straw buildings

[Mushy]

Hi

has anyone come across a building built from straw in their travels?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/13/straw-houses-balehaus-bre

[Demontim]

Not directly but there was one on the 'Grand Designs' TV show about four years ago.

Seem to recall it was much simpler (bales stiched together with hazel switches and covered in lime render) than the prefab at Bath and they were more concerned with rodent problems than they were with the log burner they'd installed.

[Dinnertime Dave]

Hi

has anyone come across a building build from straw in their travels?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/13/straw-houses-balehaus-bre

have you tried little pig builders

[Mushy]

Hi

has anyone come across a building build from straw in their travels?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/13/straw-houses-balehaus-bre

have you tried little pig builders

I was wondering how long it would take...

[Mushy]

cheers demontim..I've heard there's a building of straw at the hulme community garden centre in Manchester...good one for building control 

[Tom Sutton]

Using straw in construction is not new http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2001/4/1/Compressed-Straw-Wall-and-Ceiling-Panels-from-Affordable-Building-Systems/

The big danger is when the covering material is damaged and not repaired immediately, been to a number of fires involving straw panels (stramit) in the construction with no major problems. The biggest problem is peoples conception.

[Northern Uproar]

I think they were used quite a bit in cheap housing in the Liverpool overspill towns in the 50's as they provided good insulation - but once you damage the linings holding the walls together (re-wiring etc), fire can get in and it can cause problems as the walls can collapse and increase the fire loading. Don't know how different the fixing methods are in modern variants.

For info, try Cheshire Fire Service.

[Mushy]

cheers all

[CivvyFSO]

The biggest problem is peoples conception.

That is quite deep. Are you blaming creation/evolution for the risk?

[Tom Sutton]

Doh  As usually my powers of communication is crap but what I was trying to say may be better explained in the following anecdote.

We had an housing estate were all the non load bearing walls were  made of stramit (straw board) and the windows were Upvc. As the result of a fire in one of them most on the estate were convinced they were living in tinder boxes and demanded re housing, we with other authorities, had to convince them otherwise. It was not easy, incidentally they are still there today and haven't been raised to the ground.

However I do accept the straw bale construction referred to in this thread is a different matter.

[xan]

Hi

has anyone come across a building built from straw in their travels?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/13/straw-houses-balehaus-bre

I vaguley remember being shown around one being built about 10 years ago by a friend of an ex colleague,cant remember that much about it apart from it just consisted of a lot of straw bales piled on top of each other.It must be ok,as it hasn't blown/burnt down yet,often see it (although set back from the road behind trees) as it is only a couple of miles down the road.