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Hello! I hope everyone is having a decent
week.
A friend of mine and myself have just recently
joined the list and have a few zillion questions. We're considering
building a strawbale, and are absolutely straw-stupid. I've been reading
about strawbale structures for years, in hopes that one day I'd have the chance
to build a house like this, but I'm as clueless as they come when it comes to
building. Needless to say, we need some help.
First a little background. I'm originally
from California, so most of my thinking comes in California terms. As in,
I don't know much about building anything here in NORTHERN Maine, where we now
live. Here they have basements, which I think are utterly cool, and odd
things like horizontal snow, frost heaves, etc, etc...
My starting questions are --
How do you avoid moisture on your exterior walls
when you have horizontal snow? Long eaves won't help much with that I
don't suspect.
We don't have several cutting seasons like in
California, so do you actually have to wait till Fall to get the one and only
cutting of the wheat straw? I'm not making a whole lot of sense, but I'm
pretty tired. I apologize. Essentially, we'd like to start building as
soon as the snow melts, and are not at all sure how one goes about that when you
live way up in the corner of a cold climate zone. We don't really have the
option of building during the winter.
Once you cut the straw, how long does it have to
dry in bales before it can be put in walls?
How would I find an experienced strawbale
contractor up here? I've done everything but take out a television add,
and have had no luck. I really would like to work with someone
experienced. I'm scared to death to make detrimental
mistakes.
Is it possible to put up the outer shell (Post and
beam and strawbale) and then add the inner walls over time? Do you make
the inner walls strawbale? Is it normal, or cohesive to use cob for the
inner walls? I'm not so much talking about cob for cost purposes, as for
the overall 'look and feel'. I LOVE cob. I love the whole sculptural
look and feel of it. It's so flexible.
Am I annoying? I don't even know if it is
cool to log onto the email list and ask all sorts of newbie questions, but I'm
hopeful. I've read tons of WebPages, but they are all directed at WARM
climates. Generally Austin Texas. I'd love to see some WebPages
devoted to really cold climates and strawbale. Books would be cool
too.
I love strawbale houses. I love everything about
them. Their efficiency, their esthetic appeal, just everything. I'd
love for this to work.
I've a million other questions, but I don't want to
be TOO annoying. Thank you very much for your time.
Angel
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