[GSBN] The Straw Stuff

[MARK SCHUENEMAN]

One more thought to this subject;
 
I tried stuffing as you mentioned with slip soaked loose straw only to find that we got the straw to wet and as mentioned and before any drying there was ample mold. The three good things were that it was very compacted and dense when dry, the fire danger was reduced and there were plenty of sprouts (not sure what kind) to shave off the wall for the turkey sandwiches at lunch. But what it did for condensation on the windows in the winter, as it took almost a month to dry, was prohibitive to pursuing that way. So I tried stuffing some dry straw only and I just couldn't get that straw to keep from bouncing and not compacting, plus, dealing with the dust while stuffing was another issue. The solution was to mix buckets of slip and set aside. Then fill the paddle mixer with about 1/2 bale of dry loose straw and drizzle about 1 to 1.5 gallons of clay rich slip (the consistency of milk) over the loose straw in the mixer and let it mix until an even color and consistently moist. We'd then store that mix of light clay straw in a tarp, along with subsequent loads until there was enough to start stuffing. We'd let that tarp sit for a bit to pre-dry, mixing by hand occasionally, and get a bit sticky (french dip style)...then stuff. The slip merely took the golden color out of the straw, wet it just enough to keep the 'dust' down as we stuffed, compacted nicely, dried stiff and it all dried relatively quickly once in the wall. We then had to buy/pick lettuce for the sandwiches for lunch but the windows appreciated that.
 
This mix works too for stuffing pallets, ala Alfred Von Bachmayer scabbed together pallets for interior walls. We added masonry sand at the last minute before stuffing for mass/bulk in later stuffings.   This seemed to help dry quicker and can't help but think that it helped provide more mass too.   

Mark 'Colorado Dip' Schueneman



 
> Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 00:16:17 -0500
> From: chris at chrismagwood.ca
> To: GSBN at greenbuilder.com
> Subject: [GSBN] The Straw Stuff
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> This past summer, we did a little experiment with our students that 
> seemed to work well, and I'm curious if anybody has tried it (or has 
> good reason to not try it!) before I go ahead and try it on a slightly 
> larger scale.
> 
> We were building two walls with straw/clay, using a double stud framing 
> system and using thin wood lath on the studs as the form/cage for the 
> straw/clay. We then used clay plaster over the lath on the inside and 
> outside. As usual in our climate, we were under the gun to get the 
> straw/clay placed in time for it to dry thoroughly before plastering.
> 
> As we were doing so, I wondered if we might just use the same framing 
> and lath system and stuff the cavity with dry straw instead slip-straw. 
> So we built a sample frame and did just that. The wall was 12-inches 
> deep (as was the straw/clay wall). We placed about 18-inches of lath at 
> a time and then packed in the dry straw. We measured the density of the 
> original bale and we were able to get the straw into the wall cavity at 
> a slightly higher density than the bale itself. We had pieces of lath 
> cut to go across the wall to keep the straw packed down at the intended 
> density, but found we really didn't need them. The whole thing went 
> together really, really quickly and plastered up nicely.
> 
> So can anybody think of a reason why this might not be a good idea? Yes, 
> I know it's not as fun and natural as stacking bales... I'm still a huge 
> fan of doing things that way. But so many people are building stick 
> frames of one kind or another and then going to all kinds lengths to 
> notch, trim and otherwise jam bales into those frames. This system fits 
> a double frame wall really well, accepts plasters really well and in 
> general seems like a decent way to go about using straw as an 
> insulation. The thickness can be varied to reach intended insulation values.
> 
> Thoughts?...
> 
> Chris
> 
> -- 
> www.chrismagwood.ca
> 
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