Insulating a New House with Straw | MD F&H
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- The story of the Three Little Pigs reminds many that building a house out of straw can certainly have a bad outcome. But for Marijke Torsf at Zigbone Farm Retreat, a 100-acre farm in Sabillasville, straw is a nearly perfect building material. With help from architect Sigi Koko at Down to Earth Design, the farm retreat's latest structure will be made with natural materials, including the use of straw bales from a local farm as insulation. Not only are the bales a natural alternative to conventional building supplies, but this sustainable material can also provide better thermal protection than store-bought insulation.
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Episode 910
I am an historic restoration mason for 30 years and have worked on both adobe (from 1853) and strawbale. Its good they used straight lime mortar for their exterior stucco because Portland cement is neither needed nor wanted. But you do NOT need metal mesh on the outside. They did not need it on the inside and they do not need it on the outside. In fact I guarantee you it will eventually cause rusting under the stucco which will bleed through and spoil the stucco in various places. It invariably does with cement, and lime is more absorbent still.
My major concern with something like this is fire. Modern insulation can be bought in fire-retardant forms, but not seeing how you can make straw bales fire-retardant without some environmental cost. I'm curious what methods are used to reduce the likelihood of fire within the walls from electrical wiring - not clear how the wiring is run within this building. Clay and plaster walls reduce the likelihood of fire from interior or exterior sources, but there's always something... I understand that mold and rot are also concerns, even if the straw is sealed well from above and below as well as from the sides. Someone here noted rodents as a potential problem, also. Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea, overall! We definitely need to revive some traditional building methods - but we also need to refine them for modern challenges.
I'm with you on this. I'm originally from Nebraska, and there was a restaurant in the next town over that our family would eat at when I was a teenager. Stuccoed on the interior and exterior, and insulated with hay much like the above. There was a grease fire in the kitchen one evening and the entire building was burned to the ground within minutes. I hope that the material that this vlogger is using (or finishing the walls with) has some serious fire-retardant properties incorporated.
Straw bale when compress as a bale as they are is a much higher fire retardant than what you are living in now! just look it.
Straw is naturally fire resistant. Test it. Try to use straw as a starter in your next bonfire.
@@CupcakeKitty Huh, you're not wrong! TIL: straw bale walls are quite fire-resistant when rendered properly - more so than many modern wall types. The flammability of straw itself depends on its composition, so some types (like oat straw) are more flammable than others (like rice straw). Loose straw is considerably more flammable than baled or otherwise tightly-packed straw, because lower oxygen availability, yada yada... (If you don't feel like finding some straw to burn, some thoughtful Googling will wrest unbiased confirmation from the algorithms.)
How on earth can this not be a serious fire hazard ?
I did this insulation and got mice immediately in insulation. . any idea how to get rid of them
Get a cat
😮 oh my goodness!
Perhaps a really fine wire mesh under the plaster on the bottom 3 feet or so. Finer than the one they're using in the video. A mesh with about 5 mm openings would probably do it.
Might also try covering whatever area where they're trying to get in with pieces of common juniper branches, as they're said to dislike the needles
What did you use as exterior layer?
totally illegal in Canada as it doesn't meet the fire code or building code.
I like the old style wood rafters over modern trusses. But seriously, at some point all this so-called green stuff looks more and more like a crazy cult. The R value of hay is very low - like stone almost. Just use proper insulation and let the land get its hay back as fertilizer.
Incorrect, the video explicitly clarifies the R value of the bales are high 30s to low 40s - double that of the building code in this region.
Its a no brainer
@@_cgd ..are you sure? When I google it I see a range of 0.94 too 2.38 per inch. Closed cell foam is 7 per inch too a low of 6. Average hay bales are 1.89 per inch from what I see. I hope I am wrong but seriously, how can this be good since it will decompose or retain moisture etc. Wouldn't you be better just using large logs and making a huge log or timber home? Obviously it is a free market system and everyone can buy what they want, but hay insulation? I will look again. Maybe you will convince...I sure love the idea in concept as it is so cheap to do.