Interview with Barry Fuller 

Rise recently sat down to talk with Barry Fuller, an expert in papercrete construction. Barry runs the website Living in Paper, which, besides offering basic information on this innovative home building alternative, also offers in-depth studies related to the structural integrity of papercrete. Barry has traveled across the country to interview people who have built papercrete buildings and homes. Barry made a model papercrete test structure called Paper Palace One. It was electronically tested for three years to research the structural and livability conditions.

Could you explain to us the basics of papercrete construction?

Papercrete construction is building homes and other structures from recycled paper. In the United States, we discard enough paper each year to build a wall 48 feet high around the country's entire perimeter. Even though about 45 percent of discarded paper is recycled annually, 55 percent or 48 million tons of paper is thrown away or goes into landfills. Figuring conservatively, it takes about fifteen trees to make a ton of paper. That means that 720 million trees are used once and then buried in a landfill each year.

How many buildings across North America use papercrete?

There are hundreds of homes built with papercrete, most of them in the Southwest, but some in northern locations like Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, and even upstate New York.

How does papercrete construction work in terms of insulation?

Papercrete has been tested by several people with differing R-Value results. Papercrete made with sand is denser and has a lower R-Value. R-Values of 1.7 to 3.1 per inch have been reported.

Where do people who build with papercrete source the paper they need?

Some people get paper from their local newspapers; others collect it from their neighbors, and some purchase it by the ton from recyclers or brokers like Waste Management.

Can you tell us how your Paper Palace One was electronically monitored and what the findings were in relation to the structural properties of papercrete?

We installed a Data Acquisition System in the test cottage we call Paper Palace One (PP1). Sensors were implanted in the walls and roof, and an energy monitor was installed in the electric panel. We measured heat transfer, moisture penetration, creep (meaning structural movement), and energy consumption.

A weather station was attached to PP1, and its data fed to the Data Acquisition System (DAS). That way, we could monitor the effects of weather on the readings sent from the DAS. For example, we would expect there to be increased moisture readings if it were raining outside.

We monitored the data for three years and found that:

• There was no structural movement (creep)
• Moisture never penetrated the walls or ceiling (that is true to this day—eleven years after construction)
• Energy consumption to keep the structure 75 degrees year-round was 6kW per day. At the time, that was 66 cents per day or about $19.80 per month. PP1 is 500 square feet, so a home of 2,000 square feet would have run (at that time) about $80.00. That’s pretty good, given that it costs me about $500/month in summer for 1800 square feet.

We read that you are currently planning Paper Palace Two, a 5,500 square foot zero energy home. It is being made with a new form of papercrete called BetR-blok, engineered to meet building codes everywhere. What is the BetR-blok, and in what ways is it different enough to pass building codes?

Most localities require that papercrete construction be done using the post and beam method. PP1 was built without post and beam, but it was an experimental structure. Our new iteration of papercrete called BetR-blok (pronounced better block) is manufactured with sufficient load-bearing strength to be acceptable to the codes without using the post and beam method to support the roof.

In what ways is papercrete construction more sustainable and environmentally friendly than traditional house construction?

Papercrete uses waste but never becomes waste. We can use old blocks to make new ones—so there will be no papercrete construction waste in landfills. While there are many other reasons, one main reason is that the foam products used in traditional home construction for insulation and waterproofing are hazardous materials. They are persistent in the environment (they do not break down or decompose) and can give off lethal gases if they catch fire.

Bottom Line

Papercrete construction is an innovative home building material that can help reduce waste and our reliance on cutting down trees. Indeed part of the future of our circular economy. If you are considering building with Papercrete, though, it’s essential to check with local building codes to make sure it has been approved, as more innovative products are often more slowly adopted into practice.