Hi,

I'd like to share my experience using papier mach as general-purpose
filler, and wonder if others have done the same?

Nine months ago I thought I'd make some papier mach to fill a variety of
holes, cracks and "stabilize" crumbly plaster edges on a wall in my attic. I
probably made about 2-3 kg of the stuff and filled everything with it.
Within 24 hours, the smallest applications were already dry... other areas
where I had used thicker layers required 5, 10, 15+ days to dry completely.

Nine months later all these filled areas are just fantastic: really solid,
with not a hint of detaching from the plaster layer underneath. Last week I
needed to fill in ugly patches of exposed brick in a wall. Guess what I
used? Papier mach !

This time I wanted my papier mach in a hurry, so I bought a cheap document
shredder to help me turn newspapers into the stuff. You still need to cut
the vertical strips with scissors to obtain paper snippets small enough for
the purpose, but the shredder does massively cut the time needed to make
loads of the stuff. I also used the kitchen's mixer to pulp the mixture even
better (and that worked too!!).

Here are what I perceive as being the pros and cons of using papier mach
for DIY filling jobs:

Pros:
- very, very cheap. Recycles newspapers in the process. No need to buy
expensive tubs of filler from your local DIY shop !!!
- environmentally friendly. Doesn't require new material to be produced
(apart from a bit of wallpaper paste powder)
- fantastic sticking characteristics. Can be applied in large blobs to
vertical surfaces without dropping blobs on the floor all the time
- can be shaped or spread like butter.. very easy to get a smooth finish
- becomes very tough when dry. Will effortlessly take nails or screws, and
general knocking about, when dry.
- end result is totally non-crumbly (unlike plaster)
- making the paste does not involve a fine, messy dust (like plaster)

Cons:
- takes a while to make (allocate at least 1 hour for a few kg)
- takes days to dry (in a dry environment, very humid spaces may alter this
aspect)
- shrinks as it dries (roughly up to a quarter of original volume - quite
significant)

Anyone else has any positive/negative experience of the material?

"jan V"  wrote in message
news:aEBRe.183307$sI4.10160252@phobos.telenet-ops.be...

> Hi,
>
> I'd like to share my experience using papier mach as general-purpose
> filler, and wonder if others have done the same?
>
> Nine months ago I thought I'd make some papier mach to fill a variety of
> holes, cracks and "stabilize" crumbly plaster edges on a wall in my attic.
I
> probably made about 2-3 kg of the stuff and filled everything with it.
> Within 24 hours, the smallest applications were already dry... other areas
> where I had used thicker layers required 5, 10, 15+ days to dry
completely.
>
> Nine months later all these filled areas are just fantastic: really solid,
> with not a hint of detaching from the plaster layer underneath. Last week
I
> needed to fill in ugly patches of exposed brick in a wall. Guess what I
> used? Papier mach !
>
> This time I wanted my papier mach in a hurry, so I bought a cheap
document
> shredder to help me turn newspapers into the stuff. You still need to cut
> the vertical strips with scissors to obtain paper snippets small enough
for
> the purpose, but the shredder does massively cut the time needed to make
> loads of the stuff. I also used the kitchen's mixer to pulp the mixture
even
> better (and that worked too!!).
>
> Here are what I perceive as being the pros and cons of using papier mach
> for DIY filling jobs:
>
> Pros:
> - very, very cheap. Recycles newspapers in the process. No need to buy
> expensive tubs of filler from your local DIY shop !!!
> - environmentally friendly. Doesn't require new material to be produced
> (apart from a bit of wallpaper paste powder)
> - fantastic sticking characteristics. Can be applied in large blobs to
> vertical surfaces without dropping blobs on the floor all the time
> - can be shaped or spread like butter.. very easy to get a smooth finish
> - becomes very tough when dry. Will effortlessly take nails or screws, and
> general knocking about, when dry.
> - end result is totally non-crumbly (unlike plaster)
> - making the paste does not involve a fine, messy dust (like plaster)
>
> Cons:
> - takes a while to make (allocate at least 1 hour for a few kg)
> - takes days to dry (in a dry environment, very humid spaces may alter
this
> aspect)
> - shrinks as it dries (roughly up to a quarter of original volume - quite
> significant)
>
> Anyone else has any positive/negative experience of the material?
>


Errr, not since I was about 6 years old, and that was a bloody long time
ago. I would recommend however, that you buy a cross-cut shredder. It would
be ideal for a devotee such as yourself.

