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HISTORY
Straw houses have been built on the African plains since the Paleolithic Era. Straw
bales were used in construction 26 years ago in Germany; and straw-thatched
roofs have long been used in northern Europe and Asia. In the New World,
teepees were insulated in winter with loose straw between the inner lining and
outer cover.One-story building with flat roof, large steeple
Straw-bale construction was greatly facilitated by the mechanical hay baler,
which was invented in the 1850s and was widespread by the 1890s. It proved
particularly useful in the Nebraska Sandhills. Pioneers seeking land under the
1862 Homestead Act and the 1904 Kinkaid Act found a dearth of trees over much
of Nebraska. In many parts of the state, the soil was suitable for dugouts and sod
houses. However, in the Sandhills, the soil generally made poor construction sod;
in the few places where suitable sod could be found, it was more valuable for
agriculture than as a building material. Straw is a large "waste" product from the
agricultural industry, which should be fully utilized as a sustainable building
material.
METHOD
Straw bale building typically consists of stacking rows of bales (often in running-
bond) on a raised footing or foundation, with a moisture barrier or capillary break
between the bales and their supporting platform. There are two types of straw-
bales commonly used, those bound together with two strings and those with
three. The three string bale is the larger in all three dimensions. Bale walls can be
tied together with pins of bamboo, rebar, or wood (internal to the bales or on
their faces), or with surface wire meshes, and then stuccoed or plastered, either
with a cement-based mix, lime-based formulation, or earth/clay render. The bales
may actually provide the structural support for the building ("load-bearing" or
"Nebraska-style" technique), as was the case in the original examples from the
late 19th century. The plastered bale assembly also can be designed to provide
lateral and shear support for wind and seismic loads.
Alternatively, bale buildings can have a structural frame of other materials,
usually lumber or timber-frame, with bales simply serving as insulation and
plaster substrate, ("infill" or "non-loadbearing" technique), which is most often
required in northern regions and/or in wet climates. In northern regions, the
potential snow-loading can exceed the strength of the bale walls. In wet climates,
the imperative for applying a vapor-permeable finish precludes the use of
cement-based stucco commonly used on load-bearing bale walls. Additionally, the
inclusion of a skeletal framework of wood or metal allows the erection of a roof
prior to raising the bales, which can protect the bale wall during construction,
when it is the most vulnerable to water damage in all but the most dependably
arid climates. A combination of framing and load-bearing techniques may also be
employed, referred to as "hybrid" straw bale construction.
Straw bales can also be used as part of a Spar and Membrane Structure (SMS)
wall system in which lightly reinforced 5 - 8 cm (2 - 3") gunite or shotcrete skins
are interconnected with extended "X" shaped light rebar in the head joints of the
bales. In this wall system the concrete skins provide structure, seismic reinforcing,
and fireproofing, while the bales are used as leave-in formwork and insulation.
Typically "field-bales", bales created on farms with baling machines have been
used, but recently higher-density "precompressed" bales (or "straw-blocks") are
increasing the loads that may be supported. Oryzatech out of Goleta, California
has been developing rice straw compressed block. Field bales might support
around 900 kg per linear meter of wall (600 lb./ lin. ft.), but the high density bales
bear up to 6000 kg per linear meter of wall (4,000 lb./lin.ft.), and more. The basic
bale-building method is now increasingly being extended to bound modules of
other oft-recycled materials, including tire-bales, cardboard, paper, plastic, and
used carpeting. The technique has also been extended to bags containing "bales"
of wood chips or rice hulls.
Straw bales have also been used in very energy efficient high performance
buildings such as the S-House in Austria which meets the Passivhaus energy
standard. In South Africa, a five-star lodge made from 10,000 strawbales has
housed luminaries such as Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair. In the Swiss Alps, in
the little village of Nax Mont-Noble, construction works have begun in October
2011 for the first hotel in Europe built entirely with straw bales. Harrison Vault, in
Joshua Tree, California, is engineered to withstand the high seismic loads in that
area using only the consisting of bales, lath and plaster. The technique was used
successfully for housing in rural China. Another method to reap the benefits of
Straw is the incorporate Straw-bale walls into a pre-existing structure.
THERMAL PROPERTIES
Compressed straw bales have a wide range of documented R-value. R-value is a
measurement of a materials insulating quality, higher the number the more
insulating. The reported R-value ranges from 17-55 depending on the study,
differing wall designs could be responsible for wide range in R-value. Bale walls
are typically coated with a thick layer of plaster, which provides a well-distributed
thermal mass, active on a short-term (diurnal) cycle. The combination of
insulation and mass provide an excellent platform for passive solar building design
for winter and summer.Compressed and plastered straw bale walls are also
resistant to fire.
