Re: SB: Re: Topping off the walls

["Robert W. Tom" <archilogic@yahoo.ca>]

11/27/01 12:49:44 AM, "Steve Lewis" <seaweedsteve@newmexico.com> wrote:

>   I'd make a straw-clay mix and stuff/pack it in to fill the six inches.

>     ----- Original Message -----
>>     From: Chuck & Shelly
>>  I'm at the top of my courses on my walls now. There is still about a 6
>>     inch gap from the top of the bales to the top plate. 

I think that the sucess of this solution would depend upon the climate.
The insulative value of straw/clay mixtures can range from negligible
to minimal, depending upon the density of the mix. 
(For actual conductivity values (ie the inverse of resistivity) 
see archives, probably using the key word "Minke" in the 
search engine)

Obviously, if the climate is such that thermal resistance of the wall
is an important issue, then having a 6-inch wide strip of poorly-insulating
material all the way around the top of one's wall (and recalling that heat rises)
is probably not one of the better solutions.

Furthermore,  long-term creep of the straw combined with the inflexibility
of a straw/ clay mix necessarily means that a gap will develop in the insulation
at the top of the wall and subsequent convention will accelerate heat loss
in that critical zone.



--- * ---
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
<ChaffArchiLogic@yahoo.ca>
(winnow the "chaff"before responding)

Please visit http://www.theHungerSite.com daily



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