Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fixing to rendered straw bale walls
Fitting shelves to straw bale walls
To fit shelves or heavy objects to straw bale walls it will
be necessary to fit wooden pegs into the wall prior to
rendering. If the shelves are not aligned with the
junction of the rows of bales you will need to make
wooden peg to insert into the wall. You can make these
pegs out of 42 × 19 or 42 × 35 pine. Cut the timber
approximately 350 mm long and make a point on one
end. It will add extra strength to the fixing if barbs are
cut into the peg so that when inserted into the straw,
the straw will be caught in the barbs cut into the peg.
This decreases the possibility of the pegs slipping out
of the wall (see Figure 4.21).
Figure 4.21
Barbed timber peg to be
hammered into the straw bale wall
Fitting barbed pegs into the wall to support shelving
Hammering in the pegs
Hammer the pegs into the wall on a 5-10
degree downward angle so that when
weight is applied to the end of the peg if it
does drop slightly under the weight, it will
still be above level. If the external end of
the peg were to be lower than the point,
the peg would be inclined to slip out of
the wall.
When you have shelves that are to be
fitted in line with the horizontal junction
of the bales I suggest that you make spiked
pegs, which are inserted between the bales.
Cut pieces of 70 × 19 pine 400 mm long.
Fix 75 mm nails through the timber so
that the head of the nail is level with the
surface of the timber, thereby causing
approximately 50 mm of the sharp end of
the nail to protrude from the other side of the timber. This is to be done to both sides of
the timber so that nails protrude through both sides (see Figure 4.22).
Figure 4.22
Spiked peg for installation between the rows
of bales
Making sure your pegs are in line
The pegs must be in line to enable the installation of straight cut shelving.
When shelves are to be fitted to a straw bale wall it is best to have the section of wall
adjoining the shelving as straight as possible. If the shelving is fitted against an uneven
wall, the shelving will have to be cut to match the shape of the wall. The simplest way to
do this is to ensure that all the pegs in the wall are not only in the same line vertically up
