Straw Bale Construction

[Just George]

Has anyone any knowlege or experience with Straw Bale construction? I am buying a house with my wife, there is a small shed on it, there is also space for another shed. My wanting to do things a little different I'd like to explore this before I proceed...

[ozwinner]

Has anyone any knowlege or experience with Straw Bale construction? I am buying a house with my wife, there is a small shed on it, there is also space for another shed. My wanting to do things a little different I'd like to explore this before I proceed...

Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt no I not a pig. :rolleyes:
Check out Grunts posts as he is a baler.

Al :p

[echnidna]

and this dvd is being flogged on the ubeaut links at the moment.

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/iclk?sa=l&ai=BMVpHV5KnRI6JNJy6pwKbyZGpCf7lnAuqwZOCBsCNtwHw9RIQAhgCIP3f9AEoA0D0D0iNOVDxoeyb-v____8BoAH2hcf-A7IBIHd3dy53b29kd29ya2ZvcnVtcy51YmVhdXQuY29tLmF1ugEJNzI4eDkwX2FzyAEB2gE-aHR0cDovL3d3dy53b29kd29ya2ZvcnVtcy51YmVhdXQuY29tLmF1L3Nob3d0aHJlYWQucGhwP3Q9MzM5ODWVAiQKSQo&num=2&adurl=http://www.buildingwithawareness.com/Movies_adlinkcontent.html&client=ca-pub-9333841639456719

but look for grunt, he's about to start building one.

[Grunt]

I not yet a Straw Baler but I will be. I'm going to be putting up a straw bale shed later this year. Check out this thread (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=33818)

I'll be building strawbale house after that. The shed is for a bit of practice.

Grunt, grunt,
Chris

[echnidna]

Why strawbale instead of mudbrick ??

[Grunt]

Mudbrick really works by being an excellent thermal mass, they have a fairly low R rating. It takes a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down.

Mudbrick is quite expensive to lay. Last time I looked it was over $3 a brick to lay + mortar. Bricks cost $2.30 or so. Unless you are masochist, you don't want to make them yourself. They are really hard work to lay yourself. Bloody heavy bastardos.

Strawbales are pretty easy to do.


It costs somewhere between $5 and $7.50 per strawbale.

[Zed]

[quote=Grunt]

Strawbales are pretty easy to do.
[quote]

how you gonna lift the bales grunt ? you got a jib set up for the high bales ? I thought pulling on ropes by a dog would wear out your teeth quick smart...

[echnidna]

Mudbrick really works by being an excellent thermal mass, they have a fairly low R rating. It takes a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down.

Mudbrick is quite expensive to lay. Last time I looked it was over $3 a brick to lay + mortar. Bricks cost $2.30 or so. Unless you are masochist, you don't want to make them yourself. They are really hard work to lay yourself. Bloody heavy bastardos.

Strawbales are pretty easy to do.


It costs somewhere between $5 and $7.50 per strawbale.

You obviously haven't handled strawbales much.
The integrity of strawbales is totally reliant on the integrity of the render.
Look at many old houses, there are cracks in bricks & render etc.
I don't believe the render is sufficient to build a house to last for a century or so.

[ausdesign]

As Echidna said the rendering is critical with strawbale construction with any cracking liable to let water penetrate to the bale.
Virtually all construction in Aus is with a 'post & beam' type construction as with mudbrick. The 'bucks' at either end of the bale wall provide bracing and these together with the correct compression of the bales is important to prevent any movement from wind loads which can lead to hair line cracks.
We've only designed a few & are far from experts but this seems to me to be 2 of the important points to watch.
Just to add to your 1001 facts that nobody is interested in - strawbale is rated at R4.3. Mudbrick at around R0.58 similar to solid brick construction.

[myla]

hello

straw bale does have an awesome R value

watched one going up in mt beauty, they installed a steel post and roof structure

do you require a specified R rating on solid walls 200mm or greater?

I believe if you can find yourself a great bricklayer then core-filled concrete blocks(20.01's) would have to be the easiest way to go for sheds, country shacks etc

this type of construction is widely used in QLD and Perth yet Melb, Syd seems to be timber orientated.

thankyou
myla

[Grunt]

You obviously haven't handled strawbales much.
The integrity of strawbales is totally reliant on the integrity of the render.
Look at many old houses, there are cracks in bricks & render etc.
I don't believe the render is sufficient to build a house to last for a century or so.

I'm a horse victim. I handle hay bales all the time. They weigh about the same as a mudbrick. There are a lot less of them though.

Peter has got it right, you've got to compress the bales correctly. I'll be using fencing wire and these nifty little fencing tensioners called Gripples. (http://www.gripple.com/agriculture/f_fencing.cfm)

The original strawbale houses were build in the U.S. over 100 years ago and some of them are still standing and in excellent condition. The original Strawbale houses had load bearing walls as there was a shortage of timber where these houses were built.
How many houses built today will still be standing in 100 years time?

[ozwinner]

How many houses built today will still be standing in 100 years time?

I would guesstimate the new houses wouldnt see out 30 years.
If the houses and I are still here then, you can say SEE YOU OLD BUGGER YOUSE WAS WRONG.

Al :p