer skull. There were four “stations” around the circle — one facing East, one West, the others North and South. At each station there appeared to be a “gate” made of colored pieces of material, filled with something and tied onto a string like paper cut-out dolls, draped between sticks that were hammered into the ground. Clearly this was some place special — a healing circle? It felt very safe, warm and peaceful there.

We were not sure if the circle was part of the property for sale, but even if it wasn’t, it was definitely a plus.

On the way back to the car, we saw 2 beautiful box turtles whose shells seemed to be painted gold, red and brown to match the dappled forest floor. Once we saw the turtles (my spirit animal) we were sure we were finally home.

After we purchased the land we headed back to Florida for the winter and started thinking and planning the design of the house we would start building the following Spring.

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The Solastalgia Project

Papercrete Maven — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:02:02 +0000

Become a caretaker of one small piece of Earth

Solastalgia describes the grief felt by those of us who care about human-caused, catastrophic environmental damage. We just created a Facebook Community Page where people suffering from Solastalgia can meet others who want to DO something!

Don’t waste your time arguing with global warming deniers and waiting for politicians to pass clean and renewable energy legislation.

It is better to put your energy into changing your lightbulbs or planing a garden. If building a house is beyond the scope of what you can or want to do, please consider taking some action in your own life.

If everyone reading this takes responsibility for one small piece of the planet, your own house and yard, your community and your own lives, together we have the collective power to create the positive change we have been waiting for.

Besides building a house with recycled construction materials, here are just a few of the things we are doing:

1. We installed white roofing

2. We are growing our own food

3. We use a push mower and goats

4. This Fall we will build and install home-made solar panels and make a wind turbine with PVC pipe

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Human Powered Lawn-mower

Papercrete Maven — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:33:27 +0000

Pedal powered lawn mower

Ted Wojcik of Ted Wojcik Custom Bicycles designed and built this pedal-powered lawn mower with a fixed gear in it so it can go forward and backward — which is essential when using a push-mower. When you stop pedaling, it stops moving so it doesn’t require brakes. I doubt if it would be a good gadget here in West Virginia, where we use a regular old push mower, but it might be useful for someone with a really large, flat-ish yard!

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Area Rug Made from Bicycle Inner-Tubes

Papercrete Maven — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:05:13 +0000

Tire woven from recycled bicycle inner-tubes

Danish designer Annemette Beck creates textiles from recycled materials such as rubber, paper and metal. Her line of woven products include rugs, upholstery, fabrics, runners, blinds and even room dividers. Beck’s experimental textiles showcase materials that can be salvaged and re-used. The photos show area rugs made by weaving recycled bicycle inner-tubes and tires. You can read more about Ms. Beck’s designs here.

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Here are a few simple things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint

Papercrete Maven — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:55:25 +0000

Change to Fluorescent Bulbs – If every house in the United States changed all of the light bulbs in their house, that would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the streets.
Hang Outside to Dry – Get a clothes line or rack to dry your cloths. Your clothes will last longer and you will save money
Use Both Sides of Paper – if you have a printer with a double sided print option use it. You will save half of the amount of paper you would have normally used.
Get rid of baths – Do not take baths, take showers. You will in average save about half the amount of water that you would if you were taking a bath.
Do not get bottled water – Instead of bottled water get a reusable container to carry water. Also you can get a filter to make your home tap taste more like bottled water. It is definitely more cost efficient.
Shorten your shower – Every minute you cut from your shower is roughly 5 gallons of water. The less time your shower takes, the lower your impact on the environment.
Recycle Glass – If you do not recycle this, it will take a million years to decompose.
Turn Down your Thermostat – Every degree lower in the winter or higher in the summer you put it is a 10 percent decrease on your energy bill.
Turn off your lights – An easy one. Turn off your lights when you are not using them. The benefits are obvious.
Do not get a paper phone book – Instead of getting a paper phone book. Use a online directory instead.
Give things away – Take things that you are not going to wear or use and give it to a charity or someone who will use it.
Go to a car wash – Going to a car wash is a lot more water efficient then washing your car at home.

Buy Rechargeable Batteries – Even though it will take a good investment to buy these you will find yourself gaining it back in no time.
Pay your Bills Online – If every house in the US did this then we would save 18 million trees every year.
Get a reusable bag – You can not recycle plastic bags, instead get yourself a reusable bag so that you will not have to worry about carrying your necessities.
Inflate your Tires – If your tires are inflated at all times your car will run more miles on less gas.
Plant a Tree – It is good for the air, can keep you cool, and can increase your property value.
Walk or Ride Your Bike When you can – If you have to go somewhere close consider riding your bike or walking there instead of your car. It is better on the environment and healthier.

Thanks to Green Living Tips

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Don’t Just Gripe, Do Something!

Papercrete Maven — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:11:12 +0000

Oil continues to gush from the well with no end in sight

As I am writing this post, oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico (resulting from the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig) at a rate never before seen. The environmental consequences from this one disaster are probably too vast to comprehend.

At the same time, coal continues to be extracted miles beneath where I am currently sitting in rural West Virginia, and just a short distance away, they are blowing the tops off of beautiful and ancient mountains — just to remove more coal.

