Friday, August 10th, 2007 | Popularity: 10%
Stumble it!If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
There are those out there who say the best straw to build with is rice straw because it is very strong and has a high silicone content which makes it hard to burn. Others say Flax straw is a great idea because it is really rot resistant. Some suggest wheat is best because it can be long cut straw in tight bales and at the same time is easy on your tools. The answer, as far as I am concerned, is all of the above and none of the above. For me, the best straw to use is the straw that is local to you. Consider that you are building an energy efficient home. Does it make sense to truck straw across the country to your site because rice is better than wheat or vice versa? I don’t think so. As long as the bales are tight, uniform, dry, and of general high quality, I think you can use what is closest to your site. In fact, I even know of a guy who built a house using bales of old, compressed cereal boxes! Yup, even that worked and his material was basically free since the recycling center (who did all the binding and compacting) was happy to give it away instead of process it. They saved money and he got free building materials (small transport fees did apply of course). So use what is high quality and close to you and you will be happy in the end.
Popularity: 10%
Like this? Click here to buy me a Wolaver's Organic Oat Meal Stout!About the Author
Andrew Morison is a licensed contractor specializing 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.
Get Updates of New Articles and Posts
To be notified of new entriesblog entries and articles 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>>
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
My engineer has told me that the bale should weigh no less than less than 7lbs per cubic foot. This puts my local bales (14×18x39) at 40 lbs each; I have access to 42lbs bales and 32-pound bales. Does anyone have an opinion on the density issue, I mean, should I look for the heaviest bales possible and at what cost? it obviously affects insulative properties but to what degree and is the heavier the better? some local area farmers have built a compressing unit to reduce transport costs for straw and hay. It takes a bale and compacts it to half the original length, re-tying it and all! I here it is a little labor intensive..
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Ryan,
It is important that the bales be as dense as possible for a couple reasons. The first, as you mentioned above is the insulative value of the wall. This concern is not that great because even a fairly “loose” wall will be well insulated. The second, and perhaps more important reason, is that the bales will start to sag during installation if they are not dense enough. The very weight of the bales above will compact, unevenly, the bales below. This creates all kinds of problems. The bales I like best weigh 45 pounds and are uniform is shape and size (14×18x40). Anywhere with a density of 7 lbs/cu ft and up is a good idea. Again, super compressed bales are probably not worth the effort what with the diminishing returns and all.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Thanks Andrew, this is what I was looking for, Following that line if a person had many sources of bales of equal dimension would it not be beneficial to put three or four courses of 42lbs bale and then use 32lbs bales to finish the wall putting less overall weight on the bottom courses?
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Ryan,
I would not bother using two different densities. I think it would be more frustration than it is worth.