Bill & Yvonne this was a super video. What I really really respect as I have mentioned before is how you show what went wrong. Don't dwell on it or curl up into a ball and figure out a fix. Yvonne's idea of the value of the load bearing walls being a key component to making the walls strong and settle resistant was excellent. I was sure you would have had to cut all of the strings to insert the upright 2x6. So nice you didnt have to. Great going guys and as I have said before your home is going to totally rock. You can tell even now by the lines of it. Cheers your Cochise neighbor - Don
Your message came at the perfect time Don. Sometimes I read the comments and take them too personally. We are confident in what we are doing but there are times that I let myself get sidetracked. Thanks for setting us back on track, and we appreciate your support!
@@theupsideofdownsizing Your so welcome Bill. You will probably laugh at this one but I was struggling with taking comments personally as well just now. Several folks said in essence how could I have been so unintelligent as to not have my land surveyed before purchase etc. Yep human beings LOL. So glad I could encourage some Bill. I so appreciate the community of cochise off-grid folks I am getting to know. Also I know it helps to remember that you and I are the boss of our properties. We get to do what we want to do. Which is what is so fantastic about Cochise County right? UA-cam comments come and go from armchair commenters.
Wow! It’s really starting to look like a house inside! Can’t wait to see the windows done. I think somebody lit a fire under Brian. But the freaking wind blew it out. 😁💗👍
Looking cool! If these "studs" are going to be structural and will be carrying the roof load, I would recommend making sure there is solid blocking above the stud to the bottom of the truss or the box beam will rotate as the weight is transfered from the outer edge of the box beam. Might also confirm the bottom of the studs are over something structural so they don't poke thru the subfloor. Something I was taught years ago is that gravity is a constant
I thought about this for a bit. Some plywood sheathing could be used across some of these wall areas between windows and wall to corners. This would help spreading the load and add some shear strenght. That load bearing partition wall will help a lot as well. Look at some Simpson lateral bracing as well. They lay kinda flush. That's a very light roof spread across a lot of area on the perimeter, don.t get to carried away worrying about to much load.
I'll check out the Simpson lateral bracing. We have plans for 1/2" plywood on some of the interior walls, especially in the kitchen which will make for easier installation of cabinets sand backsplashes. Thanks for watching and the reassuring comments.
I was going to suggest you put 2 x6 studs on the outside as well, the box beams may roll outwards. Putting in a load bearing wall will probably cure that problem.
Interesting idea with exterior 2x6, but I think that would be overkill (This is just a single story on a solid foundation) and would just create more breaks/cracks for weather, critters, etc to get into the bales. Encapsulating the bales on the exteror is probably the most important part of the build. The detailed way Bill & Yvonne build, this house will stand many decades to come!
Just a thought, you have the threaded rod to al the way through, why not put a supporting plank on the outside as well. That way they would support each other and give stability from the outside also. Just in case the straws move on the outside. I am always amazed by how dens the straw bales are, seeing how little straw you remove and then seeing the huge pile on the floor. =)
I have no experience with straw bale construction but I was worried from the start about not having any vertical studs in the walls to help hold up the roof structure. glad to see some are being installed on the sides and load bearing walls inside.. good job
Thanks. The load-bearing wall was always in the planning and as I mentioned at the end of the video, had we installed that lb wall before the roof it would have been the better way to go. But, we've got it under control. For people who have never built a load bearing straw bale building, the thought of bale compression must seem "scary" but it is just a normal part of the construction process.
interesting solution. I have seen something somewhat similar, only they inserted 2x4's into the bales before the roof went on, for framing interior walls and creating an exoskeleton for cabinetry. Most likely by using 2x6's you will increase the strength as well. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching! We have friends who built a straw bale house ( also load bearing walls ) and they too used 2x4s exactly as you described. It's a cool look and adds functionality to the walls. In our straw bale Toolshed, we used 2x4s and they hold a tremendous amount of weight without an issue.
I mentioned that you needed more support for that heavy roof. I was worried about the compression that would happen without strong structural supports! Looks like you're headed in the right direction, great idea!
