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.
========================
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
========================
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.
Email Updates
To be notified of new entries and to get our "7 Essential Steps to Straw Bale Success e-course" absolutely free, enter your email address below then check your inbox to confirm. More Info>>
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.