[GSBN] 200-yr-old straw houses in Europe?

[Chug]

Hi Mark

The oldest straw baled building I've come across in the UK was a barn in 
Herefordshire made using hop stands for the timber frame and round bales, 
about 300mm diameter and 1m long, as infill. Built sometime during the 2nd 
WW when english baling machines were not being produced so the farmer 
imported a round baler from the US. It was still there a few years back but 
was deteriorating as it was unused and some of the roof tiles had slipped 
and were allowing the timber frame below to rot.

bale on
Chug
chug at strawbale-building.co.uk
http://www.strawbale-building.co.uk/
.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Piepkorn" <mark at buildinggreen.com>
To: "GSBN" <GSBN at lists.greenbuilder.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 5:00 PM
Subject: [GSBN] 200-yr-old straw houses in Europe?


> Though I hardly ever see the claim made anymore, for a while it was a
> fairly standard pro-SB argument (made by neophyte evangelists,
> usually) that we know SB works because it's been around for a couple
> hundred years. Rubbish.
>
> In the book Sustainable Architecture White Papers, which came out in
> 2000 (from Chelsea Green) but which I'd never read, a paper on the
> Roaring Fork Waldorf School (apparently reprinted from Solar Today
> Magazine) by Laurie Stone of Solar Energy International says,
> "Straw-bale construction has been around for centuries. In Europe,
> one can find houses built out of straw that are over 200 years old."
>
> It doesn't specifically say 200-year-old *baled*-straw structures.
> (Automatic balers weren't around until the 1800s, of course, though
> there were hand-balers prior to that... but never in widespread use,
> as far as I can tell.)
>
> I'm trying to figure out why and how this claim started - if there's
> some kernel of misunderstood truth, or if it's just cut from whole
> cloth. I haven't contacted the author yet. Probably won't. I met her
> once, years ago, and she was very nice. I'm content to leave it at that.
>
> There are similar claims made in cordwood-building circles, though
> nobody can cite actual examples.
>
>
> Mark Piepkorn
> www.potkettleblack.com
>
> In the world to come I shall not be asked, "Why were you
> not Moses?" I should be asked, "Why were you not Zusya?"
>   - Rabbi Zusya
>
> _______________________________________________
> GSBN mailing list
> GSBN at greenbuilder.com
> http://greenbuilder.com/mailman/listinfo/GSBN
>


_______________________________________________
GSBN mailing list
GSBN at greenbuilder.com
http://greenbuilder.com/mailman/listinfo/GSBN