Together with what you saw in this video and the 20' framed 2x6 load bearing wall, we're calling it good and moving on to window installation and interior walls. Then electrical! 👍
I believe once you get your load bearing wall down the center and get your intersecting walls in place I dont believe you will need these. It wont hurt but if the interior walls had been built before the roof I believe it would not have settled at all. But you have the answer. Engineer on the fly it's what I do. Good job brother.
Really cool to see you working inside the house with floor, walls, roof, windows........ Things are moving fast ! Will you be going with a tradtional ceiling (dry wall, plywood, T&G) ? Heard another channel this week call the 2x6 studs "sticks of gold" : )
Sticks of gold because of the price I'm guessing.... heading out right now to pick up 40 more sticks of gold for the load bearing wall 🤣. We're considering sheetrock for the ceiling because we could paint it white to reflect a lot of light. We want the place to be as light and airy as possible. But we might use straw matting like the ceiling in our solar shed. Not sure yet.
@@theupsideofdownsizing Just read through the comments. I think some people are forgetting this is a "straw bale house" and not a stick built house with strawbale insulation : ) "It ain't going anywhere....."
I did have a idea with the previous video, but your roof was on. If the roof wasn't on, I'd banged steel plates under the bottom bakes and hammered thick rebar from the top. Then attach a steel plate under the roof.
been watching from long time and its nice to see the long planned house standing, I believe you made your research investing so much time to this built but to me the roff seems really heavy for the amount of support it gets, I am actually just worried that you and Yvoon will sleep under this structure in a windy day. in other videos I saw the straw bales seems to be only insulation between the actual structure of the house. . now with the additional 3x6 I feel you mixed a solid material with a more soft deforming material like straw bales and expect them to work together. I think over time the 3x6 will take over load from the bales and could crack or the roof can swing out in heavy wind. I am looking forward to your explanation I am courius about it. Best of luck with everything. I can't wait to see the finish ;)
its still not late to rent a hydraulic system elevate the roof a couple inches and build a wooden framing then rest the roof back. if there is financial reasons for skipping something we have a great community you can start go found me or patron site.
Thank you for your kind comments! I hope I've never pretended to come across as a structural engineer. It's pretty obvious from our videos that I'm engineering on the fly. We have two smaller structures as experiments but nothing has ever been this big. I would never let my wife sleep under a roof that wasn't safe in my opinion. I would, but not Yvonne.I'm just going to continue to trust my instincts on this and keep plugging away at the house. I hope you'll continue watching!
Also I was wondering if you guys did a "this is what we are planning with the house" video? I am still watching through the backlog of episodes, so if it is there you can just let me know and I will find it eventually. =) Keep up the good work and the great content. It is really nice and inspiring to be able to follow along on your guys journey. =) Also I like the music you use in the video, fits really nice and well placed.
I did one quick scene showing the layout for the house in a video... I'll look for a link. We are the kind of people who allow a project to evolve as we go. It can cause some difficulties, but we want to be open for changes and new ideas as we go.
Do you think that maybe you should have framed up the load bearing wall in the middle of the house and these support 2x6's first before putting the roof on. I would think that it would have reduced the compression substantially. What would you have done differently? When I was watching you do the wall building all I could think about was how we're you going to keep things from compressing or even tilting. Thanks for the new experiences in Hay Bale building!
okay, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. Please go back and watch the last 5 minutes of the video. IT addresses everything you said, including what we would do differently if we were to do it over again. But what you said, is exactly what I said at the end of the video. We should have done the load-bearing wall before continuing with the roof installation. thanks again for watching and we appreciate your comments!
@@theupsideofdownsizing Must have misunderstood your closing comments. I guess I just wanted more elaboration because many months ago I asked about potential settling and most Hay bale construction I've seen has some kind of Timber frame supports with the Hay bales in between. Maybe smaller structures Don't have as much of a problem but when you get bigger maybe everything changes.
I like the idea, but I'm wondering if the metal running through your walls is going to act as a thermal bridge, undermining the insulation value of your bales, and maybe introducing moisture into the centre of the wall. May be wrong but it might be worth considering.
Sorry about the delayed response. The threaded rods will be encapsulated in wood on the inside, and not left exposed. I don't think the cumulative surface area of the 20 rods used will be enough to undermine the insulating effectiveness of the bales. Good thought though! Thanks for watching and your comments!
