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Give me a counter-case for strawbales so that I can be aware of all the negatives, please.

 
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Hi everyone. Been reading permies for a while. Love this place. This is my first post here.

For background, I'm planning out an earthship build using strawbale walls as the southern face of the structure.  Structurally it is post-and-beam timber frame on stone piling foundation.  Clay floor over gravel over insulative foamglass gravel.

Downsides I know of:

1) Financing is not a concern, I'll be self funding

2) Selling is not a concern, this house is meant to stay in the family indefinitely.

3) Labor is...gonna suck. NGL. Seems no worse than cob or insulated roundwood or something. Of the natural building methods it seems about on par. I'm happy to spend more labor to have a natural materials home.

4) Connecting the earthen parts of the building to the strawbales seems difficult as the strawbales can't be in contact with anything earthen where it might conduct moisture

5) Strawbales might not be compatable with the earthship front greenhouse. Could be too humid?

What sucks about strawbales that I **dont** know about? Dump all the negativity possible. Try to talk me out of it.
 
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Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7
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I think the greatest downside of strawbale is that it's some form of a cavity wall that at some point will host bugs and rodents which is unacceptable to me. If there is a place for pest to live in, they will find it, no matter what preventive steps are taken. Nature is powerful and merciless.

https://permies.com/t/113626/Straw-Bale-Don

Strawbales were originally used in western Nebraska, which is drier and sunnier than the rest of East and Midwest and i think it's best fit for such climate.

Where are you located?
 
pollinator
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Location: Bendigo , Australia
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What does this mean please? "NGL."
Labour is always an issue with earthships.
I think the use of a 'joiner' panel or system between earth and strawbale would work, where a timber plank attaches to earth and the straw attaches on the other side.
Even some fired bricks in the joiner area would work.
 
I agree. Here's the link: http://stoves2.com
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