Re: SB: lateral bracing

["Huff 'n' Puff Constructions" <huffnpuff@shoal.net.au>]

G ' Day Richard and Fellow Balers

Richard Schmidt wrote:

> For the life of me, I cannot understand the reluctance of
> some on the list to do sensible things like sewing or wiring bales (no
> personal criticism -- a general observation :)).

I am probably as 'guilty' as anyone on the list re netting and sewing.  It is
not that we Aussies are lazy but we do not have a serious problem such as
earthquakes in our country, so horses for courses, and I know nothing about
earthquakes.

So in some form of defence I do not advocate netting or sewing with the use of
earthen renders.  The earth binds better to the raw straw than if there was
chook wire netting as in my experience earthen renders do not get behind the
netting in a satisfactory manner which leaves pockets of air, not good in my
opinion.  As for the lateral bracing in load bearing straw bale houses I get
this from the high tensile wires firstly in a vertical mode and then from each
corner in a diagonal mode.  Is the high tensile wire with gripples strong
enough to withstand earthquakes?  I have no idea.

The wire of course is attached to the top and bottom plates which are then
attached to the foundations and roof assembly.  Now if you are still with me
in Queensland in cyclone prone areas, I usually advise the use of a frame
in-fill method firstly from the point of view of the very high rainfall  and
from the fact that the tie down system used in conventional stick frame houses
in Queensland works very well with straw bales.  They use threaded rod from
the footings to the top plate usually every 1.8 metres or 6'.  However I am
not a Queensland engineer type chap and I might have the spacing wrong.

In closing I would advise the use of netting sewing and pinning for ALL cement
based rendered straw bale homes in all areas of Australia.  Time will tell how
the earth renders without netting perform but so far with Jack's Flat getting
close to 2 year old no problems whatsoever.

That is the beauty of straw bale building no two methods are right or wrong
but I love Ganmain earth and chaff renders!

Kind regards The Straw Wolf
http://strawbale.archinet.com.au
61 2 6927 6027


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