In a cold zone, i would go to great lengths not to put metal inside the bale walls. No rebar, no threaded rods etc. Condensation will lead to moisture inside the walls and end in compost. But in AZ you should be fine.
Know it would cost more. But wouldn't it me easier to attach osb/plywood to the top and bottom? That way you can attach things to the wall anywhere you want.
Stay tuned for our upcoming video about framing out our kitchen. We use this technique you mentioned to able us to attach cabinetry, both uppers and lowers. 👍
Thinking (typing) out loud. I wonder if there needs to be 2x6s on the outside attached to the header and footer boards like inside, to take the thrust of the roof weight. Or attached to the ones inside AND to the header and footer. It seems to me none of the weight thrust is being directed into the structure, it's just being carried by the bales AND the new framing. But as the bales sag over time, that thrust will be transferred to the vertical skeleton on the inside, forcing that energy inward. I guess what I'm saying is that does it need more of a structure to help carry the weight of the roof?
the 20-ft load-bearing wall that we're going to be putting in in a couple days should alleviate the problem. The Bales are dense and are meant to actually support the weight of the roof. Some compression is to be expected but that will subside over time.Thanks for watching and your comments 🙏
Thanks for watching! Even if we could do a complete Budget on what we've spent thus far, with the $236% price hike in lumber over the past 8 months, our numbers have no correlation to the current situation. And to be quite honest, I'm not the best bookkeeper in the world. We do what we got to do. If you'd like some specific questions about what specific items may have cost, we'll do our best to answer that but to keep our sanity, we don't keep a running tally.
Hello friends, how long and wide are your house walls? Im designing a straw bale house in Spain and Im reading that nebraska's house walls cannot be longer that 7 meters (23 feet) aprox. Your house looks like kind longer than that. The roof looks heavy, too many wood there.
I don't know. It's going to be completely encased in cobb and earthen plaster so I'm not concerned with a thermal transfer. And on the inside, the nut and rod will be enclosed in wood. Thanks for watching!
I hadn't thought of that. Do you have experience in doing something like that? If I build the wall on the floor, and lift it into place, it almost seems like I would need to use a hydraulic jack to accomplish that task. If I install the top plate to the trusses first, and install the studs second, I could cut them an 1/8 of an inch longer ( or so) and knock them into place with a dead blow hammer for a very tight fit. Suggestion or thoughts?
@@theupsideofdownsizing Most framers would measure and measure again. then build the wall on the ground then raise the entire wall in to place. Doing so you would need to slightly hammer the top and bottom to wedge it in place. Your major concern is if the trusses go up and down like a roller coaster.
@@theupsideofdownsizing No experience. Just somehow kind of made sense to me. Maybe somebody with more construction experience can debunk my theory. I am open to being corrected if I am dead wrong.
I guess I have a bit more framing experience than most. I'm going to do a double top plate, the first attached to the trusses. Then I am going to construct the wall on the floor and lift it in place. It'll offer great support without compromising the trusses. The other walls which will define the bedroom and bathroom are also, technically "load bearing" in that they too will be attached directly to a truss, albeit not multiple trusses. I appreciate your input!
I have thought for some time now that the orientation of the straws could be not optimal ( not correct ? ) . They should preferably lay horizontal when using a loadbearing construction . Anyway a certain amount of compression is always needed / going to happen with this method but will stop when completely straws are compacted ( when orientated horizontally ) . I never could see if they were and straps round each individual bale suggest otherwise . . Precompression before putting the roof on would anyway still be preferred , then securing it with the white straps ( which ARE present . . ) .
According to Bill and Athena steen, this orientation of the Bales is perfectly acceptable for a load bearing Straw Bale construction. I certainly trust their judgment as well considering they are two of the foremost experts on straw bale Construction in the United states.
the precompression you're mentioning did take place but it was only under the weight of the box beam which is relatively insignificant compared to the weight of the entire roof. But we do agree that compression is both to be expected and necessary to create the most solid wall possible.