KUĆA OD SLAME
Konstrukcija slamenih bala je gradjevinska metoda koja koristi bale od slame
(obicno pšenica, pirinač, raž i zobi slame) kao strukturalni element, izolacija ili
oboje. Ova konstrukcijska metoda se obicno koristi u prirodnim objektima ili
''smedjim'' gradjevinskim projektima. Istraživanja su pokazala da je ''Straw-bale''
konstrukcija odrziva metoda za objekte, sa stajalista: materijala i energije
potrebne za grijanje i hladjenje.
Prednosti ''straw bale'' konstrukcije u odnosu na konvencionalne gradjevinske
sisteme ukljucuje: prirodnu obnovljivost slame, troskove, laku dostupnost,
prirodna protiv-požarna zaštita i visoka izolacijska vrijednost.
Nedostaci su: osjetljivost na truljenje, poteškoće u dobivanju osiguranja i
dozvole za izgradnju objekta, i visok prostorni zahtjev za samu slamu.
Istraživanje je napravljeno korištenjem sonde za vlagu, postavljenu unutar
slamenog zida, u kojima je 7 ili 8 mjesta imalo sadržaj vlage manje od 20%. Ovo je
vlažnost vazduha koji nimalo negativno ne utiče na razgradnju slame. Medjutim,
pravilna izgradnja ''straw bale'' zida je izuzetno važna, u smislu održanja niskog
nivoa vlage, baš kao i u izgradnji bilo kojeg drugog objekta.
KUĆA OD SLAME
Kuća od slame je danas sve popularniji način gradnje kuća, a vjerovatno je razlog
u ekonomskoj računici. Slama je poljoprivredni višak i može se nabaviti po
relativno niskoj cijeni, a dobivena je vrijedna kombinacija izolacijskih i statičkih
svojstava. Mogućnosti koje pruža tehnika gradnje slamom gotovo su
neograničene. Zid od balirane slame moguće je koristiti kao nosivi element, gdje
se konstrukcija krovišta sidri direktno na zidove. Češće se slama koristi kao ispuna,
gdje se strukturalni elementi objekta grade najčešće od drveta, ali u nekim
slučajevima čak i od metala ili armiranog betona. Za razliku od nekih drugih
građevinskih materijala, slama pruža mogućnosti izgradnje nepravilnih, organskih
oblika koji nerijetko završavaju više kao umjetničko djelo, nego samo kao kockaste
kuće na koje smo navikli.
Kuća od slame može biti izvedena tako da potpuno izgleda kao objekt građen
uobičajenim materijalima. Slama neprimjetno ostaje među slojevima maltera i
jedini dokaz njene prisutnosti je znatno niži račun za grijanje. Slamnati zidovi se
obavezno moraju omalterisati kako bi se slama zaštitila od vanjskih utjecaja. U tu
svrhu se najčešće koristi malter na bazi kreča, a gdje je to moguće, glineni malter
predstavljaju izvrsnu jeftinu zamjenu. Cementni malter potpuno je neprikladna za
korištenje u kombinaciji sa slamom, jer stvara paro-nepropusni sloj i zid ne diše,
odnosno onemogućen je prolaz viška vodene pare iz unutrašnjosti objekta prema
vani. To može uzrokovati kondenzaciju vlage s unutrašnje strane zida, što rezultira
truljenjem slame. Izbjegavanjem upotrebe cementa, koji ionako nije poželjan
materijal u ekološkom graditeljstvu, potpuno rješavamo problem.
Prednosti
Evo nekoliko razloga zašto se uopće upuštati u gradnju slamom:
Održivost
Slama je obnovljivi materijal koji se može proizvoditi i uzgajati svake godine.
Energija potrebna za proizvodnju ovog materijala dolazi od Sunca, koji je
obnovljivi izvor energije.
Kada kuća prestane biti od koristi, slama se i nakon
dugog niza godina može kompostirati (pomiješati) ili koristiti u povrtlarstvu za
malčiranje (zagrtanje biljaka) . Nema problema s otpadom.
Zvučna izolacija
Bale slame djeluju i kao izuzetna zvučna izolacija, pa nije rijetkost da se tonski
studiji grade na ovaj način. Nivo buke u kućama od slame je toliko mala da
boravak u ovakvoj kući djeluje smirujuće.
Strukturalna stabilnost
Zidovi od balirane slame su više nego dovoljni za nošenje tipičnih tereta kao što
su spratovi, krovišta i teški nanosi snijega na krovu zimi. Bale slame su prošla
laboratorijska i empirijska istraživanja i pokazale su se pogodnima za izgradnju
najmanje dvospratne objekte. Ako se slama koristi samo kao ispuna, a u svrhu
nosivosti se gradi konstrukcija, mogućnosti su neograničene, teoretski bi se mogli
graditi i neboderi.