Straw House

[Dean Hoffman]

It's been awhile since I've heard about anyone building straw houses.

[Marilyn Manson]

People who live in straw houses shouldn't throw horses.

[hubops]

No kidding ! I really liked the idea when I first read about it <many years ago>

It looked like it could be the next big thing. I don't recall any big negatives in those earlier ones. They aren't for mass-production but they still seem like a good alternative for the rural custom-build / self-build. .. that's _if_ you can find a proper experienced straw-bail builder ... within 500 miles. ps : if the idea takes-off again - you could corner-the-market on the old small-square bailers ! :-) ... don't see those little fellas much any more. John T.

[micky]

Porky Pig got Corona and he's been in the hospital for 3 weeks now. But he's well enough to come home tomorrow and will be working on straw houses starting next Monday.

Is hay a waste product? I thought horses ate it.

[invalid unparseable]

I'm thinking the straw will rot down and collapse and be useless as insulation after a while.

[Dean Hoffman]

Purists would probably say hay is just prairie hay. People I know sometimes call alfalfa hay too. Either makes good feed. The house is being built with straw, most likely wheat straw. That can be feed if it's mixed with other stuff. It isn't that good for feed by itself. Farmers of my dad's generation used wheat straw mostly for bedding. Wheat straw was mostly just left in the fields after harvest.

[hubops]

Perhaps .. 75 years or so ? John T.

[Dean Hoffman]

There's an article here talking about 100 year old straw houses in the Sandhills.

The straw is baled before it's used in buildings. It shouldn't compress much, especially if used like in the home in the original post. The straw isn't load bearing. Keeping it dry is a big thing. I guess stucco was part of the deal many times.

[gfretwell]

He would be far more ecologically sound if he collected waste styrofoam and packed his walls with that. The R value is far better and foam is notoriously un recyclable. Our program doesn't want it at all. Fortunately we burn it in the WTE incinerator so all is not wasted.

[gfretwell]

Exactly. In fact that wonderful "cellulose" attic insulation (ground up newspaper) turns to gray mush here after 10 years or so.

[gfretwell]

Where your vapor barrier is located is a huge issue. As long as all you do is heat, it is easy. Put it on the inside surface. (where the warm moist air is) As soon as you turn on the AC, everything is backward.

[micky]

Ah, he says straw everywhere and yet I started thinking about hay. I wonder why.

[Ed Pawlowski]

It is actually 100% recyclable. We've done thousands of pounds of it.

[gfretwell]

It may get recycled in Pennsylvania but I haven't heard of any Florida recycling center that wants it. It says right on my recycle bin "No Foam" Do they take foam in Bradenton? Does it actually get recycled or land filled? They only recycle a fraction of all plastic here. They really only want #1 & #2 ... clean. The real money is in the metal. They don't want to fool with foam. I have to believe that is true in most places or there wouldn't be the eco hate of foam. I do understand it, I picked up about 8 cubic yards of foam out of the river when Wilma blew up a 50x10' trailer and sprayed the river with

2" thick blocks of foam. It is nasty stuff if it gets loose. OTOH it is pretty good incinerator fuel. They just need a beefier compactor truck than can make tight bales of the stuff.

Here is an article about it you might enjoy

I will warn you, doing the recycling of packing peanuts by reusing them to pack something can get you a nasty gram if you send this to someone who cares.

This all does get back to my original statement. Sequestering inside the walls of a sturdy house for 50 years may not be a bad idea. Maybe by then we will have a better plan for it and it is a damned good, "Moses lifetime", insulator.

[Clare Snyder]

Straw isn't hay. Hay is dried "grass" - usually timothy and alfalfa, harvested while young and tender. Straw is the stalks of grains - wheat, oats, barley. etc harvested when dry and mature. It is used for animal bedding etc.

[micky]

Yeah, Clare, here I'm talking about straw,

And here I've switched to hay Even if I didn't know the difference, I shouldn't be changing words like that.

Gotcha.

[invalid unparseable]

It is treated to make it fire and mold proof. It still settles leaving gaps. Nothing was said about treating the straw.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You said it is not recyclable. It is 100%. Many places do not handle it but others do. There are various ways to handle it but it first has to be sorted and processed. That takes MONEY. Now you see where the problem is in that one word.

You used the generic term styrofoam but in reality there is the extruded polystyrene material with the trademark "Styrofoam" from Dow chemical but the word also is wrongly used with expandable polystyrene (EPS).

I spend 45 years in the EPS industry and we recycled tons of the material where I worked. We did it in a limited area.

[invalid unparseable]

We recycled polymers but did not tell the customers that the product was made from recycled material as these were premium products that cost more than the original material.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Most customers though it a good thing recycled was mixed in. If the product was for food contact it was virgin material

We invested about $100k for the equipment so it was a long payback. It was not just about money though, it was a good thing to do.