@@theupsideofdownsizing O.K. , Thank you for your answers . I must admit that I have my ' knowledge ' from reading just a few books ; so certainly no real experience ( yet ) . Still horizontally orientated straw sounded good to me when putting them under pressure as in loadbearing but I wouldn't want to disagree with the american specialists . I , being from Europe , probably read books from different authors . I do find it very brave of you that you have taken on and executing the project to succes . In some years I hope to do the same 🙂 .
@TheUpsideofDownsizing Why would you want to make an insulation material.. Load Bearing? Bales are Agricultural Food meant for dispersion.. Not a uniform building material held to known tolerances. Suppose someone puts a heavy roof on bales.. at your suggestion... and the walls collapse and they are killed by the heavy/falling roof? You want to face that? OK with that? That is a posibility.. I guarantee the roof structure I see you using is much heavier than on buildings I've seen from the 1900's-1920's. Pretending "we're doing it just like the 1900's" .. not accurate. Sober up if you're truly interested in providing helpful information.
Super, wieder ein Stück weiter 👍👍🙂
Toll wie Ihr Zwei das macht. 🙂👍👍❤
Bill & Yvonne this was a super video. What I really really respect as I have mentioned before is how you show what went wrong. Don't dwell on it or curl up into a ball and figure out a fix. Yvonne's idea of the value of the load bearing walls being a key component to making the walls strong and settle resistant was excellent. I was sure you would have had to cut all of the strings to insert the upright 2x6. So nice you didnt have to. Great going guys and as I have said before your home is going to totally rock. You can tell even now by the lines of it. Cheers your Cochise neighbor - Don
Your message came at the perfect time Don. Sometimes I read the comments and take them too personally. We are confident in what we are doing but there are times that I let myself get sidetracked. Thanks for setting us back on track, and we appreciate your support!
@@theupsideofdownsizing Your so welcome Bill. You will probably laugh at this one but I was struggling with taking comments personally as well just now. Several folks said in essence how could I have been so unintelligent as to not have my land surveyed before purchase etc. Yep human beings LOL. So glad I could encourage some Bill. I so appreciate the community of cochise off-grid folks I am getting to know. Also I know it helps to remember that you and I are the boss of our properties. We get to do what we want to do. Which is what is so fantastic about Cochise County right? UA-cam comments come and go from armchair commenters.
Wow! It’s really starting to look like a house inside! Can’t wait to see the windows done. I think somebody lit a fire under Brian. But the freaking wind blew it out. 😁💗👍
That’s a great idea! Should act like an exoskeleton! 👍🏼
Looking cool! If these "studs" are going to be structural and will be carrying the roof load, I would recommend making sure there is solid blocking above the stud to the bottom of the truss or the box beam will rotate as the weight is transfered from the outer edge of the box beam. Might also confirm the bottom of the studs are over something structural so they don't poke thru the subfloor. Something I was taught years ago is that gravity is a constant
Thanks for that suggestion!
Excellent video.
Yeah, that load bearing wall will certainly help, especially if it is a framed wall. Great work and great ideas!
I agree and it's going to be 2x6 framing. Picking up the gold er....I mean lumber tomorrow.
Love the wood it's going to look awesome 👌
Starting to feel like a home in there, even though there's still a way to go.
Great idea using the 2x6 and thank you for sharing.
Always awesome, and remember growing pains are still growth.
I thought about this for a bit. Some plywood sheathing could be used across some of these wall areas between windows and wall to corners. This would help spreading the load and add some shear strenght. That load bearing partition wall will help a lot as well. Look at some Simpson lateral bracing as well. They lay kinda flush. That's a very light roof spread across a lot of area on the perimeter, don.t get to carried away worrying about to much load.
I'll check out the Simpson lateral bracing. We have plans for 1/2" plywood on some of the interior walls, especially in the kitchen which will make for easier installation of cabinets sand backsplashes. Thanks for watching and the reassuring comments.
I was going to suggest you put 2 x6 studs on the outside as well, the box beams may roll outwards. Putting in a load bearing wall will probably cure that problem.
My thought also.
Interesting idea with exterior 2x6, but I think that would be overkill (This is just a single story on a solid foundation) and would just create more breaks/cracks for weather, critters, etc to get into the bales. Encapsulating the bales on the exteror is probably the most important part of the build. The detailed way Bill & Yvonne build, this house will stand many decades to come!
