Straw Bale House Roofs

Straw is from harvested grain stalks never use bales of grass.

Straw bale house roofs.

Catherine wanek after growing up in las cruces nm catherine lived in various places until she settled in los angeles to work as an assistant director in hollywood film production. Straw bale walls are very flexible and can accommodate standard roof shapes and trusses e g. Straw bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw commonly wheat rice rye and oats straw as structural elements building insulation or both. The weight of bales within a roof has to be a very serious consideration.

Roofs for strawbale buildings. Make straw bale walls not using hay but using straw. It just has to be kept dry. These need to remain dry less than 20 moisture content and tightly bound to prevent moist air including fog getting in before plastering.

For straw bale this can pose a problem in keeping the walls free from direct moisture. Lured by the beauty of new mexico catherine purchased the black range lodge in the 1980s with a vision of making movies there and developing the property into a lush permaculture. The temperature won t go much colder than below freezing in the winter but humidity makes it feel worse although it s not humid like the amazon or anything. Rafters and metal roofing is what i ll most likely use.

This construction method is commonly used in natural building or brown construction projects. Their winter is really just a rainy season. A good time to use this roof is obviously when the budget is tight or if you want a larger exposed side of the structure as in a greenhouse or in cooler climates. Both factors are important to prevent the rotting of the bales after construction.