The Good Life Lab’s papercrete dome is a useful example of how a small-scale, experimental building project was assembled—not a current construction standard. In a July 2013 Make excerpt from Wendy Jehanara Tremayne’s book The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living, Tremayne and Mikey Sklar describe papercrete made from repulped paper, cement, and water, placed inside a metal-and-mesh wall assembly in rural New Mexico. Their account offers practical project details, but it does not establish code compliance, structural capacity, fire rating, or moisture performance for another site.
What papercrete means in the Good Life Lab project
Tremayne and Sklar define papercrete as “a fibrous building material made of repulped paper, cement, and water.” They say they were drawn to it because it uses waste paper, is lightweight, and takes relatively little labor to work with; they also describe it as strong and insulating. Those are the authors’ descriptions of their project material, not independently verified performance results. The account appeared as an excerpt in Make on July 25, 2013.
The publisher identifies the excerpt’s source book as a June 2013 Storey Publishing title by Wendy Jehanara Tremayne, with 320 pages and paperback ISBN 978-1-61212-101-7. Storey Publishing’s book page describes it as covering a range of hands-on projects, including building with papercrete.
How the authors describe the mix
The excerpt gives an equal-parts-by-weight starting mixture of paper and cement, with water added until the material can be worked. It notes that adding more water lengthens drying time. This is a reported project recipe, not a tested mix specification: the excerpt does not give a target moisture content, strength test, or standardized batching procedure.
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The authors also list possible additives for particular purposes. They suggest lime, cement, and boric acid to raise pH and make the material more fire resistant and less attractive to insects; prickly pear goo and latex paint for water resistance; sand for grit and structure; and clay to allow moisture to move in and out. These are claims and suggestions in the 2013 account, not verified recipes, safety approvals, or fire ratings.
How the papercrete dome was assembled
The example dome used a welded rebar armature: rebar ladders and horizontal hoops formed the frame, while remesh and metal lath on both sides created a cavity for the papercrete. The authors describe filling that cavity by pouring slurry through an opening or pumping it into the wall. Their account therefore concerns a particular framed cavity-wall approach, not a general instruction to build an unsupported papercrete dome.
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For the base, the excerpt describes either preparing a foundation ring for an earth-built dome or anchoring metal plates to a cement slab. It reports a ring one foot deep and one foot wide, and horizontal rebar hoops spaced one foot apart. These are dimensions from the authors’ project description, not universal foundation or reinforcement requirements. The article says a structural engineer should determine the number of rebar ladders; it does not supply calculations or show that the described design meets current structural standards.
Mixing and placement options in the account
The excerpt describes equipment at different scales and stages. It offers no controlled comparison of productivity, cost, quality, or durability, so these are best understood as methods the authors used or mentioned rather than competing systems with proven results.
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| Stage or scale | Method described | What the account establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Small batches | Five-gallon bucket and drill mixing paddle | A small-batch method named in the excerpt; no measured output rate or quality comparison is given. |
| Larger batches | Homemade tow-behind mixer | The authors report that their mixer handled 250-gallon batches; that figure describes their equipment and project, not a general capacity recommendation. |
| Filling the wall cavity | Pouring through an opening or pumping slurry with a trash pump | Both placement approaches are mentioned; the excerpt gives no comparative test data. |
| Surface work | Traditional stucco tools or a stucco sprayer with an air compressor | These are application tools named by the authors; the account does not compare finish quality or long-term performance. |
Drying and water are the key cautions
The authors warn that papercrete takes a long time to dry and say it should be completely dry before sealing because it may attract mold. The excerpt gives no measured drying duration, so timing cannot be transferred reliably to a different wall thickness, mix, weather condition, or location.
At the wall base, the article suggests considering a nonwicking material in the first foot of wall to reduce water wicking from pooled rainwater. It does not provide measured moisture performance or a complete water-management detail. Foundation drainage, splash-back, roof runoff, climate exposure, and the wall’s ability to dry would need project-specific evaluation.
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What the 2013 project does—and does not—establish
The Good Life Lab account is valuable as a description of an experimental build and its authors’ methods. It is not a substitute for current, site-specific design and approval. The project is identified only as being in rural New Mexico; the excerpt does not state the jurisdiction or provide permit records, code approvals, structural calculations, independently measured fire performance, or moisture testing.
- Confirm with the local building department whether the proposed material and construction method can be permitted at the site.
- Have a qualified structural engineer design the frame, reinforcement, connections, and foundation for the actual loads and ground conditions.
- Obtain appropriate fire-safety guidance for the complete wall assembly; the excerpt’s additive suggestions do not establish a fire rating.
- Develop a moisture and drying strategy for the local climate, including protection at the base and around openings and roof edges.
Because those requirements depend on location and design, the 2013 excerpt cannot establish whether a papercrete dome is suitable or code-compliant for a particular project.
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