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The environmentally conscious around us are learning the ancient art of the mud hut.
They will soon learn about fire and burning buildings
https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/straw-bale-house.htm
It might seem like straw bale houses pose a tremendous fire hazard, but they provide roughly three times the fire resistance of conventional homes [source: Morrison]. Loose straw is indeed flammable, but the bales are so tightly packed that they actually increase fire resistance. In a tightly packed bale, there’s no oxygen, which reduces the chance for combustion. The plaster coating of the walls adds an additional fire-resistant seal. The National Research Council of Canada conducted testing where straw bale walls withstood temperatures up to 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit (1,010 degrees Celsius) for two hours [source: Mother Earth News Magwood, Mack, Therrien].
Interesting! I was the one who learned about fire and buildings.
In a tightly packed bale
Like this?
Funny (if unoriginal) take. But in reality, properly compressed straw bales turn out to be a really good building material.
I saw on FB that a friend of mine built and lives in one of these and I didn’t have the heart to bring up Goldilocks or Trogdor the Burninator.
Bale and daube or adobe houses are really nice though.
They feel really different to live in. Some much more temperature stable.
I feel itchy just looking at this.
Also the spiders. Also the mold.
Have you seen ordinary insulation?
I have installed it. I have also loaded bails. I’ll take the insulation any day.
It’s also flame resistant. Straw is the opposite.
It gets covered in plaster and is more fire resistant than a wood house.
https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/straw-bale-house.htm
Also:
It’s important to get straw, not hay, for a straw bale home. Hay contains leafy material that is delicious to a range of animals, while straw is not a food source. Tightly packed straw, combined with properly applied plaster, makes it hard for critters to get into straw bale walls. Even if they do, there’s nothing for them to eat. Conventional homes, with nooks and crannies behind the walls, are more attractive to rodents.
Using straw should also ease the concerns of hay fever and allergy sufferers. Unlike hay, straw does not contain pollens. Rather, it’s a natural, breathable material, one that proponents are quick to compare to modern building materials, which may contain formaldehyde and other chemicals. Lastly, hay also decomposes naturally, making the house likely to rot, while straw usually requires additional nitrates to decompose.
The image above is definitely misleading. I did a bit more research and apparently because of how densely the straw is packed it doesn’t burn well.
Information on being more or less prone to infestation is mixed.
As for mold, everything I found stresses cracks in the coating, which will happen in any construction as buildings shift and settle, need to be repaired immediately to prevent moisture from getting in. This seems to be the biggest drawback. For fiberglass insulation you’ll install a vapor barrier, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with straw construction.
Straw homes are the way of the future, says every alternative construction and energy believer ever. Along with cobb, tires, and whatever else.
They’ve been around forever. They’re really only suitable for certain environments. They don’t last as long as regular construction. They are good at what they do while they do it, though. I wouldn’t have a problem living in one.
Also modern means of production made use able to turn it into excellent non flamable isolation material.
