[Greenbuilding] Straw Bale Flash Demo

Tue Sep 11 21:45:22 EDT 2007

I have been told that if you approach the Assessors Office, you can tell
them that "Say, we have worked really hard to build an energy efficient
home.  Why should we be penalized by having to pay higher taxes on the part
that is just the insulation?  Why can't we be taxed on the INSIDE
measurements, plus another 6" to the outside that is standard in
stick-built homes today?  I know people who have done this, and have gotten
the "variance."  Has anyone else tried this out there?

Best, Kathy Cochran

> [Original Message]
> From: Drew A. Gillett, P.E. <deaneg at hotmail.com>
> To: LarenCorie <LarenCorie at axilar.net>; <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
> Date: 9/11/2007 5:23:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Straw Bale Flash Demo
>
> to further complicate the issue, think about property taxes.  depending
on 
> the methods of the local assessor, the thick walls can be thought of as 
> adding 137 sq.ft of floor area (they usually measure the outside ) at 
> $200/sq.ft or $27000 to the house value.  in high property tax areas like 
> nh, this can add $30/thousand to annual taxes or $810 negating any energy 
> savings.  one way around this is to have the walls overhang the
foundation 
> which is the part usually measured by assessors.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "LarenCorie" <LarenCorie at axilar.net>
> To: <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 11:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Straw Bale Flash Demo
>
>
> From: Chris Green <pojeros at telus.net>
>
> > A quote from one of the expansions:..studies by the United
> > States Department Of Energy have shown that the cost of
> > owning a strawbale home is over 50% less than the cost
> > of owning a conventional wood-frame home over the same
> > period, due largely to the reduced energy consumption.
>
>  Since strawbale houses are usually one, or one and a half
> stories, and walls count for significantly less than half of the
> heat loss/gain in a typical single story house, much less half
> of its total energy consumption, that claim is extremely hard
> to believe.  The only kind of wall that I know of, which can
> actually offset heat losses from other area, is a south facing
> Solar wall of some sort.
>
>   I have lately been very aware of the cost of super-insulation,
> in terms of lost square footage to the living space. I have been
> calculating the energy savings, versus not only the construction
> costs, but also the loss of interior floor area, at the value of the
> rest of the interior area.  Even with cellulose filled walls, which
> are insulated about twice as well as strawbale walls, per floor
> area that they take up, I find myself thinning my walls, to max-
> -imize cost effectiveness.  In a 30ftx40ft house, 20" strawbale
> walls take up, about 131sqft more interior floor area than
> cellulose walls with the same Rvalue. That is a loss of around
> 12% of the floor area  At even $50/sqft, that is $6550, which
> should be enough to heat a super insulated house for over
> twenty years, not even figuring the interest (or lost investment)
> cost of having to pay it all in advance. Since the strawbale walls
> generally require much greater overhangs, the amount of wood
> used and carpentry labor are often not reduced at all.    For the
> house above, if the overhangs have soffits, the amount of lumber
> in 4ft overhangs will just about equal the wood in the wood walls
> with 1ft overhangs, when built with optimized framing techniques.
>
>  Another overlooked factor for all thick walls, is that deep
> wall openings significantly increase the amount of wall area.
> Calculating heat loss, based on exterior wall areas, minus
> window exterior face, ignores the insides of deep window
> and door holes, that are very popular on strawbale houses.
> For example the house above, with around 978ft², might
> have twelve doors and windows, averaging about 17 linear
> feet of 16" deep opening perimeter, for a windows area,
> equal to 10% of the floor area.  Those interior surfaces will
> not have the high Rvalue that the full thickness walls gives.
> They will only have an average of between that and the
> Rvalue of the 4" thickness where the window and doors
> set. That average is about R18, and of course, the framing
> around the windows and doors will have significantly less.
> That gives an additional UA of over 15.1, which in a 6000
> HDD climate represents about an additional 2.2 million
> BTU/year, just through the straw. If the walls set on a slab
> that has less insulation value than the walls, then there is
> more thermal bridging, that never seems to get counted in
> the claims.    This bridging is just one more drawback to
> thick walls.  It effects, thick cellulose walls and other types
> of insulations too, but only about a fourth (cellulose) as much
> as with strawbales, with an equivalent Rvalue. Large one story
> structures reduce the proportions of walls to roof and floor,
> but small houses and two story structures have a higher pro-
> -portion of  wall surface, so these factors hit them harder.
>
> -Laren Corie-
> Natural Solar Building Designs, Since 1975
> www.LarenCorie.com
>
> -LittleHouses- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses
>
> -Energy Self-Sufficiency Newsletter- Free at  www.rebelwolf.com
>
> -WoodGas- Power from Wood. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WoodGas
>
> -Refrigerator Alternatives-
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RefrigeratorAlternatives
>
>
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