[Strawbale] my straw bale concept.

[Rene Dalmeijer]

Lee,

Your concept is not as special as you say on your web-site. The concept 
of putting up a free standing roof and then a bale building, with earth 
plaster. This is a good concept and is quite common. Be careful with a 
steel structure though. Try to avoid any interfaces between the steel 
structure and the SB walls. This does depend a little on the climate 
you are in the concern is greater if the climate is wetter and cooler. 
The first new, in 1998, SB house here in the Netherlands has such a 
steel structure (with myrid intersections between steel en straw) with 
steel roofing. To put it short based on our experieces we would never 
advise a steel structure again specificaly not with steel roofing at 
least not in our wet and cool climate.

Rene