[Strawbale] corner detail problem

[Andrew Webb]

Hi Howard & John,

Yes, the house is on stilts.  At the moment the columns are designed to 
go continuously from the footings to the top plate with brackets welded 
on to support the floor.  Presumably they've done this for bracing 
reasons but it won't be easy to build.  Changing this to steel below and 
timber above and moving the upper ones out (or in), as Howard suggests, 
sounds like a good solution as long the the engineer is happy with the 
eccentric loading.  I don't see why he wouldn't be; they do need to 
rework the bearer support detail anyway. For the condensation problems 
you both mentioned, I'm not a fan of putting steel against the bales if 
it can be avoided, and it usually can.  It's a little more difficult now 
that the footings are already poured.  I'll meet with the the engineer 
and draughtsman soon to work it out.  I don't think I'd want to angle 
the posts as they are very high on one side (about 8'-10') and doing so 
would introduce more complications. 

I have seen the exposed corner post that John mentioned, too.  It seems 
like too much of a compromise on insulation, and wouldn't look very good 
with a galv. steel column.  It could be covered with timber but I don't 
like using cosmetics to hide bad design decisions.  That corner detail 
would also introduce more of a bushfire hazard because the corners could 
catch fire-brands - another reason to avoid steel altogether.   The site 
is in subtropical Queensland (Sunshine Coast hinterland).  Temperature 
as low as 3 Celsius in winter and as high as low 40's in summer, 
moderate humidity.

Thanks for your ideas.

-Andrew

Howard Switzer wrote:
> Pardon me but I gather from your description the floor system is 
> supported on the steel columns and the floor system cantilevers each 
> way at the corners 9-12" or so off of them....?  I guess I would then 
> want to switch to 4x4 wood posts and put them at the outside wall face 
> to avoid the hassles of columns inside the bales, especially steel 
> ones which might sweat sometime as well.  Can you angle the columns 
> from the footing to the outside edge of the floor system and corners?  
> Are we talking about a house on stilts?
>