Paul Lacinski - Serious Straw Bale: A Home Construction Guide for All Climates

SERIOUS STRAW BALE

SERIOUS STRAW BALE

A Home Construction Guide for All Climates

Paul Lacinski and Michel Bergeron

CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING COMPANY
White River Junction, Vermont

Copyright 2000 by Paul Lacinski and Michel Bergeron.
Unless otherwise noted, photographs are copyright 2000 by Michel Bergeron,
Paul Lacinski, and Amy Klippenstein.
Illusirations copyright 2000 Michael Middleton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Designed by Andrea Gray.
Cover by Ann Aspell.

Printed in Canada.

First printing, October 2000.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Printed on acid-free, recycled paper.

Due to the variability of local conditions, materials, skills, site, and so forth. Chelsea Green Publishing Company and the authors assume no liability for personal injury, property damage, or loss from actions inspired by information in this book. Remember that any construction process can be dangerous. Moreover, because building codes in most areas do not yet address the practice of straw bale construction, and because each new straw bale building may serve as an example and prototype for others, it is especially important that builders approach their work with due caution, care, and a sense of responsibility.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lacinski, Paul, 1967

Serious straw bale: a home construction guide for all climates/Paul Lacinski and Michel Bergeron.

p. cm. (The Real Goods solar living books)

Includes bibliographical references.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-60358-208-7

1. Straw bale housesDesign and construction. I. Bergeron, Michel. 1946- II. Title. III. Real Goods solar living book.

TH4818.S77 L33 2000
693'.997dc21 00-058943

Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Post Office Box 428
White River Junction, VT 05001
(800) 639-4099
www.chelseagreen.com

CONTENTS

PART 1
Straw Bale Buildings in Perspective

PART 2
Straw Bale Structures

PART 3
Straw Bale Finishes

PART 4
Straw Matters

T HIS IS A BOOK ABOUT WALLSabout how to design and build beautiful (and hopefully durable) walls of bales and plaster. It is written with one intention, to provide you with the background necessary to think your way through a straw bale project even in an extremely cold and/or wet climate. It is emphatically not a book that aims to prescribe one best way of doing things; part of what is exciting about bale and plaster walls is that they are not yet (and perhaps never will be) streamlined into a one-size-fits-all system.

This is also not a book about the general topic of building design. Materials are only a small portion of good design; they are subservient to the many interlocking issuesthe needs of the occupant, aesthetics, energy use, site, structure, and budget among themthat weave a design program. This book does not attempt to lead the reader through all the stages of this intricate process. Many good books already do that. Instead, it looks at design issues from the specific perspective of the straw bale builder, and at each turn, offers strategies for how to integrate these types of walls into the larger process of design.

The central text of this book revolves around design issues. We hope these will be of use to anyonearchitect, builder, owner-builder, Renaissance womanwho is thinking about how best to detail a bale-walled building. Some issues that are primarily the concern of owner-builders are covered in sidebars, as are some construction issues. Part 1 of the book, and most notably chapter 3 (Plans, Permits, and Project Management) is written with owner-builders particularly in mind.

Wherever possible, we have offered our opinion on the efficiency of a particular method or durability of a particular detail. You must understand that while we (and the many others who have contributed ideas to this book) have been at this work for some time, we dont have all the answers to all the questions about straw bale construction. Much experimentation, systematization, and testing remains to be done. The goal of this book is to supply you with the best of the tools now available, so that you may begin to participate in this process. We hope the material that follows is useful to you, and that your bale adventure is as fun and rewarding as ours has been.

All building sites produce waste. On a straw bale construction site, the waste straw can be used as mulch!