<div>Dear Bane,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I have visited this house a while ago and at first impression I really liked it. When taking a better look at it, I found possible future problems. The straw in between the beams is very loose (not compressed very well). You can easily put your hand through it/possible future problem with thermal bridging, or at least bad/uneven isolation). They might still be working on it, so they might improve this, but it is very hard to compress straw into triangles and have relatively flat walls on both sides. We were also thinking about making triangle bales for such spaces, but we came to conclusion that this structure is not suitable for our climate: hot summers and cold winters and lots of wind: as wood is not the perfect isolation (read not isolation at all) there would is a thermal bridge at every post, as there is much poorer isolation. I am not sure if this structure is good for Kobarid region (they don`t have so much wind, but they have low temperatures in the winter as well). I agree that this structure is the most material and cost efficient and it also looks nice, but after having second thoughts I came to conclusion that this is not what I want to do. I want to have a house which is isolated very well. The timber company which does post & beam structures is a family with 3 generations of expirience and their own wood production. They have made lots of houses and they have very good references. They make celulouse fill for isolation and plastic fascade. They use OSB plates all the time and no problems have occured so far related to mold/moisture. Of course straw is a different matter, but I guess if ventilated very well to the outside it should work fine. I am reconsidering to use wooden boards for the bales fixation on the outer side of the wooden structure (to gain better breathability). Thank you for all the info and hints Bane.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Regards,<br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">2010/11/27 Bane M. Prvanovic <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:house@beocity...">house@beocity...</a>></span><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Reply for Mr. Jure Pozar:</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Dear Jure, here is one example of what you spoked about (post/beams/diagonal timber):</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font><img border="0" hspace="0" alt="" align="baseline" src="cid:009101cb8e79$e8a6bea0$0202a8c0@gpbmain"></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">The builder is Janez Velkavrh, our customer near Ljubljana. He is very pleasant, not a professional straw-bale builder, but according to my communication with him, I got a picture of a real nice men who could be willing to share his experience with straw-bale building with you. As you can see on the picture, he also had a lot of diagonal timbers which are crucial for structure stability, but had enough patience (and working hands) to do excellent and amazing job. My opinion is that this is the best (and cheapest) way to buld wooden structure home with walls of straw-bales. I didn't spoke with him about floors, but I think he didn't isolate it with straw-bales. However, according to last three drawings you posted, you will never have any problem with the straw-bale moisture in the floor, because it is - uh - like ventilated.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Regarding to your budget, I think that 150.000 is way too enough to finish structure like on the plan, just be very carefull with picking cotractor or wooden structure subcontractor, and you will be fine. Maybe Mr. Janez had good contractor or subcontractor, so he can refere you to one.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Here is Mr. Janez's contact:</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Janez Velkavrh</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Stara cesta 34</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">1354 Horjul (Ljubljana)</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">His telephone numbers are registered, so ask Informations to get one (I did the same way). Be free to bespeak my personal best regards to Mr. Janez, and I think he will be willing to answer any question you need. V Slovenščini bosta lahko pogovarjala o vseh Vaših težav in vprašanjih...</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Best regards,</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Bane M. Prvanovic</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">GPB Solutions d.o.o.<br>Celopecka 8<br>11000 Beograd</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">t / f +381 11 386 23 29<br>m + 381 60 711 0 211<br></font><a href="http://www.housefasade.com/" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Tahoma">www.housefasade.com</font></a></div></font></div>
</div></div><br>____________________________________________________<br> European strawbale building discussion list<br><br>Send all messages to:<br><a href="mailto:Strawbale@amper....muni.cz">Strawbale@amper....muni.cz</a><br>
<br>Archives, subscription options, etc:<br><a href="http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale" target="_blank">http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale</a><br>____________________________________________________<br>
<br><br><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Jure Požar dipl. org. tur. / general manager<br><br>HOTEL SPORT & Biking in Notranjska<br>Kolodvorska c. 1, Postojna<br>Slovenia<br>Tel.: 00386 5 720 22 44<br>
Fax: 00386 5 720 22 40<br>Mobile: 00386 41 268 428<br><a href="http://www.sport-hotel.si">www.sport-hotel.si</a><br><a href="http://www.dos-extreme.si">www.dos-extreme.si</a><br>