[GSBN] US strawbale farmworker housing

[ejgeorge at riseup.net]

Hi all,

We are working with a local agency to help a farmer who wants to build  
a small  farmworker housing unit - potentially as a prototype for  
additional units. They are looking at funding via the USDA Rural  
Development program and recently received an email stating that while  
Rural Development has done a few straw bale houses previously, it is  
still considered "new technology". As such  the project requires  
additional review to support the suitability of the material.

Much of this is standard info we provide for all our projects (ASTM  
standards for fire ratings, R-values, etc), but there was a new one  
for us:
"One concern that will need to be considered is how susceptible to  
insects/pests is this material."

Has anyone on this list been involved with the straw bales that were  
already approved by the Rural Development program? We're wondering  
what sort of documentation others submitted on this point. It seems  
published information on this is largely anecdotal - even Bruce King's  
chapter on this is mostly theoretical with some field observations.

Or anyone know of any studies or other data relating to this??


Thanks much!

ej



ej George, CSBA