All too often the conversation about how to protect bales in a straw bale wall is held without any mention of how to protect those bales prior to their installation. So, how do you protect the bales once they arrive on site and before you install them? For some reason, most likely Murphy’s Law, it will rain once the bales have been delivered, even if you are building in the middle of the desert! I consider a fresh stack of dry bales to be a rain magnet.
The first thing to consider is timing. Do not have the bales on site before you are ready for them. There is no point in storing them on the job site while you are still framing or preparing for bales. They take up space and are more likely to be damaged the longer they “hang around.” Deliver the bales the same week you plan to start baling.
Place them on pallets in strategic locations. When they are delivered, immediately distribute them around the site so that you will not have to carry them around the house just to install them. It is a little extra work in the moment but will ultimately speed up the construction of your project.
Once they are distributed, cover them with quality tarps. If you live in an area prone to wind, you may need to anchor the sides of the tarps down. If, however, you don’t see much wind, it is best to leave the sides of the bale stack exposed to the air so that any moisture that builds up under the tarps can be eliminated by air circulation. It is also a good idea to stack the bales in a pyramid so that any condensation will slide down the tarp and not simply drop on to the bales.
If you have to receive the bales before you are ready to use them, find a dry spot on your land and stack all the bales in one area on top of two layers of pallets. The two layers help to keep the bottom course of bales out of the grass or away from the moisture of the ground. Stack the bales like a pyramid and cover well with quality tarps. I use “Hay Tarps” because they are big and well built. The last thing you want to do is skimp on the tarps and find your entire lot of bales get damaged by rain. Leave the sides open for air circulation as described above unless wind driven rain is in the forecast. If it is, be sure to cover the sides before it shows up!
Again, the key is to leave your bales at the source as long as possible, assuming that the source has a dry barn. If the bales will be left unprotected at the source, then you may want to have the bales delivered so you can ensure that they are protected.
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 www.LearnStrawBale.com..
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January 31st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for this! It’s just what I was looking for…
February 26th, 2008 at 9:43 am
In my experience, we had the bales delivered the from the farmer in a transport trailer. It was easy, because we used local straw from two small farms, we had a local transport company drop off a trailer at one of the farms (they were neighbouring farms) when the straw was ready for us it was then packed into the trailer by the farms (approx. 502 bales 2 twine). Just a call is all it took to pick up the packed trailer then droped off at our site for storage.They were stored in there for us to use the following year. When the bales were needed they were easy to get with the ramp we built,only lost a few bales because of a small hole in the roof of the trailer. All in all it was a perfect storage bin for the straw. The cost for the use of the trailer for the year was economical and well worth the peace of mind knowing that our bales were here and ready when needed
February 26th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Very cool Susan. I like that idea. I hope more people are able to accomplish that system in their local markets.
May 13th, 2011 at 10:48 am
A further question. Our neighbour is growing 60 acres of wheat this year(2011), and we were planning on starting construction in the spring of 2013. We have the barn space, but most of the barn floor gets wet and will form an ice layer in the spring. It forms ice typically in February and is dry again by mid May. I had the idea myself of having a double layer of pallets underneath. In a case like this, does anyone have any recommendations on going to a triple layer of pallets, or other suggestions?
May 13th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Alan. Double pallets will give you adequate lift off of the floor. The biggest concern I have is during the thawing period. What happens to all the water? Does it drain off or sit there. If it sits there, that’s a lot of moisture in the air for the bales to soak in should conditions be right. If it drains away or if you can shop-vac it out, then I see no problems.
May 16th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Thanks, and a further update. There is probably quite high moisture in the air for a couple of weeks. What happens is as the water moves through, it freezes at night and creates a dam to block and hold further water. Eventually once things are fully thawed, the water runs off. While the ice dams are there, we are at the mercy of the weather. For this reason, and other reasons also, we are talking about spending to have a ditch dug in between the back fields and the built-up area (including the barn). That, and a bit of banking the soil at strategic places should greatly reduce the water, but will not be able to see the result until after the bales are already in the barn. During the summer however, the barn is so dry that any soil inside becomes dust.