[GSBN] Update, question re: proposed SB code (hay bales)

[martin hammer]

Hello all,

After resubmitting the proposed SB code to the International Code Council
last week, I received their comments and will submit final revisions on
Monday.

Thank you to those who gave input re: clay plaster in the proposed SB
section of the International Building Code.  There was a mix of opinion,
sometimes in direct conflict.  I used some of the suggested changes.  I
generally loosened the language (we¹ll see how much vagueness is accepted
without challenge) and eliminated any required percentage of clay.  I still
welcome clay plaster input from those who expressed initial interest, but
whose busy lives probably got in the way (but asap please).  Particular
thanks to Graeme North who gave input on the entire proposed code (as he did
in a past iteration).

One other question for input:

Prohibit use of baled hay?  (That¹s what the proposed code currently says.)

This is the conventional wisdom, but weren¹t some of the first buildings in
Nebraska built with hay bales (some still standing?), or has anyone
successfully used hay bales (or bales with other non-straw ³grasses²)?
Yesterday I had a discussion with a California rice farmer who bales straw
and alfalfa hay.  He says that apart from the notion that hay is more
subject to degradation, hay is 2 to 3 times as expensive so is much less
likely to be used as a building material.  Regarding the notorious
proclivity for stacks of hay bales to spontaneously combust, in addition to
witnessing that, he has twice seen a stack of rice straw bales spontaneously
combust.

Thanks

Martin (what the hay) Hammer
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