Straw Bale Building Dimensions

Straw bales can be heavy and bulky to move especially when building the upper courses of a straw bale structure.

Straw bale building dimensions. The international codes i codes are the widely accepted comprehensive set of model codes used in the us and abroad to help ensure the engineering of safe sustainable affordable and resilient structures. Straw bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw commonly wheat rice rye and oats straw as structural elements building insulation or both this construction method is commonly used in natural building or brown construction projects. Research has shown that straw bale construction is a sustainable method for building from the standpoint of both materials and energy. Many straw bale homeowners opt to help with the construction in part to reduce labor costs.

A 23 inch thick straw bale wall has an r value of about r 33. To begin with the three stringers tend to be roughly 24 wide x 16 high x 48 long and the two stringers are roughly 18 wide x 14 high x 36 long. Basic straw bales are produced on farms and referred to as field bales. It is not advisable to just buy bales from your fodder store as they will not be tightly compressed.

2 4 metres x 900mm x 900mm jumbo bales or. There are many articles online about designing straw bale building construction and techniques that you will enjoy and should find useful. And since virtually all straw bale walls are plastered on both sides these walls are relatively airtight. There are at least three options.

They must be protected from damp from the outside and in. Two string bales measuring 16 tall x 18 wide x 45 long. Three string bales measuring 14 17 tall x 24 wide x 48 long. These come in a range of sizes from small two string ones 18 in 460 mm wide by either 14 or 16 in 350 to 400 mm high and 32 to 48 in 0 8 to 1 2 m long to three string commercial bales 21 in wide by 16 in high by 3 to 4 ft long.

Straw bale walls need to start 225 450mm from the ground. See figure 1 if you are designing a smaller building the two stringers may be the better choice to allow for more interior floor space. If it is a larger building the three stringers may be the better choice for reasons of proportion. The common bale size is 900 mm long by 450 mm wide by 350 mm high.

There are suppliers who will provide construction bales check out the professionals tab these are more tightly compressed bales approximately 20kg and 950x450x350mm in dimension. The height can vary and some bales are 400 mm and we have used some at 300 mm. The international code council icc is a non profit organization dedicated to developing model codes and standards used in the design build and compliance process. Two string bales measuring 14 tall x 18 wide x 36 long.