Re: SB: straw inserted into stick frame -- good idea?

[Speireag Alden <Joshua.M.Alden.91@alum.dartmouth.org>]

Sgrìobh Richard Schmidt:

>Have been reading the Serious Strawbale book, and one of the construction
>systems they show is a stick frame wall system with bales inserted
>(vertically) between the studs. The bales are notched to fit between the
>studs.
>
>I'm wondering what the experienced hands on the list think of this system?
>I'd think there'd be a lot of gaps that permit air movement within the
>wall, especially around the studs, and wonder about the effects of this on
>thermal qualities and fire resistance. Any experienced opinions?

     I actually asked a question similar to this a year or so ago, and 
there was general agreement that there would be air movement 
vertically along the poles.  The fix is simple:  pack a bit of cob 
around the pole at each layer of bales.  No air movement.  But it's a 
detail which, as far as I know, no one has ever actually executed.  I 
didn't use that system, but I do have a timber frame.  I didn't think 
of this point until after the walls were up, or I'd have packed a bit 
of cob around the posts at each layer.

-Speireag.
-- 
Speireag Alden, aka Joshua Macdonald Alden

...the last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or 
plant: 'What good is it?' --Aldo Leopold, _A Sand County Almanac_ 

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