* Easy to use - dry concrete cloth can be cut or tailored using simple hand tools such as Stanley knives. The PVC side can be supplied with an adhesive backing and the fibrous side bonds well to concrete or brick surfaces when set. It can be easily repaired or upgraded using existing cement products.
Well, let me explain. A paper house isn't made out of sheets of paper blowing in the wind. Instead, it's built with a type of industrial-strength paper macheeacute; called fibrous cement. Basically what you do is take a large mixing vat, soak old magazines and newspapers until they're soft, and then mix together a soup of 60% paper, 30% screened dirt or sand, and 10% cement. Then you take this glop and either (1) make it into blocks or slabs, (2) pour it into forms directly onto your wall, (3) plaster over existing walls, or (4) use it for mortar. (It's possible to use straw or even dried grass to supply the fiber if paper is unavailable. Cardboard can also be used-its only disadvantage is its bulk.)
When dry, fibrous cement is lightweight, an excellent insulator, holds its shape well, and is remarkably strong. It is resistant to being crushed (compressive strength) and to being pulled apart (tensile strength). (Regular concrete, on the other hand, has high compressive strength but no tensile strength to speak of, which is why it usually has to be reinforced with steel bars, called e"rebar.h")
Fibrous cement is highly fire-resistant. Since the individual paper fibers are saturated with cement, oxygen doesn't have a chance to penetrate, and combustion cannot be sustained. I tried an experiment, aiming a propane torch at a fibrous cement block to see what would happen. The block charred on the surface where the flame hit it, but it didn't burn after several minutes of direct flame. A piece of 1x2 lumber, by comparison, burst into flame within a few seconds of being torched.
