Re: SB: Re: Strawbale in the Tropics

[Matthew Falkiner <Exchange@ibw.com.ni>]

Linda
Here in Nicaragua we are currently building 2 projects on the pacific side 
of  the country. One is on a raised timber deck and the other on solid 
foundation.  So far so good, the rains have abated a little making things a 
whole lot easier.   I have also come across a rice producer who has built 
10 bale structures armed only with a copy of The Straw Bale House.  The 
oldest of these structures has weathered three rainy seasons, all in good 
shape and appear to be holding up well to humidity and rain.   As ever, 
detailing of wall openings, eaves and drainage around the buildings is 
crucial but far from impossible.

In Nicaragua, tropical dry and tropical wet are two very different 
climates, dry on the pacific and wet on the Atlantic.  The rainy season on 
the Atlantic coast is much longer - only guaranteeing  2 months without 
rain. For the other 10 months the rain can be very heavy and prolonged,  I 
understand that the coastal town of Bluefields on the Atlantic side has the 
highest annual rainfall anywhere in Americas.  I think here you may have to 
draw the line at building with bales.  In part the reason is the constant 
high humidity, but you could probably detail around that,  but in part I 
think bale buildings would suffer from local habits and conditions.  People 
are used to living with water,  houses are scrubbed and swilled out daily 
with hose pipes, hand washing of clothes usually means that gallons of 
water are slopped around and showers are taken 3 or 4 times a day.    The 
house is often a wet place surrounded by wetter places.  I wonder how much 
of this is true in Belize, especially in coastal areas.

Considering the rest of the country we have done some basic designs for low 
income / emergency housing,  very simple small dwellings, usually not 
exceeding 40m2.  At less than US$40 a M2 for the basic structure including 
doors, windows, brick floor and crinkly tin roof baling is very competitive 
on price. ( and far more attractive than the prefab concrete panel 
alternative). A great benefit too is that the baling is self build 
friendly.  Many low income housing projects are run as supervised family 
self builds - this often results in slow, poor quality work for traditional 
concrete block constructions -on the other hand baling would be both fun, 
and quick.


Matthew Falkiner
Simplemente Madera Arquitectos
Managua. Nicaragua










At 04:13 PM 06/28/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>Does anyone on this list have any experience with strawbale projects in 
>the tropics or know where I can get information on this subject?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Linda Fletcher
>  for BELRIV
>www.belriv.org
>
>
>
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