friendly way, light clay-straw is also used in new wood framed structures. Inexpensive, easy, and using very low-impact materials, light clay-straw is often incorporated into straw bale structures as interior walls and as an insulative fill in areas of the wall where a straw bale does not easily fit.
2.4: Earthbag building.
2.5: Cordwood (or “stackwall”) house.
2.6: Straw/clay packed between wood studs.
Hempcrete
A mixture of finely chopped hemp stalks and hydraulic lime, hempcrete can provide an insulative fill for walls framed in a variety of ways (timber framing, stud framing, etc.).
2.7: Hempcrete porch.
2.8: Papercrete vault.
Light, fireproof, and long-lasting with an excellent R-value, hempcrete can be its own building system, or complement a straw bale structure as insulative fill in awkward cavities, as entire interior or exterior walls, or as a thick plaster. Certain mixes of hempcrete have the potential to replace insulated concrete foundations.
Papercrete and Fidobe
Similar to hempcrete, papercrete and fidobe use cement or clay as a binder around a paper fiber aggregate, creating lightweight, strong, and highly insulative material.
Cement or clay binders have also been used around sawdust aggregate. All of these methods make use of waste fibers to create an adaptable and useful building material.
Baled Waste Materials
This book focuses on the use of straw bales, but many other waste products are similarly baled and used as building materials. Non-recyclable plastics, car tires, shredded paper, and cardboard are all compactly baled for minimizing size and ease of handling. These bales, often free or inexpensive, can be used in similar ways to straw bales. (See Other Baled Stuff in Chapter 3).
Traditional Building Materials
For environmental and cost considerations, it is often worthwhile to study historical building materials and systems. Timber framing, stone masonry, wattle and daub, and thatch all offer the potential to use sustainably harvested natural materials to create beautiful, non-toxic, efficient homes.
In pursuing your ideal home plans, we encourage you to research these methods and to apply them in creative ways that are appropriate to your project, your location, and your climate. Our goal is the creation of healthy, environmentally sound, appropriate housing; we find straw bale construction to be an excellent option in this pursuit, but by no means the only option. Unique hybrids of straw bale and the materials mentioned above are often the best solution for creating the ideal building for any given circumstance.
References
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