I appreciate Gail's encouraging post, and the mention of the Strawjet people. I need to talk to them. I could see their logs for vertical reinforcing with hyperwattle infill.
My testing has been slowed this year by moving twice and helping with my husband's business. But I was able to create a sturdy banco or bench and wall using straw wattle, and formed a nubian vault of straw wattle.
I've tested the vault for thermal performance- about r3 and also thermal mass characteristics. I intend to see how much compressive strength the vault has. It's a small span, but those figures could be used by engineers to figure out how much round pole reinforcement would be needed for a room-size vault. Waterproofing could be done by Grancrete, and or attaching purlins and a roof.
I have tentative plans to use straw wattle with other new techniques early in 2013 to form the upper walls of a dormitory for my friends at the Haiti Christian Development Project near Gonaives, Haiti. This will be for their agriculture school.
I'm finally getting more information on my main web site.
Check out the video and 12 page pdf featured on the straw wattle page at <
http://buildsimple.org/straw-w.php>; There's also a link to pictures of my test structures to date.
