Post #676994 by Philot on Tue, May 7, 2013 7:28 AM

On 2013-05-06 20:58, Gwen wrote:

On 2013-05-06 18:32, Philot wrote:
Gwen, assuming now that this has fully cured and dried out, Q: did the hypertufa turn out noticeably lighter than plain concrete?

My hypertufa mixes have been different from yours, as I didn't use sand. But I would not think it would cure lighter than plain concrete, since the component materials are not lighter in color.
I put an acrylic wash on a small one I did. It worked quite well. I am sure it would not stand up super well to the elements, but one could easily freshen up the wash every few years. Most concrete stains seem pretty toxic and also pricey.

Whoops, guess I should have been a little more specific. I was actually interested in the weight, not the color. Although, unless you live in a desert, the peat moss component probably doesn't let go of 100% of its moisture.

I keep hoping to find a reasonable equivalent to aerated concrete that can be cast by the DIY'er. The closest I've seen anyone come to that is using perlite as an aggregate.

Looks like hypertufa / papercrete / other creative mixes are a widely discussed topic in various gardening forums on the web:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hypertufa/msg0423222317588.html
one part portland cement, two parts peat moss and three parts perlite. The texture is wonderful, the cure time is no different and it's light, light, light. It's no good for birdbaths but wonderful for plant containers.

[ Edited by: Philot 2013-05-07 07:35 ]