Just a thought, you have the threaded rod to al the way through, why not put a supporting plank on the outside as well. That way they would support each other and give stability from the outside also. Just in case the straws move on the outside.
I am always amazed by how dens the straw bales are, seeing how little straw you remove and then seeing the huge pile on the floor. =)
I have no experience with straw bale construction but I was worried from the start about not having any vertical studs in the walls to help hold up the roof structure. glad to see some are being installed on the sides and load bearing walls inside.. good job
Thanks. The load-bearing wall was always in the planning and as I mentioned at the end of the video, had we installed that lb wall before the roof it would have been the better way to go. But, we've got it under control. For people who have never built a load bearing straw bale building, the thought of bale compression must seem "scary" but it is just a normal part of the construction process.
interesting solution. I have seen something somewhat similar, only they inserted 2x4's into the bales before the roof went on, for framing interior walls and creating an exoskeleton for cabinetry. Most likely by using 2x6's you will increase the strength as well. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching! We have friends who built a straw bale house ( also load bearing walls ) and they too used 2x4s exactly as you described. It's a cool look and adds functionality to the walls. In our straw bale Toolshed, we used 2x4s and they hold a tremendous amount of weight without an issue.
Three cheers! The videos continue to educate and inspire. Steady as it goes.
Thank you 🙏
I mentioned that you needed more support for that heavy roof. I was worried about the compression that would happen without strong structural supports!
Looks like you're headed in the right direction, great idea!
Together with what you saw in this video and the 20' framed 2x6 load bearing wall, we're calling it good and moving on to window installation and interior walls. Then electrical! 👍
Absolutely love all your videos. The most down to earth of all the ones I've seen on UA-cam. We just can't wait to start our own project.
Thanks for the kind words! Enjoy the process 👍🏻
Coming along nicely folks! Always some tweaking to be done. Love how this is looking! Stay safe and have a great week!
Good work you guys! Looking great
Well done.
I like it! I like your wife pants 😉🛠️🙋😎
I was wondering if your going to need them. Looks great stay safe and have a great day
I believe once you get your load bearing wall down the center and get your intersecting walls in place I dont believe you will need these. It wont hurt but if the interior walls had been built before the roof I believe it would not have settled at all. But you have the answer. Engineer on the fly it's what I do. Good job brother.
Thanks Moses. Even the intersecting walls will be "load bearing" in that the top plates will be directly secured to the trusses.
Really cool to see you working inside the house with floor, walls, roof, windows........ Things are moving fast ! Will you be going with a tradtional ceiling (dry wall, plywood, T&G) ? Heard another channel this week call the 2x6 studs "sticks of gold" : )
Sticks of gold because of the price I'm guessing.... heading out right now to pick up 40 more sticks of gold for the load bearing wall 🤣. We're considering sheetrock for the ceiling because we could paint it white to reflect a lot of light. We want the place to be as light and airy as possible. But we might use straw matting like the ceiling in our solar shed. Not sure yet.
@@theupsideofdownsizing Just read through the comments. I think some people are forgetting this is a "straw bale house" and not a stick built house with strawbale insulation : ) "It ain't going anywhere....."
Sound Straw Bail engineering good Sir!
I did have a idea with the previous video, but your roof was on. If the roof wasn't on, I'd banged steel plates under the bottom bakes and hammered thick rebar from the top. Then attach a steel plate under the roof.
been watching from long time and its nice to see the long planned house standing, I believe you made your research investing so much time to this built but to me the roff seems really heavy for the amount of support it gets, I am actually just worried that you and Yvoon will sleep under this structure in a windy day. in other videos I saw the straw bales seems to be only insulation between the actual structure of the house. . now with the additional 3x6 I feel you mixed a solid material with a more soft deforming material like straw bales and expect them to work together. I think over time the 3x6 will take over load from the bales and could crack or the roof can swing out in heavy wind. I am looking forward to your explanation I am courius about it. Best of luck with everything. I can't wait to see the finish ;)
its still not late to rent a hydraulic system elevate the roof a couple inches and build a wooden framing then rest the roof back. if there is financial reasons for skipping something we have a great community you can start go found me or patron site.
