Strawbale Update
 

The framers installed exactly 14 pieces of wood and 75 sqft of screenwire yesterday. Thank Dog I'm not paying them by the hour.

See the progress here:

Randy,

That is just awesome! I will have to visit and see it for myself the next time I get out to Texas.

Way to live the dream.

Nice truck:cool:


Am I stupid when I ask the reason for the bales?


Looks very cool, and very very fun. Good luck
~Nate

No, just uninformed.

When used in a wall, a wheat straw bale has an insulating value of somewhere between R-25 and R-28. And yes, it will be very cool...in the summer; warm in the winter.

Lars,
If you wait long enough to visit, in a couple of years this cabin will be the guest house.

I'm already planning the 'big house'...

wont it rot eventually? What about fire hazzards?

srry for the questions
~Nate

This Old House on PBS did a segment a few years ago on a guy building a Straw Bale House.

You might be able to find some info on it on their website.

As high as R-40 depending on the way there laid, thickness, moisture content.. .

I hope to get started on a SB house soon.

Did you build a load bearing wall or post and beam? Going to NHL plaster it?

Texas huh??? Where at? I might want to come help out.

Oak Ridge Natl labs tested all different walls and the best they could get was R-28

I have one load bearing structure (10 x 12 ft) and the cabin is modified post and beam. Go through the link and take a look at the pictures of the two buildings.

NHL plaster? Whassat?

Right now, we're thinking of having a bale stacking party sometime in mid October. Plaster would hopefully follow about 4-5 weeks after that. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Berryhill Farm is in Milam County, near Milano, TX.

NHL = Natural hydraulic Lime is great for strawbale walls as it allows vapor to pass better than a portland based stucco.

I hope to start the new house at the ranch in a few months. 2K sq ft post and beam, strawbale infill. I plan on an 8 foot overhang wrap around porch.

Whats the price of straw bales there. The lack of rain here has driven the cost of hay, straw way up. I just trucked in several big round bales from Louisiana for my cattle. I hope I got enough to make it thru the winter. Not much to graze on now.

I understand it does pretty well with proper foundation and roof. It's bound up pretty tight. It's not that easy to light, I'm told and you have plaster on both sides.

I have friends just south of Canada in central Washington building w/ straw bale. I dig that stuff. Really thick walls. Cool in Summer.

You go R! How thick would the walls need to be to match that R factor using frame with fiberglass?

it is interesting, but unless you know how to plaster yourself i dont see how it could be any cheaper than conventional frame construction.

tom w

It may not be cheaper but it is much easier on the resource base. Straw is a virtual throwaway item in many places, though I read that rice farmers in N. Cal are making ethanol out of it. And the R-factor is awesome. Some framing required, modified timber framing maybe, and steel could be used to good advantage.

T, you surely know the answer to my question (I should know it): how thick would a framed wall with fiberglass insulation need to be to have R-factor of R-28?

I also remember hearing that strawbale construction stands up well to earthquakes - I can't remember where I heard that though.

Don't you run into problems actually finding square bales? They were pretty common when I was a kid but almost all I see today when I go home are the big round bales.

I've tried my hand at plastering a little here and there. Practice a bit, it's not rocket science, but it is a pleasure to watch someone who knows what they're doing. It's almost like the stucco jumps up on the wall by it's self.

Right. NHL...I know what you're talking about. Yes, I plan to use a lime/sand plaster for it's vapor permeability. I've also heard that you can add a very slight amount of portland cement to the lime and sand to speed the curing.

Because some of the structure is sheathed in OSB for lateral stiffening, I'll probably use regular stucco netting but IIRC, it's possible to spray the plaster directly onto the bales in most other places.

I'm going to try to spray the plaster onto the bales with a Tirolessa

Mine are wheat straw, harvested down around Seguin. I paid $2.75 each + $1.75/mile delivery. I bought these back in January after looking unsuccessfully for local (Taylor etc) bales for about 3 months.

Hay is through the roof. 1100# round bales are going for over $100/ea. and the market is bringing out some strangeness; down around Taylor and Manor and I'm starting to see some horrible johnson grass and weed pastures getting mowed and baled.

Without some rain in the very near future, we'll only get one cutting of hay. It is grim.