[Strawbale] Re: Strawbale Digest, Vol 2, Issue 2

[Michael K Lough]

	Donald said

>I am surprised that several months, rain and snow caused no harmful effects
>- I guess you must have had a few sleepless nights over that one. But I
>don't think I can bring myself to leave the whole structure exposed til next
>April!


It is difficult to think of such a long time and 
harsh weather in the same thought as straw I 
agree but if you go through the logic of it it 
does make a bit more sense.

For example. Are the bales going to blow away? 
Being ripped piece by piece til theres absolutely 
nothing left except a few lonely straws ?
Well ŠNO.
If there was a hurricane maybe the outside edges 
might fray a bit but nothing too serious. This 
only leaves snow and rain really doesnt it? And 
I'm guessing you have never seen a blizzard where 
the only thing that happens is that  snow which 
is frozen material gathers in clumps on the 
surface of the straw and stays there unless the 
sun comes out and  melts it off the surface and 
then dries the SURFACE. By the way snow is good 
insulation.

Rain is the biggest threat, and  even when it is 
horizontal it does not penetrate further than the 
first solid object which in the case of  straw 
means no further than maybe 3 or 4 inches This 
will in the not raining period after the raining 
period dry out as the wind can get that far in if 
the rain could. The death knell for straw bales 
is to be wetted in the middle right through from 
directly above  and there is at least one 
Canadian of Scottish ancestry in Ontario that in 
the midst of building his 4000 square foot 2 
story  home was hit with exposed bales by the 
tail end of Hurricane (cant remember name) who 
says bales can dry out from such an attack and it 
looks like he may be right.

IF you have deep recesses in between some bales 
which do go further than 3 or 4 inches then MAYBE 
stuff something in these crevices to stop further 
penetration or maybe just tarp it allŠ8) and 
visit EVERY dayŠ;^)

all the best

Michael