Straw Bale
From Antivist
Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. It is commonly used in natural building. It has advantages over some conventional building system because of its cost and easy availability, and its high insulation value.
Straw bale building typically consists of stacking a series of rows of bales (often in running-bond) on a raised footing or foundation, with a moisture barrier between. Bale walls are often tied together with pins of bamboo, rebar, or wood (internal to the bales or on their faces), or with surface wire meshes, and then stuccoed or plastered, either with cementaceous mixes, lime-based formulations or earth/clay renders. Bale buildings can either have a strucural frame of other materials, with bales between (simply serving as insulation and stucco substrate), referred to as "infill",or the bales may actually provide the support for openings and roof, referred to as "load-bearing" or "Nebraska-style", or a combination of framing and load-bearing may be employed, referred to a "hybrid" straw bale.
