Straw Bale exhibit at GreenSpark
In the middle of September we’ve added a second exhibit to the Green Building section.
This exhibit features strawbale as a building technique. Straw bales can be used as in-fill for the timber frame, or even on certain occasions as a weight bearing wall. In our case, for demonstration purposes only, we made this sample wall 12″ thick, but in case of a real house, it would be twice as thick.
Did you know that Straw Bale construction method is included in the International Residential Code?
To construct this exhibit we first built a frame using 8″ by 8″ heavy timbers. After that we stacked the bales into the 10′ by 6′ opening. Side facing bale ends were dipped in a runny mixture of clay, which, after drying up, created a good surface for the plaster to bind to.
Some bales had to be resized to fit into the smaller spaces. Once the bales were in place, we coated the whole wall with a protective plaster layer.
We also built a small “truth” window, where all the stages of built are visible for your enjoyment.
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