What Is Papercrete?
There are a number of ways to make construction material from paper. The generic term for the method described here is “papercrete”. There are a number of variations of papercrete, such as fibrous concrete or fibercrete, fibrous cement, padobe and fidobe. See more about these variations under Mixes.
Papercrete is made from recycled paper with a small amount of cement and sand added. The ratio is 60/20/20. The paper/concrete/sand mixture is stirred in a large barrel, much like a blender, until all paper is shredded and evenly mixed with the concrete and sand. Papercrete can be mortared, drilled, hammered, nailed, used as plaster and as an infill between poles or studs. Recently, some people made the mixture without cement, and created Fidobe or Paper Adobe. These products are dense building logs used in construction. While researching, I found a gentleman that had made a mixer out of an old 55 gallon drum, which was mounted on an old car axle. A unique gearing system attached to an old lawn mower blade did the mixing. He would hook this contraption behind his car, take a slow drive around the block, and have perfect papercrete. How Is It Applied? Papercrete is handled much like adobe. It can be made in smaller bricks or can be used much as cement is, and poured into a monolithic wa
