Seven Advanced Topics of Straw Bale Construction

Below are seven advanced topics to help you plan and build your straw bale home. You may not need to know about all of these topics for any one project, but they are all important details to have an understanding about. There's always more to learn, and this is a simple introduction into these advanced details. I hope that there is enough here to inspire you and to give you the confidence you need to tackle your own project. 1. Electrical

Installations

If you plan to have electrical service in your home, you will need to know how to install it as, chances are, the electricians will not have experience with straw bale structures. The electricians may therefore turn to you for advice on how best to outfit your home with power. If you run photovoltaic power to your home, you will also have to find someone versed in those systems as individuals accustomed to wiring standard residential applications, no matter how skilled they are, may not have the required expertise to satisfactorily tie in the solar system to your power system. All of the wiring will be buried in the walls behind your beautiful finish plaster, so make sure you get it right the first time. Ripping out finish plaster to fix a faulty wiring job is something we hope nobody should have to endure. Timing is everything in construction. If you call for a subcontractor and are not ready for them when they arrive, you will very quickly find yourself on the bottom of their return call list. Your electrician will have to make a number of visits to the house, especially if you pour a slab floor. In that case, they will need to rough in their work after the forms are up, but before the concrete is poured. Accurate form layout is essential for this. If your forms are off, your wiring conduit locations will be too. If the conduit is off, it could land in a room rather than in a wall. That is ugly and hard to fix. After the rough-in below the slab, the electricians will need to return and finish the rough in above the slab. For this, the house needs to be dried in, otherwise, the electricians cannot rough wire per the National Electric Code (NEC). Unlike conventional construction when the electrical is installed before the insulation, do not call the electricians without having the bales in place. The wiring is best installed directly in the bales after they have been stacked but before they have been meshed and shaped. Have a clean surface for them to work with. In other words, if you plan to weed whack an inch of material off the face of the bales in certain places, do that first and then call the electricians. If you plan on creating nooks in the face of the bales, it is good practice to cut those in before the electricians run their wires. If you are on a tight schedule and cannot complete the

nooks, be sure to spray-paint their locations on the bales so the electricians know to avoid those areas with the wires. Anchoring the electrical boxes is important and quite simple. If the boxes are not adequately anchored in place, they may twist out of plumb during the application of plaster. Once the boxes are knocked out of place and plaster has hardened around them, they are difficult to fix and a home made look will pervade the house. Code usually calls for the boxes to be anchored with wood spikes into the bales. This is a good start, but the box can still move quite freely and should be anchored with a piece of plaster lath as well. The spike stops the box from sinking into the wall, while the lath stops the box from tilting side to side and pulling out from the wall. This has been a common way of attaching electrical boxes for years. That doesn't mean it's still the best way. in fact, I have moved to using plywood squares with holes cut out of them instead. The whole is the exact size for an "old work" box, the kind that has "ears" on it to grab the back of drywall when adding a box to an existing wall (see picture). The plywood is about 3" larger than the box all the way around and so gives adequate space to nail the wire mesh which ultimately locks the electrical box in place. Here's another tip. Make sure that all of your boxes in any one room match in height off of the floor. All plugs and switches should be at the same height (for plugs and another for switches) per code, but small variations are common in straw bale construction, so be sure to at very least make each room consistent. Also, remember that plugs and switches above cabinets have different height requirements. It's easy to forget cabinets will be placed against the wall when it's just exposed straw!

2. Plumbing Details
Keep as much of the plumbing out of the bale walls as possible. Thats it, end of lesson. Okay, so theres more to it than that, but that is perhaps the most powerful tip I can offer. If you can manage to keep all of your plumbing within interior, stick framed walls, you will eliminate most of the hassles associated with plumbing straw bale structures. In fact, if designed properly, a straw bale house will differ very little from a conventional house as far as the plumbers are concerned.

A typical problem area is the kitchen sink. Most home owners want a kitchen sink with a view. In most cases that means the sink is against an exterior wall centered on a window. That makes it difficult to keep the plumbing out of the wall. In some scenarios the plumber can wet vent the lines to allow them to exit the building through a framed wall. If not, you have two options to best protect the bales. The first is to sleeve the pipes in wider conduits so that if there is a leak, it will be contained within a secondary section of pipe. Another option, and the one I strongly prefer, is to block out the wall with framing and place the pipes within the block out. The interior of the block out can be water proofed to contain any leaks and direct them out of the house without contacting the bales. Another plumbing detail commonly used in conventional homes is the placement of the tub/shower against an exterior wall. Unlike conventional homes, the tub/shower walls will be well insulated against a straw bale wall; however, the risk of water damage to the bales is high and special care must be taken. The extent of the risk is proportional to the permeability of the finish materials for the shower. In other words, if a drop in fiberglass unit is used to create the walls of the shower, the bales can be adequately protected with minimal extra effort. On the other hand, if some porous tile or natural stone is used, the substrate will have to be protected with extra care as water will find its way through the finish. The less permeable the finish material, the better. For example, the fewer grout joints the material has, the less likely there will be a problem as grout is very permeable. There are many options out there including tile (well backed), solid surface material like that used on counter tops, metal roofing, natural stone, glass, drop in fiberglass units, and others.

