• Question: How did you insulate and waterproof your cardboard building?

    Asked by bethhayes to Ed, Keith, Tish, Nicola, Rachel on 12 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by papachristidis, lucyanthony.
    • Photo: Nicola Lazenby

      Nicola Lazenby answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I don’t think this question is for me – but I’ll give it a go!!

      To waterproof cardboard you can apply a varnish or laminate it – like a white board you’ll have used at school! this will seal the cardboard stopping water getting in!

      To give it insulating properties, you can use corrugated cardboard – the wavey type you get on packaging! This traps air between the layers which keep the heat in. If you do multiple layers of corrugated cardboard you will probably get to keep a lot of heat in – maybe give it a go at school!

      You could also use thin layers of other materials like metal sheeting – like strong tin foil to insulate a cardboard building. This would reflect the heat back into the building!

      I’m sure there are many more ideas but that’s all I can think of from studying product design at sixth form 🙂

    • Photo: Natasha Watson

      Natasha Watson answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Hello! Good going Nicola, I’ll add to it!

      I’m guessing you’re referring to the cardboard building in the photo on my profile? If that is the case then insulation wasn’t really needed as it was a pavilion rather than a space which was meant to be inhabited for large amounts of time like a house, office, or school. In terms of water proofing, the cardboard tubes has a thin plastic film on them (which could be peeled off to recycled the cardboard) and the white sheet that covered the cardboard was the waterproof layer.

      Here is another example of a cardboard building that my company helped with: http://www.burohappold.com/projects/project/westborough-primary-school-cardboard-building-73/
      Here, special cardboard panels were put together in layers. The outer layer of cardboard had a plastic coating which, again, could be peeled away if the building is taken down. In the middle is a ‘cardboard honeycomb’ which kind looks like an egg box with holes in it. And the internal face is cardboard like the outside layer. The middle honeycomb layer means air is trapped in the wall which makes the wall more insulating.

      Hope this answers your question!

      Tish

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