The following post is somewhat outside the current series on How To Be Your Own contractor; however, I thought the content of the email question was good and the answer would probably serve more than just the man who asked it.
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HI ANDREW, I HAVE THE THREE PART DVD SET AND WAS TRYING TO GET THE BALL ROLLING ON A 30X35 GARAGE W/ BONUS ROOM ON TOP.THE INSPECTOR WANTS TO SEE ENGINEERED DRAWINGS. WHAT DO I DO? THANKS FOR NOW. ROB
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Hi Rob,
You may have to hire an engineer to get the inspector into a place of comfort. Depending on your system, you may also be able to get by without an engineer. If you use the welded wire mesh engineering as shown in the DVD, you can go to www.EcoBuildNetwork.org and download the engineering testing from the site. This will show the inspector that you are not just making this stuff up! the name of the file you want is something like “Cyclic Testing in Straw Bale Walls” and it is found under the straw bale test results button on the right hand side of the home page (it has been a while since I visited the site so the layout may have changed).
Another option is to use HardyFrames for your shear engineering (www.HardyFrame.com) This will ensure that the shear design is covered by a tested and accepted material that the inspector will understand and perhaps even know. Assuming that the rest of your framing is simple, there should be no need to engineer the building. Roof trusses are covered by the manufacturer engineer report and you can get your lumber yard to create an engineering report per the manufacturer for the floor framing. Wall framing is the only potential spot for concern at that point and the beam sizing is pretty simple to do. A quick conversation with an engineer or a look through the span charts for beams within the code book should allow you to take care of that. Good luck.
About the Author
Andrew Morison is a specialist in straw bale and green construction. He has shown thousands of people how to build their own straw bale projects through his comprehensive series of instructional straw bale, concrete foundation, and plastering DVDs. You can check these out at http://www.LearnStrawBale.com.com.
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June 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Andrew why don’t you write a book on straw building?Also where do you get the straps to draw the bales down? I and others would like to build but don’t know where to get these straps. Thank You Cliff
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 am
Cliff,
I have thought about writing a book, but there are already so many out there that I don’t think it would be worth all of the effort to try and “re-tell” the story of straw bale construction. I am approaching the task of teaching straw bale construction from a different angle with my DVDs and web content.
In terms of the straps, I assume you mean for load bearing construction. If that is the case then you can find them at http://www.Cordstrap.com along with the tools necessary to tighten them.
February 27th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I have designed and built a two story straw bale house and San Diego County required engineering. I am a Civil Engineer and did it.
March 15th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Stan, I am looking for an engineer. I have the plans but know I will need engineered plans for the permit. I live in Phoenix and will be building my second straw bale home soon. The last one was in the San Bernardino Mountains near Lake Arrowhead. The planning department had engineered blue prints and wanted to see them at each inspection. So, maybe you can tell me where to find an engineer that is familiar with straw bale post and beam construciton. Oh, one more thing. The engineers who designed the house I built in California cost the owner an extra $150,000 by over engineering the home. The sizes of the beams were massive and cost a lot of extra money. Just something to think about to those who hire an engineer and get a CAD blueprint. Make sure it is no overkill, the cost is high.
April 3rd, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Hello Stan. I am a structural engineer with licenses in 9 states, including AZ (CO, CT, ID, KY, MN, NM, PA, WY). Half of those states are for strawbale projects I have done. I am experienced in strawbale and would love to help you. I am in Colorado and working out of state is not a problem, as long as you have an electronic set of plans you can email, or a paper set to mail. I am also a timberframe engineer so fully understand your post and beam construction. Along with being a trained and experienced engineer, I spent a lifetime, over 35 years, building houses, additions, commercial, installing solar, insulating, sunrooms, carpentering, superintending, framing, and everything else possible. I don’t over-engineer, but practice the Art of Engineering. Let me know how I can help.