Here’s an interesting question I received today.  Actually, it’s not just the question, but the overall concept that I like.  I hope to hear more about this idea of multi-story load bearing structures in the future.  Perhaps you have some input to share…

Andrew,

Although you said that you could not have a 2 storey LB building  because of the wall thickness/height ratio – could it not be done with a box beam between the floors with a second beam beneath the roof. Surely this would then start the ratio again? From other straw bale builders I gather that the bales would support the weight and therefore with an interim box beam this has to give it sufficient strength?

Here’s what I said in response (with a little expansion):
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I just got an email from someone who plans to install his windows and doors the following way. I think it is an interesting idea as it will provide for very good compression of the bales and a very quick construction of the walls. This is in line with how additions can be added to existing straw bale homes. I always suggest that if people have specific intentions to expand later on down the line that they plan for the expansion by leaving electrical out of the area where they plan to cut in the new hallway.
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Example of an old stone buttress wall
When building a load bearing straw bale wall, you need to support the wall from falling over into the house or out of the house. The direction in concern is called the out of plane direction and is perpendicular to the wall. A wall should be supported in a ratio of 13:1 (length to thickness of wall). For a standard 3 string bale, this is every 25′. The question often arises about how to support a wall where an intersecting wall is not desired, such as in a living room or kitchen.
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When making window and door bucks for your load bearing home or other structure, you have a few choices to make. What size wood do you want to use? What design should you employ? How will you attach the bucks to the wall?
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Here are some questions I got from a client yesterday. I think they are worth sharing.

Q1. How much force is required to tie the bales tight. (my elbows are killing me)

A: The knot that I use, the Miller’s Knot (although I have been told that the name might be incorrect) is so strong that it is possible to tie the bales tighter than the original baling machine. This requires a strong twine as well as the standard twine often snaps under the added pressure of this knot. Super blue twine works very well. In general, I try to tie the bales as tight as I can. This usually means that when I am done, the old knots are slightly loose and the new twine is very tight to the bales. In terms of foot-pounds, I have no idea. IN terms of elbow pain, I would suggest a little less than what causes pain!

Q2. How to handle situations where you are only 3 to 4″ short and too small for a bale. How to stuff, how to lock the bales from moving and the use of tar paper under the bales and strapping.
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OK, I have a bit of a treat for you…an online video showing you exactly what’s in my Load Bearing DVD Production. In fact, this video does a great job showing you each of the steps in the 6-day load bearing building process I cover in detail in my DVD production.
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The time has come and we have finally released the new instructional DVD on how to build a load bearing straw bale structure. This production has been a long time in the making and I am really happy to be putting it out there for you. I’m sure you have all heard a lot about the DVD already and what it covers, so I won’t go into that again here. If you want to take a look at what’s covered please click the following link:http://www.StrawBale.com/dvds/load-bearing.html
I do want to tell you about some special offers that I am including in today’s sale.
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OK, I have had a TON of load bearing questions coming in both in comments on this blog and in my email. So without further ado, I am going to answer the ones that keep popping up:

Question: Why should I use load bearing construction instead of post and beam in-fill?

Answer: It is a decision you will have to make on your own. Both options provide advantages and disadvantages when compared with each other. Load bearing is great for the owner builder and it is a bit less resource heavy. In truth, it comes down to personal preference. I have described the pros and cons of these types of construction in the past, so I won’t do it again here, but the fact remains that they are both amazing forms of construction that need to be considered strongly. Whichever you choose, you will have a beautiful and efficient home.

Question: Is there a money-back guarantee on the DVD?

Answer: Absolutely. And it’s for a full year, no questions asked.

Question: Why aren’t rubble trench, rammed tires, or earth bag foundations appropriate for LB?

Answer: Those foundations can be appropriate for LB although it will take a lot more work for you to convince the building department of that. These foundation systems are considered alternative by almost every jurisdiction. That is not to say you should avoid them; however, you will need to KNOW YOUR STUFF when you present them to the building department. How will you anchor the bales to the foundation and the foundation to the Earth? How will loads be handled by such foundations? Can you back up your thoughts with data? I do not have the data for these questions as I tend to build traditional foundations on my homes. Don’t give up though. If you want to make it happen, you can.
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Straw bale construction questions seem to follow me where ever I go. I’m writing this blog entry from a hotel in Oakland California. I’m here with my son’s ice hockey team and I thought I’d take a few minutes to respond to the many questions I’ve gotten about our upcoming Load Bearing Straw Bale DVD. In fact, it’s safe to say that we have NEVER had this much interest in one of our straw bale DVDs BEFORE IT WAS EVEN RELEASED.

In any case, rather than sending you a super-long email, I thought I would answer some of the straw bale questions directly on my strawbale.com blog:
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In just the first few hours since I released my “Essentials to Load Bearing Building” report, the report has been downloaded HUNDREDS of times. It really is amazing how quickly the word is spreading about this report.
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Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. The StrawBale.com team just came back from a much needed break. We took our kids skiing over the Spring Break vacation and had a blast. Dicken Weatherby, the web guy for StrawBale.com, and I had a chance to chat about the advantages of Load Bearing Straw Bale Construction. Dicken brought a small digital recorder with him so we were able to record the conversation.
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One limitation of load bearing construction is how much open space you can have in a wall as compared to the overall square footage of that wall. That may be true, but it does not mean that the size and shape of the windows and doors you add to the structure can’t be inspiring and exciting.
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For many years I have expressed my bias about building a post and beam structure over a load bearing structure. Well, the time has come for me to back peddle a bit and sing some praises of load bearing construction. Having built a few load bearing structures in the last couple years, I have started to see the gold they offer.
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When building a load bearing structure, it is very important to build the walls plumb and the corners square. This may sound obvious, but there is a tendency for people to say “Heck, its load bearing, what’s the big deal. It is supposed to look a bit wobbly!” In fact, load bearing structures require a great amount of detailing in the construction process.
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It is almost inevitable that once bales show up on site, it will start raining. I have yet to build a house when there has not been some rain in the process. It does not seem to matter what season it is or what the forecast says!
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When running a one day bale raising workshop on a load bearing structure last weekend, we encountered the problem of complete walls with no box beam to compress them with. The owners had prepared for the workshop, but had not yet built the box beam for the top of the wall as requested. This meant that we would have all of the bales standing, no internal pinning since we would be using external pinning once the box beam was installed, and no box beam.
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