WELCOME TO

Casa WizardMoon !

My husband Tim Pye and I are building our personal *New Dream* here in the red desert country of North Central Arizona, near Sedona. We call it Casa WizardMoon.

For many years we lived in small, poorly designed houses, and paid large utility bills, in places where we couldn't live in harmony with nature. A few years ago the "siren song" of the desert called to me and we moved here. Instead of buying another poorly designed little house, in a crowded neighborhood, and paying more huge utility bills, we decided to buy some land and build our own alternative DREAM home.

Our intention was to create an environmentally friendly home, but still enjoy the comforts of a spacious home incorporating modern technology. We wanted to use alternative power sources, such as solar and wind power. And we didn't want to use any more lumber than is absolutely necessary. We believe trees are one of the best resources this planet has to offer - after all, they produce the very OXYGEN in our atmosphere that is necessary for human life! Looking around the desert we see that trees are very rare and precious, and the planet is being DE-forested much faster than it is being RE-forested.

So we looked for land on which to build, and we read lots of literature about Earth-friendly buildings, and decided, tentatively, to build a straw-bale home. We found a 2 acre lot with a beautiful view and great southern exposure for Solar power, on a hill, so we usually get a good breeze for wind power.

Then I heard about an Energy Fair in Flagstaff and I went to there to collect more information about alternative energy. Tim was gone to a different seminar in Phoenix that weekend. There at the Flagstaff fair I met Gordon and Laura Solberg who had a booth, and on their table was a block of grayish material. I picked it up, and my hand literally FLEW up in the air, because it was so light-weight for its size. I was amazed! It was PAPERCRETE.

I bought a copy of their publication and took it home. When Tim got home from his trip, he began reading about papercrete and in just a few minutes, he just erupted with enthusiasm...

"This is SO COOL!!

WE GOTTA DO THIS!!"

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ABOUT PAPERCRETE

By Tim Pye

Papercrete, aka fibrous cement, was originally patented in 1926, but it was not considered to be commercially viable. Today it is being rediscovered as a "new" alternative building material. Papercrete has been termed by some as a "modern day adobe." Papercrete can be made into blocks or poured into forms to make a monolithic wall. The material is homemade and consists of paper (3 parts), clay/dirt and sand (2 parts), and Portland cement (1 part). The paper used can be almost anything; newspaper, junk mail, cardboard, etc. So much of our daily consumables are surrounded with paper and take up millions of tons per year in our waste dumps. All the paper you need is free for the asking. Sand and/or sandy dirt is usually found on site. One way to recycle paper is to build with it. Here's why...........

SOME PROPERTIES OF PAPERCRETE

INSULATION VALUE - up to R-2.8 per inch, depending on density and ingredients (comparable to fiberglass at R-3.0 per inch). LIGHTWEIGHT - most papercrete weighs 15 to 20 lbs. per cubic foot, depending on density and mix. (Concrete weighs137 lbs. per cubic foot.) Almost anyone can lift and build with papercrete blocks. HAS COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND TENSILE STRENGTH - papercrete walls can support roof loads (not yet code approved) and can span across window and door openings with little or no header, if desired. TERMITE PROOF - termites do not touch papercrete! FIRE RESISTANT - papercrete cannot burst into flame. If exposed to intense heat and fire it will smolder slowly until extinguished. After the fire is out, simply dig out the char and patch with papercrete. ABSORBS SOUND AND VIBRATION - may do well in earthquake prone areas. ABSORBS WATER INSTANTLY - not a plus for housing projects. After construction is complete and the walls are dry, the exterior needs to be sealed. A papercrete stucco mix can be applied without the need of chicken wire, and then can be painted.

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Please come and visit Casa WizardMoon.....

"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals, on the other hand, built the Titanic." ~ Author Unknown