Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
strawbale buildings appear to store latent
heat - they perform in a similar way to heavy-
weight materials, even though they are not
masonry.
straw, are necessarily basic to ensure full
understanding by everyone.
Throughout this topic you will be encour-
aged towards the best possible way of
doing things with a simple, straightforward
and common-sense approach. One of the
best features of strawbale building is the
opportunity it provides for creative fun,
and the way in enables you to design and
build the sort of shape and space you'd
really like. It lends itself very well to curved
and circular shapes, and can provide deep
window seats, alcoves and niches due to
the thickness of the bales. It's also a very
forgiving material, can be knocked back
into shape fairly easily during wall raising,
doesn't require absolute precision, and can
make rounded as well as angular corners.
Partly owing to its great insulation value
and partly because of its organic nature,
the inside of a strawbale house feels very
different from a brick-and-block one, with
a cosy, warm quality to it and a pleasing
look to the eye. The beauty of straw (apart
from its aesthetic beauty) is that it combines
very high insulation properties with great
loadbearing potential: it is a material that
is building block and insulation all in one.
The accessible nature of straw as a construc-
tion material means that even those unfamil-
iar with the building process can participate
in it. This opens the door for interest groups
to work together on joint projects. Strawbale
houses are quick to build and engender an
excitement and motivation that gets the job
done. This makes them ideal for housing
associations and local authorities to manage
as joint projects with tenants and contractors.
The atmosphere on a strawbale building
site is qualitatively different from that found
on the vast majority of other sites. It is
woman-friendly, joyful, optimistic and highly
motivated. Knowledge and skills are freely
shared, and cooperation and teamwork
predominate, all of which factors have a
positive effect on health and safety on site.
One of the best features of strawbale building
is the opportunity it provides for creative fun,
enabling you to design and build the sort of
space you'd really like.
Different styles and opinions have grown
up around the world as bale building has
spread. What was suitable in one climate
has not proved to be best practice in others,
and availability and cost of materials vary
from country to country. However, there
have been wonderfully imaginative adapta-
tions to conditions. The main concerns in
Ireland and the UK have been to do with:
This topic is aimed at self-builders as well
as the construction industry. It is meant to
give clear and straightforward information
about how to build houses with bales of
straw. Since this is a simple and accessible
wall-building technique available to almost
anyone, it is ideal for self-builders as well
as for mainstream builders at the forefront
of sustainable house building. The language
and descriptions, particularly of first prin-
ciples, and of how and why we build with
• adequate design of foundations to
deal with moisture while impacting
on the earth as little as possible
