Comments on: Q: Wood Frame vs. Straw Bale Home Construction: Which is More Sustainable?

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:46:30 +0000

There is a lot of inaccurate information about the R-value of straw-bale walls. Like statements of an R-value of 45.

Oakridge National Laboratories did two tests, the first was faulty so a second was done using a wall that “Several nationally known straw-bale home builders oversaw construction of the walls and the testing.”

The testing showed an overall rating of 1.45 per inch or R-27.5 for a 19 inch wall.

The testing and results can be found at this link
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/AWT/HotboxTest/Hybrid/StrawBale/index.htm

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:18:31 +0000

What are the fire risks to straw bale homes.
With a lot of hot summers predicted with global warming what are the chances of straw bale homes spontainessly combusting.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:26:56 +0000

How do you deal with electircal and plumbing change from frame to straw bale homes?

By: Suzy

Suzy — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:36:24 +0000

Yup! Get some information at http://www.thinkdwell.com/blog/q-what-are-sips-are-they-green/

By: bill

bill — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:15:56 +0000

Did we find out who makes the straw sips??

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:52:29 +0000

Who makes compressed straw sips?

By: Suzy

Suzy — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:43:08 +0000

Ergo, while I appreciate your involvement in the discussion, we do not promote the widespread use of Styrofoam. Expanded polystyrene (aka styrofoam) is a toxic material that lasts 900 years+ in landfills (and that is only our estimation, because we still have not seen styrofoam decay naturally yet).

While both straw bale and wood construction use energy and resources, our outlook at ThinkDwell is that using these natural materials (not man-made ones) is far better than using ones that have a distinct reputation for cluttering landfills and coast lines. The creation of styrofoam is not a natural process, so by creating this chemical at a faster rate than we currently are is inadvisable. In fact, most responsible businesses are trying to greatly reduce the amount of Styrofoam they use. One of our new projects, http://www.gofoamfree.com, encourages businesses to think responsibly and to consider the effects of the effects of the effects of their business- not only those that are associated with the product they directly produce, but those that are associated with the services they hire, the production of the materials they use, and the disposal of these materials.

SIPs are an efficient way of building, and the most sustainable/ecofriendly version we know of is made from straw. It’s compressed using a lot of pressure and made into a very strong panel with great insulating/fire protection properties.

By: ErgoDesk

ErgoDesk — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:02:15 +0000

Wood Frame vs. Straw Bale Home Construction: Which is More Sustainable?

Well that a great question. I feel that both are poor over the long haul. There is a new breed of Green Sustainable Building Systems.

http://StyrohomeNews.blogspot.com

By: Candace

Candace — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:08:13 +0000

Wow. Thank you. I really appreciate the information laid out at your ThinkDwell website. I had not thought about all the repercussions associated with straw.