Thank you for your kind comments! I hope I've never pretended to come across as a structural engineer. It's pretty obvious from our videos that I'm engineering on the fly. We have two smaller structures as experiments but nothing has ever been this big. I would never let my wife sleep under a roof that wasn't safe in my opinion. I would, but not Yvonne.I'm just going to continue to trust my instincts on this and keep plugging away at the house. I hope you'll continue watching!
👍
Also I was wondering if you guys did a "this is what we are planning with the house" video? I am still watching through the backlog of episodes, so if it is there you can just let me know and I will find it eventually. =)
Keep up the good work and the great content. It is really nice and inspiring to be able to follow along on your guys journey. =) Also I like the music you use in the video, fits really nice and well placed.
I did one quick scene showing the layout for the house in a video... I'll look for a link. We are the kind of people who allow a project to evolve as we go. It can cause some difficulties, but we want to be open for changes and new ideas as we go.
ua-cam.com/video/hMAlS-An-e0/v-deo.html
@@theupsideofdownsizing thank you =)
Do you think that maybe you should have framed up the load bearing wall in the middle of the house and these support 2x6's first before putting the roof on. I would think that it would have reduced the compression substantially. What would you have done differently? When I was watching you do the wall building all I could think about was how we're you going to keep things from compressing or even tilting. Thanks for the new experiences in Hay Bale building!
okay, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. Please go back and watch the last 5 minutes of the video. IT addresses everything you said, including what we would do differently if we were to do it over again. But what you said, is exactly what I said at the end of the video. We should have done the load-bearing wall before continuing with the roof installation. thanks again for watching and we appreciate your comments!
@@theupsideofdownsizing Must have misunderstood your closing comments. I guess I just wanted more elaboration because many months ago I asked about potential settling and most Hay bale construction I've seen has some kind of Timber frame supports with the Hay bales in between. Maybe smaller structures Don't have as much of a problem but when you get bigger maybe everything changes.
You are describing a post and beam frame
I like the idea, but I'm wondering if the metal running through your walls is going to act as a thermal bridge, undermining the insulation value of your bales, and maybe introducing moisture into the centre of the wall. May be wrong but it might be worth considering.
Sorry about the delayed response. The threaded rods will be encapsulated in wood on the inside, and not left exposed. I don't think the cumulative surface area of the 20 rods used will be enough to undermine the insulating effectiveness of the bales. Good thought though! Thanks for watching and your comments!
In a cold zone, i would go to great lengths not to put metal inside the bale walls. No rebar, no threaded rods etc. Condensation will lead to moisture inside the walls and end in compost. But in AZ you should be fine.
Know it would cost more. But wouldn't it me easier to attach osb/plywood to the top and bottom? That way you can attach things to the wall anywhere you want.
Stay tuned for our upcoming video about framing out our kitchen. We use this technique you mentioned to able us to attach cabinetry, both uppers and lowers. 👍
Thinking (typing) out loud. I wonder if there needs to be 2x6s on the outside attached to the header and footer boards like inside, to take the thrust of the roof weight. Or attached to the ones inside AND to the header and footer. It seems to me none of the weight thrust is being directed into the structure, it's just being carried by the bales AND the new framing. But as the bales sag over time, that thrust will be transferred to the vertical skeleton on the inside, forcing that energy inward.
I guess what I'm saying is that does it need more of a structure to help carry the weight of the roof?
the 20-ft load-bearing wall that we're going to be putting in in a couple days should alleviate the problem. The Bales are dense and are meant to actually support the weight of the roof. Some compression is to be expected but that will subside over time.Thanks for watching and your comments 🙏
Never saw you plumb the face of those sleepers, are they flat/plumb??
Yep.
Hey guys! would you do a total cost of build so far video? Planning on a 500 sq ft load bearing strawbale, and trying to budget! Thanks!!!!
Thanks for watching! Even if we could do a complete Budget on what we've spent thus far, with the $236% price hike in lumber over the past 8 months, our numbers have no correlation to the current situation. And to be quite honest, I'm not the best bookkeeper in the world. We do what we got to do. If you'd like some specific questions about what specific items may have cost, we'll do our best to answer that but to keep our sanity, we don't keep a running tally.
