PaperCrete Anyone???

Building a house with used paper?
by New Straits Times
03 Mar 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: Using recycled paper as construction material? It may sound a bit far-fetched to most people, but not to two future mechanical engineers who have worked hard at turning the radical idea into reality.

“Papercrete” or “paper plus concrete” is a creation that makes use of waste paper, such as old newspapers and magazines, to replace sand. The waste paper is mixed with cement, lime and water. Sand is used only in making papercrete blocks. The cement, paper and lime ratio is 1:4:½.

Inventors Nuraishah Abdul Rahman and Najwa Juaini Azmi are both 22-year-old final-year Bachelor of Civil Engineering undergraduates at Universiti Tenaga Malaysia in Bangi, Selangor.

Their main objective was to develop a new construction material which would work in the same way as conventional concrete but would be cheaper and lighter. Papercrete can be 50 per cent lighter than normal concrete and is 20 to 30 per cent cheaper.

“In terms of strength, papercrete has acceptable properties in compressive and flexural strength and is suitable for use in construction,” said Nuraishah.

Using the lighter papercrete blocks results in the reduced deadweight of construction, which in turn brings about cheaper cost in building the foundation structure.

Najwa said papercrete was easy to use and good for interior design, such as for making plaster ceilings, and can be made into any shape and cut with a hand saw.

Despite the fact that papercrete absorbs water, it still holds its shape. It would be better to waterproof it to keep fungus and termites at bay.

Papercrete would also encourage the recycling of used paper, which would reduce the need for landfills and the cutting of trees.

Nuraishah and Najwa did the research for their project by reading journals on concrete production and getting information from the Internet.

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Flat-Screen TVs Spur Redecorating

by Carol Polsky
2007-02-03

These days, big high-definition TVs and flat screens are the toys luring customers who may have only $1,000 or $2,000 to play with. Plasma and LCD televisions are now priced within reach of many more consumers than even a year or two ago, if they want one badly enough. And plenty do, to the point where sales of flat-panel sets outpaced tube television sales for the first time this past year, according to the NPD Group, which monitors market trends.

This, of course, opens up a whole new set of decor issues: Those armoires, entertainment centers and consoles built for regular 36- inch sets no longer suffice. How, then, to accommodate the new look in television? Many people call in a decorator.

“Ask what I do for a living: I retrofit bedrooms and living rooms to accommodate plasmas and LCD screens,” interior designer Keith Baltimore of Port Washington, N.Y., says, only half-jokingly.

“There seems to be an enormous call for accommodating them because everybody is buying them. The rooms I did seven or eight years ago, I have to go back and retrofit them now for the new technology.”

Decorators say there are three methods to deal with the behemoths: hide them, expose them or fit them into cabinetry.

More and more people are simply leaving them exposed. Designer Richard Piemonte of Brookville, N.Y., will use bifold or retractable doors or mirrors to hide screens for clients who opt for that.

But often, and increasingly within the past year, his clients choose to leave it exposed both for aesthetics and convenience.

Simply finding a wall for the sets can be a problem. Says Piemonte, “Very often you have homes where there really is no great place for a TV: You have three walls that are open, and one wall receiving too much light and very often you have to put up a false wall or extend a wall to accommodate these large TVs.

“There’s one place to put a sofa and you want the TV opposite it for viewing, and very often it doesn’t work out that way,” he adds. “You may have to put it on the side, which isn’t the optimal place, but you have no choice.”

While windows behind the set can create glare and washed-out colors, LCDs tend to perform better in bright light conditions than plasmas, experts say.

Baltimore often customizes the above-the-mantel look with a 7 3/ 4-inch-deep box or niche in the stonework above the mantel when building a stone fireplace for a client. Or he retrofits or custom- builds elaborate wall cabinetry with shelving, drawers and a niche of that depth to hold the screen, mounted on a fabric-covered surface.

Eric Smith, president of Intech, which sells and installs TVs, sound systems and home theaters, cautions that many new buyers of the flat panels don’t realize that getting that “floating on the wall” look costs more than the price of the set.

“You’re not taking a set and throwing it up on the wall with super glue,” he says.

An electrician must come to install the required outlet behind the screen. And to eliminate the sight of wiring and cables, they must be run through and behind the walls to a hidden location for the components (in a console or closet or another room), which are operated with an infrared remote. Such installations, depending on how complicated, can cost upwards of $600 plus the cost of the brackets and electrician, he says.

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