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Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bale
Straw bale

A straw bale is a bundle of straw tightly bound with twine or wire. Bales may be square, rectangular, or round, depending on the type of baler used....
s as structural elements, insulation
Building insulation

Building insulation refers broadly to any object in a building used as insulation for any purpose. Whilst the majority of insulation in buildings is for thermal insulation purposes, the term also applies to acoustic insulation, Fireproofing, and Cushioning ....
, or both. It is commonly used in natural building
Natural building

A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally-processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those which, while Recycling or salvaged, produce healthy living envi...
. It has advantages over some conventional building systems because of its cost, easy availability, and its high insulation value.

ough grasses and straw
Straw

Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry wikt:stalk of a cereal plant, after the grain or seed has been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat....
 have been in use in a range of ways in building since pre-history around the world, their incorporation in machine-manufactured modular bales
Baler

A baler is a piece of farm machinery that is used to compress a cut and raked agriculture into bales and bind the bales with twine. There are several different types of balers that are commonly used....
 seems to date back to the early 20th century in the midwestern United States, particularly the sand-hills of Nebraska
Nebraska

Nebraska is a U.S. state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States.Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language words ?? Br?sge or the Omaha-Ponca language N? Bth?ska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state....
, where grass was plentiful and other building materials (even quality sod
Sod

Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns....
s) were not.

Rick West, the director of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its Financial endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine....
's National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian

The Smithsonian?s National Museum of the American Indian is a museum dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere....
, has stated that “Straw bale construction is at once an American invention and a sustainable answer to housing needs on and off the reservation.”

w bale building typically consists of stacking rows of bales (often in running-bond
Brickwork

Brickwork masonry is produced when a bricklayer uses bricks and Mortar to build up structures such as walls, bridges and chimneys. Brickwork is also used to finish openings such as doors or windows in buildings made of other materials....
) on a raised footing or foundation
Foundation (architecture)

A foundation is a structure that transfers loads to the earth. Foundations are generally broken into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations....
, with a moisture barrier or capilary break between the bales and their supporting platform.






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Encyclopedia


Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bale
Straw bale

A straw bale is a bundle of straw tightly bound with twine or wire. Bales may be square, rectangular, or round, depending on the type of baler used....
s as structural elements, insulation
Building insulation

Building insulation refers broadly to any object in a building used as insulation for any purpose. Whilst the majority of insulation in buildings is for thermal insulation purposes, the term also applies to acoustic insulation, Fireproofing, and Cushioning ....
, or both. It is commonly used in natural building
Natural building

A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally-processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those which, while Recycling or salvaged, produce healthy living envi...
. It has advantages over some conventional building systems because of its cost, easy availability, and its high insulation value.

History

Although grasses and straw
Straw

Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry wikt:stalk of a cereal plant, after the grain or seed has been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat....
 have been in use in a range of ways in building since pre-history around the world, their incorporation in machine-manufactured modular bales
Baler

A baler is a piece of farm machinery that is used to compress a cut and raked agriculture into bales and bind the bales with twine. There are several different types of balers that are commonly used....
 seems to date back to the early 20th century in the midwestern United States, particularly the sand-hills of Nebraska
Nebraska

Nebraska is a U.S. state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States.Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language words ?? Br?sge or the Omaha-Ponca language N? Bth?ska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state....
, where grass was plentiful and other building materials (even quality sod
Sod

Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns....
s) were not.

Rick West, the director of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its Financial endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine....
's National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian

The Smithsonian?s National Museum of the American Indian is a museum dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere....
, has stated that “Straw bale construction is at once an American invention and a sustainable answer to housing needs on and off the reservation.”

Method

Straw bale building typically consists of stacking rows of bales (often in running-bond
Brickwork

Brickwork masonry is produced when a bricklayer uses bricks and Mortar to build up structures such as walls, bridges and chimneys. Brickwork is also used to finish openings such as doors or windows in buildings made of other materials....
) on a raised footing or foundation
Foundation (architecture)

A foundation is a structure that transfers loads to the earth. Foundations are generally broken into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations....
, with a moisture barrier or capilary break between the bales and their supporting platform. Bale walls can be tied together with pins of bamboo
Bamboo

The bamboos are a group of woody perennial plant evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae....
, rebar
Rebar

A rebar, or reinforcing bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures. It is usually formed from carbon steel, and is given ridges for better mechanical anchoring into the concrete....
, or wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
 (internal to the bales or on their faces), or with surface wire meshes, and then stucco
Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an Construction aggregate, a binder , and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid....
ed or plaster
Plaster

The term plaster can refer to plaster of Paris, lime plaster, or cement plaster. This article deals mainly with plaster of Paris.Plaster of Paris is a type of building material based on calcium sulfate Hydrate, nominally CaSO4?0.5H2O....
ed, either with a cement-based
Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance which sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together....
 mix, lime-based formulation, or earth/clay render. The bales may actually provide the structural support for the building ("load-bearing" or "Nebraska-style" technique) as was the case in the original examples from the turn of the last century. Alternately, bale buildings can have a structural frame of other materials, usually lumber or timber-frame, with bales simply serving as insulation and plaster substrate, ("infill" or "non-loadbearing" technique), which is most often required in northern regions and/or in wet climates. In northern regions, the potential snow-loading can exceed the strength of the bale walls. In wet climates, the imperative for applying a vapor-permeable finish precludes the use of cement-based stuccos commonly used on load-bearing bale walls. Additionally, the inclusion of a skeletol framework of wood or metal allows the erection of a roof prior to raising the bales, which can protect the bale wall during construction, when it is the most vulnerable to water damage in all but the most dependably arid climates. A combination of framing
Framing (construction)

Framing, in construction known as light frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called Wall stud, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping rafters or manufactured pre-fabri...
 and load-bearing techniques may also be employed, referred to as "hybrid" straw bale construction.

Typically "field-bales", bales created on farms with baling machines have been used, but recently higher-density "precompressed" bales (or "straw-blocks") are increasing the loads that may be supported; where field bales might support around 600 pounds per linear foot of wall, the high density bales bear up to 4,000 lb./lin.ft. and more. The basic bale-building method is now increasingly being extended to bound modules of other often-recycled materials, including tire-bales, cardboard, paper, plastics, used carpeting. The technique has also been extended to bags containing "bales" of wood chips or rice hulls
Rice-hull bagwall construction

Rice-hull bagwall construction is a system of building, with results aesthetically similar to the use of Earthbag construction or Cob construction, in which woven polypropylene bags are tightly filled with raw rice-hulls, and these are stacked up, layer upon layer, with strands of four-pronged barbed wire between, within a surrounding "cage...
.

See also

  • Truth window
    Truth window

    A truth window is an opening in a wall surface, created to reveal the layers or components within the wall. In a strawbale house, a truth window is a traditional feature to show the walls are actually made from straw bales....


Further reading

  • Design of Straw Bale Buildings. Bruce King. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007.
  • More Straw Bale Building: A Complete Guide to Designing and Building with Straw. Chris Magwood. New Society Publishers, 2005.
  • Straw Bale House, The. Steen, Steen, Bainbridge & Eisenberg. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green, 1994.
  • Building a Straw Bale House. Nathaniel Corum. Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.
  • The New Natural House Book, Pearson, David, Simon & Schuster, 1989, ISBN 0-684-84733-7.


External links

  • GreenBuilder.com: - by state* Rawlinson, Linnie. , feature on CNN.com, 13 August, 2007. With image gallery.
  • Long Branch Environmental Education Center: , technical paper, 2002.