[Strawbale] Retrofitting & Maritime Canadian Winters

[Rob Tom]

On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 03:42:12 -0400, Andrew Hawkins  
<andy at andrewhawkins.org> wrote:

>  single storey, stick framed building
>  New Brunswick, Canada.
>
> I would like to retrofit the building with straw bales to add insulation
> and beauty to rather tired looking structure.

Andrew;

Probably the biggest challenge in a Bale-wrap retro-fit is providing  
adequate support for the bales and requisite plaster encapsulation (heavy)  
of the bales.

They are easier to do in locales where "foundations" consist of simply  
digging a shallow trench that might be only a foot or so deep.

However, in New Brunswick, the frost line is likely several feet deep and  
installing a foundation to carry the bale wrap would require extensive  
work and material (and cost if you're not doing it yourself).

An alternative to digging would be to fabricate steel brackets that would  
be bolted to the foundation (assuming the foundation is in good shape an  
amenable to bolted connections) to support "shelves" to carry the bales  
and plaster, in a similar fashion to whip pre-cast concrete stoops/steps  
are hung off of foundations.

A simpler alternative to the bale wrap would be to attach short stubs of  
2x3 lumber to the existing wall using sheet metal clips (after wrapping  
the existing shell to create an effetive air barrier) and then 2x3 studs  
would then be attached to the ends of the standoffs to function as curtain  
wall studs to carry exterior sheathing and siding. The cavity could be  
filled with the insulation of your choice. ie No futzing around with  
foundations required. Minimal impact on the occupants of the building  
(other than the pounding of the sheathing to pre-settle the insulation).

This technique was first developed in the 1970's by a Canadian  
architectural/engineering/const firm, Allen/Drerup/White who have since  
gone their separate ways.

One of the former principals (Oliver Drerup) now works for you (and all  
MooseHuggers) (or he did last time I checked), at Canada Mortgage and  
Housing Corp. (he had a WWWeb gig going there called "Oliver's Travels")  
so you may be able to contact him directly through CMHC for further  
details.


[Apologies for cross-posting to the SB-r-us List but I wanted to store  
this message someplace so I don't have to repeat this message again,  
having already posted the info once to the CREST list years ago and whose  
early archives have since disappeared.]

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at chaffY a h o o  dot  c a >
manually winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply