Re: [Strawbale] 1. Re: Europe's largest strawbale building (Sport Hotel, Jure Pozar)

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.

2010/11/27 Bane M. Prvanovic <house@beocity...>

Reply for Mr. Jure Pozar:

Dear Jure, here is one example of what you spoked about (post/beams/diagonal timber):

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.

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.

Here is Mr. Janez's contact:

Janez Velkavrh

Stara cesta 34

1354 Horjul (Ljubljana)

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...

Best regards,

Bane M. Prvanovic

GPB Solutions d.o.o.
Celopecka 8
11000 Beograd

t / f +381 11 386 23 29
m + 381 60 711 0 211
www.housefasade.com

____________________________________________________
European strawbale building discussion list

Send all messages to:
Strawbale@amper....muni.cz

Archives, subscription options, etc:
http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale
____________________________________________________