[Strawbale] window/sill details

[Frank Tettemer]

Hi Dion, and Bruce, if you're reading this,

At the ISBBC last autumn, I had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop 
on window details,
and in the morning before, went to the shop at Camp Kawartha to
'knock together' a model.  It contained all the elements of which you 
speak, Dion.
And it was built to rest at the outer edge of the wall system. 
After all, I'm from Ontario, and snow can sit on any horizontal surface,
patiently awaiting a thawing moment, so that it can then soak anything 
available.
So I certainly agree with your design sense.

What was totally startling was that the other participants all stepped up
to offer a very different description of what could be done for window 
details.
I mean, all very different!
We pulled out a chalk board,  and that got things going.
There were so many sketches going on, in chalk, on paper, scratches in 
the dirt ...

Barbara ('Ammers an' Nails) wanted no part of the aluminum pan that I 
had built for drainage under the sill. 
And in her U. K. aesthetics, the window was to be placed central to the 
wall assembly,
with a very handily crafted cypress or oak drainage sill, rebated into 
the window frame, with a drip kerf underneath the sill.
And her method of sealing to the render was to use Okum as a caulking.
(Okum=Linseed oil with fibre and clay?)
Barbara's English cultural background seemed to quite clearly demand an 
Oak drip-edge/sill.

Dan Smith offered an excellent series of detail, looked very robust, 
offered clear opportunity for sleek trim,
gourgeous, really.  Would only work in California.

Kelly Lerner's approach was equally different and equally pleasant,
and also showed a climate sensitive design.  Not too good for Ontario.

Habib had something to say about it all, also with a different approach.

The point I'm trying to make here,
is that each *climate* and *cultural pattern* seems to have a 
sensibility all its own.

Things like window details really can be approached differently.
And still not be perfect.
And still work well!

Bruce's details gave me more information, and some chin scratching,
yet I'd *still* stick that window frame
right outside the exterior render plane. 
I want it to drip onto the ground.

Frank Tettemer
Living Sol ~ Building & Design
Killaloe, Ontario
www.livingsol.com

Dion wrote:

I just received my copy of Bruce King's "Design of Strawbale
Buildings" and while skimming through it before setting out to
actually read it, I noticed something peculiar with all of the window
design pictures and drawings.  Almost without exception, the windows
are recessed into the bales, presenting the necessity of a window
sill.  snip.