旧报纸建的房子能抗住台风?

An eco-conscious couple in Taiwan has built a paper schoolhouse made of recycle of newspaper.And it does already manage to survive a deadly typhoon. Canadian born John Lamorie and his Taiwanese wife Shelley Wu used more than 2,800 pounds of newspapers,many collected from students for bonus points in class.To build the 807-square-foot schoolhouse,the building is made of 18 papercrete bricks composed of 22 pounds of newspaper,22 pounds of cement and 40 gallons of water.The cost,less than 160 US Dollars.

"I like the idea using waste material,free waste material would be even better, it's nice ,slight weight,my building has,hasn't got a perimeter foundation if I did brick a concrete,I need a heavy foundation,I didn't want that.and then,I don't have to pay for fiberglass insulation or some insulation material.The papercrete is about the same art factor as fiberglass.Wow,did you see that,the answer to my prayer. "

To make the bricks,the 59-year-old former building inspector built a blender using a truck bed and a lawnmower blade,into it,he fed newspapers,water and cement to form what he calls papercrete,the backbone of the 6-inch-thick school walls.

"What I've done is for the inside,because you want the natural plaster,the papercrete,sort of look,I sprayed them with a couple coats of tung oil,and on the outside, we need to prime the papercrete,so again I use the sprayed tung oil to seal them, avoids when heavier and papercrete,the plaster,and then we use the silicone,elastic marry coating."

Although patented in 1928,papercrete remains far outside the mainstream of construction materials,it can be a labour-intensive and tough to use despite being environmentally friendly.News of the unusual construction method has spread in the rural area Pingtung County in southern Taiwan where the couple lives. The project took about a year and the school which can accommodate about 16 students is said to open and have a schedule.The couple is now building a paper-based restaurant where they plan to cook pizzas.

Natalie Armstrong,for  http://www.hxen.net