Whenever it is not possible to protect the bales from contact with water, consider framing the area out as shown in the sketch above. In this scenario, the framing and wall insulation can be wrapped in waterproof materials that drain to the exterior. This not only gives you more space in your bathroom floor plan, but also eliminates the risk of damaging your bales with water. Another place this comes in handy is when placing a hose bib through an exterior bale wall. This total isolation of plumbing from bales is, in my opinion, the best way to manage water in bale homes. Finally, follow standard practices for wet locations in the design. Keep kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and other wet areas close to each other to minimize costs and material use. When building with a concrete slab, locations on the first floor need to be accurate and well planned as they will literally be set in stone once the concrete has been poured.

3. Hanging Cabinets

If possible, eliminate the use of upper cabinets in the kitchen. A well designed pantry can easily replace many upper cabinets. This will simplify the baling process by eliminating the need to provide horizontal nailers for the cabinetry. If you cannot design the kitchen to avoid the use of upper cabinets, you will have to install nailing backers in the bales on which to hang the cabinets. Notice the black felted, horizontal nailers on the right hand side of this photo. There are nailers for the top of the base cabinet as well as the top and bottom of the upper cabinets.

A bit off topic, but notice also in the picture the partition wall anchors against the straw bale walls. The vertical studs with felt covered plywood backers extending on either side provide nailing surface for the interior wall drywall and the bale wall mesh. Bale walls are not known for their flatness. In fact, they are somewhat treasured for their natural undulations. That said, the cabinet and counter sub-contractors will want to install against as flat, straight and square of a surface as possible for a solid and secure fit. Without a flat and straight wall, the counter tops will not fit tightly to the wall. This not only looks bad, but also creates a problem for the bales which run the risk of getting wet from splash dripping down behind the counter. In addition to improving the quality of the job, creating a flat, straight and square wall makes the installation faster and thus less expensive. A great advantage to straw bale construction is the thickness of the walls. When it comes to cabinetry, it is possible to recess the cabinets or shelves into the bales walls. This creates extra storage space without sticking the cabinets further out into the room. Or, you can set the cabinets back even further and place the face frames flush with the plane of the wall. This works well in Japanese style architecture and creates a clean line for any set of cabinets or shelves. It is also a good idea to recess refrigerators as they are often deeper than the cabinets around them. By recessing it into the wall, you can line the face of the refrigerator up with the face of the cabinets. Even if you do not hang cabinets within the depth of the walls, you can still create beautiful accent pieces by cutting niche into the walls. The niche can be any shape your imagination conjures up and can be cut to any depth. In general, do not cut them too deep as the insulation value of the wall will be reduced by cutting out the straw in the nook. Often, it makes sense to mimic a window or door opening in order to balance the language of the building.

4. Creating Round Walls

Round buildings have long been a part of the construction world. Creating round details in conventional homes has been a hassle for just about as long. Straw bale walls, on the other hand, lend themselves nicely to the creation of round shapes. The pliability of the bales enables them to be bent to the right shape while still retaining their structural strength. The hardest part about building round walls in straw bale construction is still the conventional part: the framing. The key is to get as close to the shape as possible with the rigid materials of wood and steel and then use the pliable bales and plaster to smooth out the differences. You will

find that certain radiuses become too much for even a bale wall to handle. The larger the radius, the easier the round wall is to create. When windows and doors are added to the equation, it gets harder. Once again you are dealing with a rigid building material and trying to conform it to a bend. In general, the same rules apply as those outlined above; however, you will have to create extra sill protection to stop the walls from taking on water. This happens because the center of the windows will be recessed into the bales by the simple fact that they are straight and the walls are curved. With proper attention to flashing details, and the creation of a sill, this does not present a problem and can actually enhance the look of the building. Round walls are a great application for using load bearing construction. Although load bearing straw bale construction is outside of the scope of this course, it is important to note that curved walls are significantly easier with load bearing detailing. As mentioned above, the hardest part of building round walls with in-fill construction is the rigid framing members. If the framing is removed, the only other difficulty is in the door and window buck design. The same solutions available for in-fill construction can be utilized for load bearing bucks as well.

