make my next home out of paper like this. the formula for the paper bricks is Mixing up a paper block Barry Fuller uses a mix of Portland cement, sand, fly ash and paper to make the slurry that hardens into building blocks. His formula: 150 gallons of water. A 5-gallon bucket of sand. 80 pounds of paper, newsprint works best. 30 pounds of fly ash, he picks up this optional ingredient in large drums from coal-burning power plants around the state. 1 bag of Portland cement. The mixture makes 20 blocks, 2 feet by 1 foot by 5 inches. Each block weighs 10 to 15 pounds. Original Article A ton of paper, well 4, creates home Tempe man starts structure made of recycled products Michael Clancy The Arizona Republic Jan. 27, 2006 12:00 AM A Tempe man is building a house out of paper. The house, going up at Salt River Project's PERA Club in northwest Tempe, is Barry Fuller's first attempt with the new construction technique. He expects it will be completed by spring. It's not built like houses in Japan, with thin paper dividers between the rooms. This is paper mixed with other materials to form building blocks, slabs and curbs that can be used the same way concrete is used. The result is a lightweight building material that reuses waste paper - almost any kind will do - and provides greater insulation than concrete blocks. Fuller said he has researched alternative building techniques for three years. He has looked at adobe and straw bale houses. He says he has found nothing like paper. Fuller combines the paper in a homemade mixer with Portland cement and other materials, including sand and fly ash, the waste product of coal-burning power plants. It makes a slurry that he pours into forms, where it dries into any shape imaginable. Fuller has poured more than 2,000 blocks and 100 roof panels that he is using to build the 500-square-foot structure. It took 4 tons of paper. He says the material is lightweight, easy to work with and easily can be made waterproof and fireproof. Although it looks rather like papier-mache, Fuller says the material is essentially as strong as concrete block and can be used the same way. Fuller has spent two years working with various mixtures of his materials, determining strength, insulation ability and other factors. His tests have shown, he says, that the blocks are more than adequate to support a two-story house with a pitched roof. The house will be built at about half of the cost of standard wood frame or concrete block construction, Fuller said. He guesses he will use 70 percent less electricity for heating and cooling. He also thinks he can save some trees and extend the life of some landfills. "In the United States, we discard enough paper each year to build a wall 48 feet high around the entire perimeter of the country," Fuller says on his Web site, www.livinginpaper.com. "Even though about 45 percent of discarded paper is recycled annually, 55 percent, or 48 million tons of paper, is thrown away. Figuring conservatively, it takes about 15 trees to make a ton of paper. That means that 720 million trees are used once and then buried in a landfill each year. "We are experimenting with ways to turn this prodigious amount of waste into low-cost, high-value sustainable housing." Fuller said he collected enough paper in six weeks from his home and his four neighbors to make enough blocks to build an 8-foot-high, 20-foot-long wall, which takes 280 blocks. The building he is putting up includes probes that will measure temperature, power use, moisture, wind resistance and "creep," or settling of the building. "By comparing the readouts, it will be possible to tell a great deal about what is going on in the structure," he said. Changes over time are his key focus, to determine how well the building will hold up. Fuller plans to use the building as an office for three years, opening it for tours and green-building activities. http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/0126paperhouse-ON.html Tempe man builds home using paper technique Michael Clancy The Arizona Republic Jan. 26, 2006 05:24 PM A Tempe man is building a house out of paper. The house, going up at Salt River Project's PERA Club in northwest Tempe, is Barry Fuller's first attempt with the new construction technique. He expects it will be completed by spring. It's not built like houses in Japan, with thin paper dividers between the rooms. This is paper mixed with other materials to form building blocks, slabs and curbs that can be used the same way concrete is used. The end result is a lightweight building material that reuses waste paper - almost any kind will do - and provides greater insulation than concrete blocks. Fuller said he has researched alternative building techniques for almost three years. He has looked at adobe and straw bale houses. He says he has found nothing like paper. Fuller combines the paper in a homemade mixer with Portland cement and other materials, including sand and fly ash, the waste product of coal-burning power plants. It makes a slurry that he pours into forms, where it dries into any shape imaginable. Fuller has poured more than 2,000 blocks and 100 roof panels that he is using to build the 500-square-foot structure. It took four tons of paper. He says the material is lightweight, easy to work with and easily can be made waterproof and fireproof. Although it looks rather like paper mache, Fuller says the material is essentially as strong as concrete block and can be used the same way. Fuller has spent two years working with various mixtures of his materials, determining strength, insulation ability and other factors. His tests have shown, he says, that the blocks are more than adequate to support a two-story house with a pitched roof. The house will be built at about half of the cost of standard wood frame or concrete block construction, Fuller said. He guesses he will use 70 percent less electricity for heating and cooling. He also thinks he can save some trees and extend the life of some landfills. "In the United States, we discard enough paper each year to build a wall 48-feet high around the entire perimeter of the country," Fuller says on his Web site, www.livinginpaper.com. "Even though about 45 percent of discarded paper is recycled annually, 55 percent, or 48 million tons of paper, is thrown away. Figuring conservatively, it takes about 15 trees to make a ton of paper. That means that 720 million trees are used once and then buried in a landfill each year. "We are experimenting with ways to turn this prodigious amount of waste into low-cost, high-value sustainable housing." Fuller said he collected enough paper in six weeks from his home and his four neighbors to make enough blocks to build an 8-foot-high, 20-foot-long wall, which takes 280 blocks. The building he is putting up includes probes that will measure temperature, power use, moisture, wind resistance and "creep," or settling of the building. "By comparing the readouts, it will be possible to tell a great deal about what is going on in the structure," he said. Changes over time are his key focus, to determine how well the building will hold up. Fuller plans to use the building as an office for three years, opening it for tours and green-building activities.