Straw bale construction project by john cross. Willits, CA. USA
“Straw bale construction is at once an American invention and a sustainable answer to housing needs on and off the reservation.”
— Rick West, Director, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian
Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. It is commonly used in natural building. It has advantages over some conventional building systems because of its cost[citation needed] and easy availability[citation needed], and its high insulation value.[1]
Although grasses and straw have been in use in a range of ways in building since pre-history around the world[citation needed], their incorporation in machine-manufactured modular bales seems to date back to the early 20th century in the midwestern United States, particularly the sand-hills of Nebraska[citation needed], where grass was plentiful and other building materials (even quality sods) were not.
Method
Straw bale building typically consists of stacking rows of bales (often in running-bond) on a raised footing or foundation, with a moisture barrier between the bales and their supporting platform. Bale walls can be tied together with pins of bamboo, rebar, or wood (internal to the bales or on their faces), or with surface wire meshes, and then stuccoed or plastered, either with a cement-based mix, lime-based formulation, or earth/clay render[citation needed]. Bale buildings can have a structural frame of other materials, with bales simply serving as insulation and stucco substrate, ("infill" technique), which is most often required in northern regions where the potential snow-loading can exceed the strength of the bales[citation needed]. Alternatively, the bales may actually provide the structural support for the building ("load-bearing" or "Nebraska-style" technique). A combination of framing and load-bearing techniques may also be employed, referred to as "hybrid" straw bale construction. (Myhrman, Matts; S.O. MacDonald (1994). Build it with Bales, Out on Bale. ISBN 0-9642821-1-9. )
Typically "field-bales", bales created on farms with baling machines have been used, but recently higher-density "precompressed" bales (or "straw-blocks") are increasing the loads that may be supported; where field bales might support around 600 pounds per linear foot of wall, the high density bales bear up to 4,000 lb./lin.ft. and more[citation needed]. The basic bale-building method is now increasingly being extended to bound modules of other often-recycled materials, including tire-bales, cardboard, paper, plastics, used carpeting[citation needed]. The technique has also been extended to bags containing "bales" of wood chips or rice hulls[citation needed].
See also
Notes
Further reading
- Design of Straw Bale Buildings. Bruce King. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007.
- More Straw Bale Building: A Complete Guide to Designing and Building with Straw. Chris Magwood. New Society Publishers, 2005.
- Straw Bale House, The. Steen, Steen, Bainbridge & Eisenberg. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green, 1994.
- Building a Straw Bale House. Nathaniel Corum. Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.
- The New Natural House Book, Pearson, David, Simon & Schuster, 1989, ISBN 0-684-84733-7.
External links
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