5. Baling Without Running Bond

Time and time again, the importance of laying the bales in running bond is reiterated. If the bales are not run in this fashion, i.e. so that the joint created by two bales next to each other is spanned by a solid bale above and below (like bricks), the wall will be weak and unstable. There are, however, situations where running bond is not a viable option and the wall must be stacked one bale directly on top of another. A perfect example of this situation is when two windows are placed close enough to each other in a home that there is only enough room for one width of bale in between them. Stacking seven or eight bales on top of each other is not very strong, especially if they are not full length bales. In a situation like this, you must anchor the bales to the frame to increase their stability. Additional blocking may be required within the frame to make this possible. Install the blocking after several courses of bales so you dont create additional notching requirements. The blocking, installed after a bale, can also help secure the wall by squeezing the bale into place. Another place where a continued running bond can be interrupted is when you need to switch from baling on the flat (strings on top and bottom), to baling on edge (strings on the sides). This is sometimes required if a section of wall needs to be thinner than the

section next to it. Rather than running the bales through a band saw or ripping them with a chainsaw, they can be laid on edge. The problem with this, of course, is that they are no longer the same size as the bales on the flat so the running bond cannot continue. Again, the bales at the transition of these two techniques need to be anchored to the frame with additional detailing. Running bond construction is not possible if the bales are interrupted by something over the entire height of the wall, no matter what it is. To that end, windows that extend to the floor and ceiling, doors, bookcases, and all other interruptions may require extra attention for the bales. In these areas, it may be possible to rely on the strength of the mesh to anchor the bales to the frame; however, if the wall feels weak, it probably is and additional anchoring will be necessary. The bales can be anchored to the frame in a number of ways including twine, strapping, mesh, or additional framing. I have found the simplest method is to install "squash blocks" as described above. Small additional sections of wood blocking installed after a few courses of bales work extremely well. Remember that tight bales are essential for a quality plastering job as loose bales make a weak wall and force the plaster to act as a structural bridge in loosely baled areas.

6. High Rain Environments

If you live in an area where rain, and lots of it, is the norm, you will need to make some adjustments to the detailing of your building. It is very important the walls be protected from continuous rain. The best way to accomplish this is by designing adequate roof overhangs to stop the rain from hitting the sides of the building. In the case of multiple story homes, you may need to add an additional roofline at the floor level of the top stories. Without this, the structures main roof will not be able to protect the lower storys walls well enough. Roof overhangs will only help as much as they themselves are protected. In other words, a roof overhang will help prevent water landing directly on the walls as it rains down from the sky; however, if there are no gutters on the overhang, the rain will have an opportunity to splash up onto the walls as it falls off of the roof and hits the ground. Even with gutters in place, you may choose to add housewrap to the bottom two or three courses of bales to protect the bales from rain splash. Another option is to build a small pony wall and place the bales on top of that. This idea has two major benefits. First of all, it keeps the bales away from rain splash. Secondly, it provides an area for the plumbers and electricians to run their materials without having to get into the bales. One downside to building a pony wall is the extra lumber used for the construction which could otherwise have been avoided.

A detail often overlooked when building a straw bale house is the placement of waterproofing material on top of the bales before the walls are plastered. The idea behind this is that if the roof ever leaks, the water will run down the rafters and into the bales. With the waterproof membrane in place, the water cannot enter the bales. Instead, it will be directed towards the plaster. When it hits the plaster, a wet mark will eventually show up and alert you of the leak. Then the investigation begins and the search for the leak source is on! The most common leak in any home is around the wall openings: windows and doors. Proper flashing details are a must in any home and perhaps even more so in a straw bale home. If the proper counter flashing and flashing are not installed, leaks may find their way into the building and saturate the bales. The presence of the leak may not be detected until it is too late. With proper flashing of the openings, water that manages to make it past your first line of defense will have to navigate its way through a series of waterproof membranes before it can reach the bales. With extra defense against water infiltration, you should never have trouble with water damaged bales.

7. Patching Holes in the Bales

No matter how precise you are when baling, there will be spots that need to be filled in. In most situations, this takes place during the stuffing phase. There are spots, however, that you may have missed while stuffing. With the wire mesh in place, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to stuff straw into these gaps. When that is the case, a few options are available. You could simply fill the holes with plaster, but this becomes expensive and the strength of the patch is directly related to the strength of the plaster. Most plasters are not rated for structural fill and so depending on it for such a fix is unwise. Packing cob, a mixture of clay, sand and straw, into the holes is a great option. It is cheap, especially if you have the materials on the site (i.e. clay rich dirt, sand for plaster, and straw), and it is very strong. Another option is to use expansion foam. Although less environmentally sound, it works well to fill voids. The best example of a good use of expansion foam is in areas where cob cannot fill the entire void due to the shape of it. In other words, areas where the opening is small but the void is large. The foam can fit into those spaces and fill them up well. Before the mesh is attached to the bales, you can use loose straw, cob, or a straw/clay mixture to fill gaps. There are some cases where the material, no matter

what it is, will not stay in place. This can be very frustrating. In these cases, use burlap patches. The burlap is fastened to the bales in small pieces and then straw is stuffed behind the patch. This way you do not have to work behind the sharp metal mesh which can sometimes be a struggle to add your stuffing and have it stay put. No matter what type of fill material or patch you choose, be sure to keep the structural mesh free from it. If the foam, clay or cob engulfs the wire grid, then the mesh will no longer act as a part of the plasters structure in that area. Although the impact of such a structural gap would likely be minimal, it is best to pay attention to all the details, no matter how small they may seem, in order to end up with the best project possible.