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

[John Glassford]

G ' day Derelict One

Cheer up old mate life is truly wonderful, when I get down I think of girls
like Tracy Monica who live in the slums of Mathare in Nairobi and just
thank my lucky stars I am alive and living in comparative luxury in a free
and amazing country we call Australia.  If you want to see where Tracy and
600,00 other souls live go here:

http://theork.com/?p=346

One day we may even be able to get straw bale homes for these the most
unfortunate people on the planet, I live and dream for that day.

We have managed to get Tracy out of Mathare and into high school in Kisumu
and are working on another 200 of her mates.

Anyhow life is good and my concern is that we balers around the world are
too hung up on codes and bureaucrats.  We have few problems here down under
with our councils and obtaining approvals, even load bearing homes,
wineries community halls and the like.

We have managed to get approvals in high bush fire zones thanks to Bohdan
Dorniak, Frank Thomas and a few others who helped with the bush fire
testing.  These areas are highly dangerous yet our authorities have seen
fit to approve straw bale  dwellings in these zones, I know because we have
done one in a 40BAL bush fire zone, the highest zone in Victoria.

Why are we so hung up on this issue of codes?  Why are we taking so much
time on this issue?  It is simple to prove that they perform according to
the performance based codes such as ours, forget that it is straw just
treat it like any material we or our customers want to build with, then
test it!  Then get a structural engineer to certify that the walls comply
with the code.

We know straw bale walls can handle cyclones and bush fires, we know they
can carry the loads from a roof or even a second story.  There are
thousands of straw bale buildings now around the world surely these code
officials you are having strife with should be shown these buildings.
 Maybe pass the hat around for the New Mexico mob and send them on a real
international straw bale tour.

Happy down under doing what we do best providing sustainable homes for our
clients.  Just about to launch our tilt-up straw panels now that will test
the minds of some.  Sure it has been done and done well in Europe with
tilt-up straw panels and we see no problems with the product.  The straw
bale purists are alarmed, however it is a natural progression of the
technology and takes us into main stream.  Our first two SITUP cottages
have been approved by two councils now; one of them with a reputation for
being very very tough on anything new.

http://glassford.com.au/main/sit-up-example/

Maybe we are just lucky I guess to live here and in a load bearing straw
bale home, would not swap it for all the tea in India or Ceylon or China.

Kind regards
The Straw Wolf
Huff 'n' Puff Constructions
http://www.glassford.com.au
61 2 6927 6027
In Australia (02) 6927 6027

Mountains of the Moon Climb 2011
http://www.mountainsofthemoon.org
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