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Why Straw-Bale?
Let's start by dispelling the myth about
straw being a flimsy material choice, racked with the dangers of pests
nesting and chewing; moisture related mould and rotting; and fire danger.
Remember the tale of "the three little pigs" where the wolf " huffed
and he puffed and he blew the house down and ate the little pig."?
Well read on and find out why a properly constructed straw-bale home is unlikely
to allow for any of the concerns mentioned above.
Straw-Bales are a
very viable building material alternative, because they:
Properly constructed
and maintained, the straw-bale walls, stucco exterior and plaster interior are:
Because only limited skill is required, a
community house-raising effort (just write to joc@swcp.com
to get your name on the "barn-raising" list!!!)
can build most of a straw-bale house in a single day. We trust that
this effort will provide us with a relatively low-cost, attractive,
and energy-efficient living space,
with all the satisfaction associated with a self-built project. In-fill
or non-structural bale is how we will construct our cabin. This
building system, depends on a pole or post-and-beam building
design. Post-and-beam construction employs a skeleton of vertical
posts and horizontal beams to support the roof. The straw-bale walls
have only themselves to support. The bales are attached to each other
by piercing the bales with rebar and attaching the bales to the pole
or column.
The use of straw-bales for building has also been around for more than
200 years, so while it is considered "alternative" is is not
a new idea! Read on for a brief history.
Brief History of Straw-Bale
Building
People have built homes using straw, grass, or reed
throughout history. These materials were used because they were reliable and
easy to obtain. European houses built of straw or reed are now over two hundred
years old. In the United States, too, people turned to straw houses,
particularly after the hay/straw baler entered common usage in the 1890s.
Homesteaders in the northwestern Nebraska "Sandhills" area, for
example, turned to baled-hay construction, in response to a shortage of trees
for lumber. Bale construction was used for homes, farm buildings, churches,
schools, offices, and grocery stores.
Nebraska historian Roger L. Welsch writes:
"It was inevitable that some settler,
desperate for a cheap, available building material, would eventually see the
big, solid, hay blocks as a possibility. Soon, baled hay was indeed a
significant construction material. The bales, about three to four feet long
and one and one-half to two feet square, were stacked like bricks, one bale
deep, with the joints staggered. About half used mortar between the bales; the
others simply rested one bale directly on the other. Four to five wooden rods
(in a few cases iron rods) were driven down through the bales to hold them
firmly together. The roof plate and roof were also fastened to the top bales
of the wall with rods or stakes. The most common roof configuration was some
sort of hipped roof. . . .Window and door frames were set as the walls rose
around them. . . .Walls were left to settle a few months before they were
plastered and the windows installed."
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