Cool! Thanks guys, we love your channel!!
Hello friends, how long and wide are your house walls? Im designing a straw bale house in Spain and Im reading that nebraska's house walls cannot be longer that 7 meters (23 feet) aprox. Your house looks like kind longer than that. The roof looks heavy, too many wood there.
I think you should go with what your research shows, no longer than 7 meters. You'll sleep better at night.
does putting the rod through the wall create a thermal bridge?
I don't know. It's going to be completely encased in cobb and earthen plaster so I'm not concerned with a thermal transfer. And on the inside, the nut and rod will be enclosed in wood. Thanks for watching!
Will you frame your load bearing wall slightly higher than it measures to lift, thus preloading the trusses?
I hadn't thought of that. Do you have experience in doing something like that? If I build the wall on the floor, and lift it into place, it almost seems like I would need to use a hydraulic jack to accomplish that task. If I install the top plate to the trusses first, and install the studs second, I could cut them an 1/8 of an inch longer ( or so) and knock them into place with a dead blow hammer for a very tight fit. Suggestion or thoughts?
@@theupsideofdownsizing Most framers would measure and measure again. then build the wall on the ground then raise the entire wall in to place. Doing so you would need to slightly hammer the top and bottom to wedge it in place. Your major concern is if the trusses go up and down like a roller coaster.
@@theupsideofdownsizing No experience. Just somehow kind of made sense to me. Maybe somebody with more construction experience can debunk my theory. I am open to being corrected if I am dead wrong.
I guess I have a bit more framing experience than most. I'm going to do a double top plate, the first attached to the trusses. Then I am going to construct the wall on the floor and lift it in place. It'll offer great support without compromising the trusses. The other walls which will define the bedroom and bathroom are also, technically "load bearing" in that they too will be attached directly to a truss, albeit not multiple trusses. I appreciate your input!
Hi there :) How it's said in English the white stripe you have used for compression??
Strapping webbing. 👍🏻
@@theupsideofdownsizing Thank you :) Would you send me a link where I can order it?
Man I would have put them studs over your seal and over the header face with lots of screws should give you the same and the Inter wall can breath.
Guys..what is the normal for straw bale building ? is compression normal ? how have others dealt with it ?
I have thought for some time now that the orientation of the straws could be not optimal ( not correct ? ) . They should preferably lay horizontal when using a loadbearing construction . Anyway a certain amount of compression is always needed / going to happen with this method but will stop when completely straws are compacted ( when orientated horizontally ) . I never could see if they were and straps round each individual bale suggest otherwise . . Precompression before putting the roof on would anyway still be preferred , then securing it with the white straps ( which ARE present . . ) .
Compression is absolutely normal on a load-bearing Straw Bale construction.
According to Bill and Athena steen, this orientation of the Bales is perfectly acceptable for a load bearing Straw Bale construction. I certainly trust their judgment as well considering they are two of the foremost experts on straw bale Construction in the United states.
the precompression you're mentioning did take place but it was only under the weight of the box beam which is relatively insignificant compared to the weight of the entire roof. But we do agree that compression is both to be expected and necessary to create the most solid wall possible.
@@theupsideofdownsizing O.K. , Thank you for your answers . I must admit that I have my ' knowledge ' from reading just a few books ; so certainly no real experience ( yet ) . Still horizontally orientated straw sounded good to me when putting them under pressure as in loadbearing but I wouldn't want to disagree with the american specialists . I , being from Europe , probably read books from different authors . I do find it very brave of you that you have taken on and executing the project to succes . In some years I hope to do the same 🙂 .
Shes right, dont cut the strings or try to drill holes through them...
@TheUpsideofDownsizing Why would you want to make an insulation material.. Load Bearing? Bales are Agricultural Food meant for dispersion.. Not a uniform building material held to known tolerances. Suppose someone puts a heavy roof on bales.. at your suggestion... and the walls collapse and they are killed by the heavy/falling roof? You want to face that? OK with that? That is a posibility.. I guarantee the roof structure I see you using is much heavier than on buildings I've seen from the 1900's-1920's. Pretending "we're doing it just like the 1900's" .. not accurate. Sober up if you're truly interested in providing helpful information.