Steve

On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:31:18 GMT, "jan V"  wrote:


>Hi,
>
>I'd like to share my experience using papier mach as general-purpose
>filler, and wonder if others have done the same?
>
>Nine months ago I thought I'd make some papier mach to fill a variety of
>holes, cracks and "stabilize" crumbly plaster edges on a wall in my attic. I
>probably made about 2-3 kg of the stuff and filled everything with it.
>Within 24 hours, the smallest applications were already dry... other areas
>where I had used thicker layers required 5, 10, 15+ days to dry completely.
>
>Nine months later all these filled areas are just fantastic: really solid,
>with not a hint of detaching from the plaster layer underneath. Last week I
>needed to fill in ugly patches of exposed brick in a wall. Guess what I
>used? Papier mach !
>
>This time I wanted my papier mach in a hurry, so I bought a cheap document
>shredder to help me turn newspapers into the stuff. You still need to cut
>the vertical strips with scissors to obtain paper snippets small enough for
>the purpose, but the shredder does massively cut the time needed to make
>loads of the stuff. I also used the kitchen's mixer to pulp the mixture even
>better (and that worked too!!).
>
>Here are what I perceive as being the pros and cons of using papier mach
>for DIY filling jobs:
>
>Pros:
>- very, very cheap. Recycles newspapers in the process. No need to buy
>expensive tubs of filler from your local DIY shop !!!
>- environmentally friendly. Doesn't require new material to be produced
>(apart from a bit of wallpaper paste powder)
>- fantastic sticking characteristics. Can be applied in large blobs to
>vertical surfaces without dropping blobs on the floor all the time
>- can be shaped or spread like butter.. very easy to get a smooth finish
>- becomes very tough when dry. Will effortlessly take nails or screws, and
>general knocking about, when dry.
>- end result is totally non-crumbly (unlike plaster)
>- making the paste does not involve a fine, messy dust (like plaster)
>
>Cons:
>- takes a while to make (allocate at least 1 hour for a few kg)
>- takes days to dry (in a dry environment, very humid spaces may alter this
>aspect)
>- shrinks as it dries (roughly up to a quarter of original volume - quite
>significant)
>
>Anyone else has any positive/negative experience of the material?
>


I used the papier mache idea earlier in the year. Previous owners had
cut holes in skirting, presumably to install fitted wardrobes. I
filled the gaps with papier mache and next day spread conventional
filler on top, sanded down, job done. If I had done the whole job with
filler it would have taken 3 or 4 tubs and endless applications to
build up the layers.

> >Anyone else has any positive/negative experience of the material?
>
> I used the papier mache idea earlier in the year. Previous owners had
> cut holes in skirting, presumably to install fitted wardrobes. I
> filled the gaps with papier mache and next day spread conventional
> filler on top, sanded down, job done. If I had done the whole job with
> filler it would have taken 3 or 4 tubs and endless applications to
> build up the layers.


I'm just wondering... why the dickens isn't there a company out there
selling the stuff ready-made then? Having recently discovered DIY (couldn't
be bothered with it for most of my life), DIY appears to be a huge market..
and any DIY enthusiast is constantly looking to find the best tool or
material at the lowest cost...

On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 20:01:20 GMT, "jan V"  wrote:


>> >Anyone else has any positive/negative experience of the material?
>>
>> I used the papier mache idea earlier in the year. Previous owners had
>> cut holes in skirting, presumably to install fitted wardrobes. I
>> filled the gaps with papier mache and next day spread conventional
>> filler on top, sanded down, job done. If I had done the whole job with
>> filler it would have taken 3 or 4 tubs and endless applications to
>> build up the layers.
>
>I'm just wondering... why the dickens isn't there a company out there
>selling the stuff ready-made then? Having recently discovered DIY (couldn't
>be bothered with it for most of my life), DIY appears to be a huge market..
>and any DIY enthusiast is constantly looking to find the best tool or
>material at the lowest cost...
>


I'm guessing the cost. I can get a couple of pages from today's paper
and stick it in a bowl and voila. I can't on the other hand make my
own filler.