Strawbale Building Info

Started by jwv, November 27, 2005, 05:17:55 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jwv

Here's the answer, Teacher Kangiser:

First, j-bolts were  embedded in the concrete foundation and allthread attached.  The bales were then impaled on the allthread and new lengths of allthread added as the wall went up.  When the wall gets to specified height, the box beam is placed on top and the allthread extends thru holes drilled in the beam.  Washers and nuts are screwed on snugly but not "cranked".  As the walls compress, the nuts will be tightened.  Our walls compressed on avg 2" in approx 8-10wks. (The information on the Skillful Means ref above site is very good with a great picture of a box beam, exactly what we used.)  The box beam is the relatively easy part. Once you get to that point the wall is pretty much done.  You can shim and use a bale persuader and stuff and fill, but mistakes made below will show up on top.

Rebar is also pounded into the bales, 2 per bale, after the first 3 courses and then every 2 courses.

Just like any other building project, God is in the details.  You start out level and true and work to remain so as you go up.  Good corners are a must as we spent way too much time squaring up a bad corner that got out of hand at the wall-raising.  Wall-raisings are fun but it's good to have a lot of people around who have done this before  to make sure things stay level, etc.  

Our strawbale was before we had a digital camera so unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post  
but will try to remedy that with this next house.

The DVD Building With Awareness http://www.buildingwithawareness.com/ is a great depiction of the whole process, although it is post and beam because of New Mexico code.  As we like to remind people, the bales are only a wall system, a small percentage of the house building journey.

Judy  


edited to...you guess

jwv

One more thing (you got me started and now I'll never shut up), Bill and Athena Steen with Wayne Bingham, have a new book Small Strawbale which is very cool and definitely worth a look.  The ideas for size and layout could be adapted to any building material.

Judy

and I always wondered where the term wiseacre came from-I can remember my older brothers saying "What are you, some kind of wiseacre?" in the style of Eddie Haskell

I transferred these from the old forum-hope that's OK


glenn-k

That's great, Judy.  Thanks for the information.  Keep talking that will make a few of us that won't shut up.  ;D

jwv

Darn, points off, I spelled your name wrong-no way to impress!  :-[

glenn-k

I can pretend I didn't see that and you can hit the modify button and change it-- can you say it???  Me either. :-/


glenn-k

#5
Copied from old forum

Quoteglenn kangiser said:

      Strawbale Home Information
« on: Nov 25th, 2005, 11:54am »       
We have a new member who has built a load bearing strawbale house.  Hopefully she has time to clue us in to some of the fine points of strawbale building.

I am interested in how the roof was supported on the bales.

QuoteJudy said:
               Re: Strawbale Home Information
« Reply #1 on: Nov 25th, 2005, 2:45pm »       
First post, and I'm on the spot!  :o Remember in school when the teacher would ask a question and you would try to be invisible?

We will get back to you on the specifics (on the way to MIL's for dinner) but it really isn't that difficult.

Judy

Quoteglenn kangiser said:
       Re: Strawbale Home Information
« Reply #2 on: Nov 25th, 2005, 5:48pm »       
Well, now Judy, what I remember was that the teachers always wanted me to become invisible----- If only they were that lucky.  I was the class wiseacre.  ;D

wiseacre \WY-zay-kuhr\, noun:
One who pretends to knowledge or cleverness; a would-be wise person; a smart aleck.  
Wiseacre comes from Middle Dutch wijssegger, "a soothsayer," from Old High German wissago, alteration of wizago, "a prophet."

Yep- that's me alright.  Haven't used that word in so long I had to look it up to see how to spell it.  :-/

We appreciate your help when you have time.  Thanks for coming out of lurkdom.

I'm sure we can come up with some harder questions after we get you gently broke in.  :)


QuoteNELSELGNE said:
       Re: Strawbale Home Information
« Reply #3 on: Nov 25th, 2005, 6:48pm »       
Load-bearing walls:

http://www.earthgarden.com.au/strawbale/council.html

http://www.skillful-means.com/projects/shenoa/laod_bearing_house.htm

http://www.webace.com.au/~agstraw/loadb.html

http://www.pangeapartnership.org/faq_sb.shtml

Quoteglenn kangiser said:
       Re: Strawbale Home Information
« Reply #4 on: Nov 25th, 2005, 6:59pm »       
Thanks for the info NELSELGNE.  Glad you joined up.

Soon we will have a nice collection of information and hands on experience.

The webace link has lots of various great information.

cynthia(Guest)

Thanks for those links..they were very educational!