FW: [Strawbale] "Re: Contents of Strawbale digest..." rammed-earth SBhouse which is being finished this summer in Spain

[Patrick O'Neill]

Hi

Original compression Settlement may be 10% but this will be VERY subject to
the quality of the bale, unfortunately no EU standard as yet.  I am
expecting the flat tiled roof and the parapet wall to do the initial
compression but I am more worried about creep over the next 6 months. 

I hope to avoided most of the problem by supporting the ceiling joists on
the 2 (mostly/80%) SB walls and a central beam (the building is 13m wide).
By putting an expansion joint in the flat roof over the beam I hope to be
able to allow for a lot of movement with out disturbing the integrity of the
tiled flat roof.
 
Once built; I will have one ceiling beam and an over window beam to adjust
(5 points in total) once a month for 6 months (that's my plan anyway if
anyone has a better one please let me know).

I have seen several STRONG warnings against putting metal bars inside the
straw bales because of the risk of condensation.

The pictures that Ben asked about are from - Rikki Nitzkin, at earthlink.net


Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Larmett [mailto:Eric.Larmett at arup...] 
Sent: 02 June 2006 16:02
To: European strawbale building discussions
Cc: Ben Albu; patrick at frdata....uk
Subject: RE: [Strawbale] "Re: Contents of Strawbale digest..." rammed-earth
SBhouse which is being finished this summer in Spain

Hi guys

Interesting thoughts.

We are considering a straw bale wall for approx 50% of the external wall
with the other 50% made up of glass. 
We have identified the issue of differential settlement and considered
pre compressing the straw bale walls.
Essentially we would have threaded bar inside the bales (2 per bale).
These would be fixed to the sole plate and the wall plate would be
tightened down to compress the bales. Thus taking out the initial
compression.
Do you know of any figures (rule of thumb) to apply to the compressive
nature of the bales.
The roof would be supported by both glass and straw bale walls.

Cheers

Eric Larmett
Senior Engineer
 
Arup Building Engineering
St James's Building, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6EL
tel:           +44(0) 161 228 2331
fax:          +44(0) 161 236 1057
mob:       +44(0) 7855 366510
internal:   63382
eric.larmett at arup...
www.arup.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: strawbale-bounces at amper....muni.cz
[mailto:strawbale-bounces at amper....muni.cz] On Behalf Of Ben Albu
Sent: 02 June 2006 13:34
To: European strawbale building discussions
Subject: Re: [Strawbale] "Re: Contents of Strawbale digest..."
rammed-earth SBhouse which is being finished this summer in Spain

Hi Patrick,

I am also interested in such a house, but where was it build in Spain ?
Do you know where I can find some pics of it ?

Kind regards

Ben Albu
Belgium

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 14:19:44 +0200, Patrick O'Neill
<patrick at frdata....uk>  
wrote:

> I was very interested in the rammed-earth SB house which is being  
> finished
> this summer in Spain. I am looking at a similar project in Guadalajara

> for
> 2007.
>
>
> I would like to see your photos.  I considered a rammed earth wall on
the
> south but I was worried about differential settlement with the other
SB
> walls.
>
>
> At the moment our plan is 3 SB walls and a glass wall on the south  
> side.  We
> will use shading and insulated/reflective shutters to manage the solar

> gain
> entering the building from the south and thick earth floors, earth  
> internal
> walls and earth staircases for thermal mass.
>
>
> Question
>
> We plan to support the beam over the window on threaded bar and adjust

> it as
> the straw settles dose any one have experience of this???
>
>
> Patrick
>
>
>



-- 
Ben Albu
St Jansbergsesteenweg 101
3001 Heverlee

0476 57 53 20

ben at albu...
www.albu.be

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