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 ?NO.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 all?8) and visit EVERY day?;^)
all the best Michael