Straw Bale Roof Insulation

On end or flat.

Straw bale roof insulation. Strawbale insulation is tightly packed and 18 thick. Make sure it s in good condition no rot termite damage cracked boards etc. A bale is 360mm deep. If you re wondering what the r value of strawbale construction is then it depends on a few things.

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. Personally i stick with light weight insulation materials in the roof and leave the bales for the walls. The density of the straw how long the straw itself is as well as the moisture content how well the gaps are filled between bales and other things like how it s stacked. Owen geiger yes you can use straw bales as roof insulation.

A good time to use this roof is obviously when the budget is tight or if you want a larger exposed side of the structure as in a greenhouse or in cooler climates. However if you want to use bales you can use an assembly that looks something like this. The two layers of batts and 3 of rigid foam andrew describes would be about 240mm deep for r57. The straw clay material is a sort of hybrid between pure insulation straw baled or not and pure mass cob for ex.

It can be made into different grades closer to one extreme or the other. First you need to check the strength of your roof system. What you want is closer to the insulative side. In a straw bale house these bales form the walls insulation and framework all in one with some additional support from wooden beams wherever they re necessary.

To improve insulation because i love everything about straw bale houses i was wondering if we could retrofit straw bales by removing the weatherboards and the internal plasterboard leaving just the wooden frame and windows then put the straw bales in like you would if building a wood framed straw bale house from scratch. This implies that bales r factors would be considerably higher. A third generation straw bale technique combines a straw bale interior wall with an exterior stud wall insulated with cellulose by ben graham november 17 2014 an exterior stud wall provides room for more insulation. 2 6 tongue and groove planking over beams girders to be engineered per the loads and spans.

This construction method is commonly used in natural building or brown construction projects. The typical straw bale is bound twice and is approximately 900mm long 350mm high and 450mm deep. Are there any very long spans.