Straw Bale House Roof

There are two general styles of straw bale construction.

Straw bale house roof.

The bales have no structural value for the loads of the building which are all carried by the structural frame. It just has to be kept dry. When attaching a straw bale addition to an existing house the biggest concern is to make sure that the two structures are tied together well. Zhang s next project is to construct an entire habitable building in dubbo in collaboration with john dash and the landowner.

A good straw bale home is significantly warmer than conventional building methods because a well packed bale is rated at r30 r35 minimum or considerably more. A breathable strawbale vault is a difficult proposition. The easiest way to do this is with expanded metal lath at each course. Today insulated homes usually have r 20 in the walls and many old homes have r 14 for insulation or considerably less.

The straw bale roof constructed by dr zhang and blue mountains straw bale builder jason dash only took one day to erect. The weight of bales within a roof has to be a very serious consideration. A good time to use this roof is obviously when the budget is tight or if you want a larger exposed side of the structure as in a greenhouse or in cooler climates. It is built with straw bale walls and limestone plaster log roof rafters an.

The papercrete is completely unsealed and thus breathable. While cement stucco is convenient and low maintenance it can cause moisture problems once it cracks and may actually keep the bale wall from drying properly. As i look at this i think a roof would almost be better with loose fill chopped straw inside of a 2 6 roof framework. All straw bale houses need a layer of plaster on the outside to keep water out.

If you were building in a fairly arid environment you might experiment with a papercrete plaster as i have done with my earthbag home. Most straw bale builders use clay based earthen plasters or lime plaster which require regular reapplication. For straw bale this can pose a problem in keeping the walls free from direct moisture. Post and beam or in fill and load bearing.

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