What may be even more devastating than the negative environmental impact of oil drilling and coal extraction is the talk of building new nuclear power plants — even though we haven’t yet figured out what to do with the tons of toxic nuclear waste that is sitting around in containers all across the world.

Our energy policy is simply insane. Especially considering that right now we have the technology to harness the clean energy generating power of the sun, wind and water.

If you are like us, you are sick and tire of hearing that global warming/climate change is some sort of hoax — especially when a majority of scientists say that the phenomenon is real and that we must do something about it.

Waiting for domestic and multi-national corporations, the US government and governments around the world to take action is a waste of time and — literally — energy.

But what if every environmentally conscious individual on the planet did something in their own lives to reduce their own dependency on fossil fuels?

A new report by Thomas Dietz, a professor at Michigan State University says that household energy consumption is responsible for up to 38% of United States carbon emissions (that counts up to 8% of worldly emissions). He insists that home weatherization, regular vehicle maintenance and choosing the clothesline over the dryer would be enough to reduce US carbon emissions by 5% over a period of just five years, and 7.4% in 10 years.

Dietz’ estimates are not based on any kind of best-case consumer behavior scenario. Rather, they make use of the best available information for the purpose of calculating the number of families that could reasonably be expected to enact such measures if provided information and financial assistance; and whether or not they could interact with others while at it.

But the list excludes possible emissions cuts with emerging technologies and with whole lifestyle changes. At the very least, Dietz claims that these conservation measures analyzed by the researchers include the benefit of a “demonstration effect” i.e. he would have people believe that when people adopt whatever changes, it will not be long before their acquaintances follow suit.

Elisia and I have taken extreme measures to lessen our carbon footprint. And we plan to do more in the future by combining solar panels, micro-hydro and a wind mill to generate all or most of our electricity.

Dietz insists that there is a lot of research that supports the notion that people, companies and even governments will change their behavior when they have seen their peers do it.

We hope we inspire some of you!

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Our Papercrete Recipe

Papercrete Maven — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:06:02 +0000

When we were researching papercrete, we found many different recipes and mixer-types. After trying various recipies and because we have a clay-based soil on our land, we settled on the following papercrete recipe:

5 parts drained paper mulch
5 parts sifted clay
1 part Portland Cement
1 shake of Borax

Soak newspaper and magazines in water for at least 24 hours (the longer the better).
Sift dry clay (or other soil) on a screen of 1/4 inch hardware cloth to remove the larger lumps and rocks.
After it has soaked in water for at least 48 hours, place the newspaper in mixer, add water and mix well until paper pulp is the consistency of cold oatmeal.
Drain the paper until about 75% of the water is removed (if you capture the drained water, you can reuse it) and add it to a cement mixer.
Once in the cement mixer, add some of the water that you drained off of the newspaper pulp, add the sifted clay and continue mixing, adding water as needed.
Finally, add in the Borax and Portland cement. Continue mixing until the slurry is the color and consistency of chocolate pudding.

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Permits

Papercrete Maven — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:04:43 +0000

People often ask us whether it is possible or necessary to get a permit for an alternative building project like ours.

The answer is, it depends!

We did apply for a permit and actually received one… although we did not mention tires or papercrete.

On the application, we said we have a mobile home (we do) and said we wanted to build a metal roof over the top and add two, 6 feet X 55 feet covered additions, supported by ten 4 foot X 4 foot posts, along the sides (which we did).

In reality, we probably did not need to have a permit in the first place since no one from the county came to inspect our work — prior to or after completion.

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The county tax assessor does visit us once a year, and, since the onset of our construction, he has been observing our progress, taking a tour of the property, etc., with nary a peep about our alternative building techniques.

Although our papercrete walls are load-bearing, we do not rely on solely on those walls to hold up the roof. We installed 4X4 posts, 8′ apart, along each 55′ wall, all of them embedded inside the 12″ thick papercrete.

And, of course, all of this is situated on top of the tire wall — a structure that consist of massive tire “blocks” (30 inches in diameter by 8 inches high) and more substantial than a traditional block wall (8 inches X 8 inches X 16 inches).

All in all, it strikes us as very strange that there may be structural concerns about tire and papercrete construction — especially considering our mobile home is so shoddily constructed!

The trailer walls are made of 1 X 3’s and are covered with tin on one side and cheap paneling on the other. In between there is a scanty layer of fiberglass insulation. The floors are literally made of particle board which, when wet, dissolves!

It seems really hypocritical for building inspectors to allow a family to live in such a flimsy structure while at the same time denying permits for tire and papercrete construction.

If you are not as fortunate as we are (to live in an area that is not as concerned about building techniques), you will need to follow the building codes for your particular locality.

Keep in mind that you may be able to find creative ways to incorporate alternative methods and materials into your plans in order to obtain a legitimate permit.

For example, if you find a code-approved building technique — like post and beam construction — you may be able to persuade your inspector that the papercrete blocks or slip forms will be used as infill — which is essentially what we did.

Another possible work-around would be to describe the papercrete blocks as adobe or some other construction material that the inspector knows and understands.

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