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Thread: Strawbale VS log home.

  1. #11

    strawbale and moisture

    what about strawbale homes in south? i plan on building a home around the nashville area and it gets really hot and really humid down here.

  2. #12
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Strawhomes in the south

    I remember reading Mothers Earth News magazine about a couple who built a strawbuilt home in Georgia.

    IMO, it appears that strawbuilt homes can be built anywhere....as long as it is done properly. They base their concepts similar to ours in respect to allowing the house to breathe through the stucco/mortar.

    I will see if I can find the Georgoa couples article for you.

    Kola

  3. #13
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    georgia strawhome

    here ya go!

    personally I love the thick plaster wall look of straw homes.


    "During the past two years, Elise and Michael have continued to monitor their home's performance ? even going so far as to drill a few small holes in the walls to check for moisture. To date, even the east-facing exterior wall that receives the brunt of the stormy weather remains bone dry."

    read more:
    http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/2004-06-01/Straw-Bale-Home.aspx

  4. #14
    LHBA Member Mark OBrien's Avatar
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    Strawbale Home In The South

    I can't remember the magazine where I read it but there are several strawbale homes near Montgomery, AL that are pre-Civil War! Apparently, if done properly, straw bale is an excellent alternative to conventional stick type homes. I've been through Montgomey in the summer and it is just as hot and miserably muggy as any time I ever spent in SE Asia. If I wasn't so set on a B&P Log Home, strawbale would be my next choice. I always wondered about another medium for building. When I was on the road driving truck, I'd drive north out of NJ into NY on I-287 and I'd see these huge bundles of rock or rubble in a rectangular "bale" for lack of a better word. They were encased in a heavy duty chicken wire and were used as retaining walls or also sound barriers. They had to be 3'X3'X5' in size. I wonder how they would work structurally if stacked like concrete blocks. Obviously you'd need a forklift to do the lifting. With their size and weight you could dry stack them and then stucco them as the chicken wire is already there! For a 30X30 house you'd need 96 "bales" to raise 4 walls 12' high. The manufacturer could even make half-bales to accomodate doorways and windows. It's just a thought anyways.

  5. #15

    strawbale home in the south

    thanks guys. yeah mark...i'm also stuck on the b&p homes. you know what would be really cool? straw bale interior walls in a b&p home. hmmmmm

  6. #16
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Strawman

    Quote Originally Posted by hood
    thanks guys. yeah mark...i'm also stuck on the b&p homes. you know what would be really cool? straw bale interior walls in a b&p home. hmmmmm

    Yup, its crossed my mind. I think it would look really nice. I love that thick-walled look and the softness of the rounded corners.

    Remember too, straw is readily available and very enviromentally friendly. The insulation factor is a huge plus too.

    IMO, there are many myths flying around in regards to straw homes. It scares many people off. Hopefully that will change...as more and more people build them.

    Good jnfo on your post, Mark. ...and yeah those big bales would be great huh?

    Kola

  7. #17

    How about strawbale gable

    How about strawbale gable ends?

  8. #18

    Straw bale/cob construction

    I want a combination log home and cob construction house. Cob is the straw/slip method of using forms to build the walls, like the houses on the English coastal villages that look like the Hobbitt houses, with thatch roofs, etc. The walls are 3 feet thick in some instances and have stood for hundreds of years. Cob is breathable, you cant even paint it as it has to be limewashed becuase paint is a sealant, so therefore there isnt a moisture problem in humid climates.
    There's a cob revival in North Carolina, but I've had some scoffers tell me that the moisture problem would be horrendous, even though they've never even set foot in a cob house. And because I questioned it further, apparently I'm 'hell-bent on WORTHLESS building practices'. I love how 'experts' have an 'educated' opinion but really know absolutely nothing about the subject in which they are supposedly experted.

    Suzanne

  9. #19
    LHBA Member Timberwolf's Avatar
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    Scoffers.

    Quote Originally Posted by sabrinafair_34
    There's a cob revival in North Carolina, but I've had some scoffers tell me that the moisture problem would be horrendous, even though they've never even set foot in a cob house. And because I questioned it further, apparently I'm 'hell-bent on WORTHLESS building practices'. I love how 'experts' have an 'educated' opinion but really know absolutely nothing about the subject in which they are supposedly experted.

    Suzanne
    ------------------------------------
    Scoffers... yeah we're used to that around here.

    You do what you want, and long as you're safe and smart about it, and don't let anyone tell you different.

  10. #20

    Cob/Log Combo

    (Hmm, that sounds like something you might find on a southern drive-in's menu...)

    I've wondering if cob might be an interesting option for finishing the gable ends in place of logs, stick framing, B&B. It might be a bit of a pain hauling the materials up there, but then again, you could rig something with all those triple blocks we'll have lying around. Heck, if you can haul former trees up there, why not buckets of cob? I think it might make a very quaint looking log cabin. Hmmm, I'll have to look into this...

    Louanne

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