SB: RE: laying bales

[Valle Kincaid <vkincaid@TreanorArchitects.com>]

Lee,

I would suggest using Dynoseal as the moisture barrier. It was reccommended
by Cedar Rose, owner of "Building for Health", during a recent strawbale
workshop i attended.  you can purchase it through her company i believe.

www.buildingforhealth.com  

When we built a shed during the workshop, we used earthbags (polypropylene
bags filled with moist soil) non a rubble trench foundation. that seems to
get the bags off the ground and away from moisture. 

but if i were going to use a wood plate, i would not use anything over 8" as
that comes from old growth trees. 



-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Marks [mailto:markslee@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 9:48 AM
To: strawbale@crest.org
Subject: SB: laying bales



Some local residents (in OH) have asked me to help them
in the building of their strawbale home.  I have only
had limited experience and do not want to be the cause
of their failure - I know there is "wrong" and "right"
techniques are often difficult to define, particularly in
building with strawbales, so I'm attempting to get as much of
an input from more experienced people as possible.

My first question is concerning what materials should the
bales lay upon.  The house is a wrap-around design with
a cement foundation with rebar.  We were thinking about
laying locust wood down - either two pieces (like a railway
track) or a larger 13" wide peice (which the entire bale
can rest upon).  So my questions are:

1.  If two pieces were used, what (if anything) could lay
    in between the pieces of wood?  We were thinking blueboard,
    but am interested in hearing other perspectives?

2.  Moisture barriers have been used between the cement and the
    wood in the sb houses that have been built around here.  I
    don't like the idea of using a plastic/tar moisture barrier
    below the bales, because I feel like it would trap more
    moisture than prevent moisture intrusion from below.  I'm
    wondering what would be a material/technique to prevent
    water intrusion through the cement foundation into the bales,
    whilst not trapping moisture iin the bottom course of bales
    if some moisture were to penetrate the walls?

3.  Last question - Locust is considered to be extremely resistant
    to rot - could this mean that it resist the wicking of water
    into its' pores because it is such a hard wood?  If this is
    so, couldn't it be possible that the locust itself would be
    a good enough moisture barrier - even when it has not been
    treated?

I'd appreciate any responses.

Thanks,

Lee Marks
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