Resources

This is a collection of natural construction, and straw bale construction related documents we’ve culled from various sources, mostly elsewhere on the web and on email lists. If you have a document related to straw bale construction or which might otherwise be of interest to the members of the ONBC please consider sending it and we will post it here for everyone.

Webinar from 2015 Natural Building Conference

Kyle Holzhueter has been living and working in Japan for many years. His passion for traditional methods of construction shows in his presentation. This Webinar is from the 2015 Ontario Natural Building Coalition's Conference & AGM. This annual event brings together the who's who in natural construction in Ontario. This talk discusses plaster techniques, thatch roofs, bamboo lath, straw bale. 

Click here to see Kyle's presentation.

Passive Buildings Canada was a proud sponsor of Conference 2015 event. They recorded several of the presentations for their You Tube channel so that they could share portions of the conference to everyone.  http://www.passivebuildings.ca/   
Kyle's presentation, with his slideshow was recorded and edited by Terrell Wong, Stone's Throw Design, http://www.stonesthrowdesigninc.com/

Straw Bales for Sale

Journals

The Last Straw
In quarterly publication since 1993, TLS is the subscriber-supported, reader-written international grassroots journal of strawbale construction and natural building, providing up-to-date news, inspiration, and information on techniques, projects, issues, materials, and more. Considering ordering the back issues, available together on CD-ROM in a highly useful compilation.

Queens University

COMPRESSIVE TESTING OF PLASTERED STRAW BALES
by Stephen Vardy and Colin MacDougall for The Journal of Green Building

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TESTING OF EARTHEN PLASTERS FOR STRAW BALE WALL APPLICATION (ABSTRACT)
by Brendon Taylor, Stephen Vardy, and Colin MacDougall

COMPRESSIVE TESTING AND ANALYSIS OF A TYPICAL STRAW BALL PLASTER (ABSTRACT)
by Stephen Vardy

Building Alternatives

REPORT TO THE ONTARIO BUILDING CODE COMMISSION
Request for Further Information
Application 2001-52, Seigel/Cochrane Residence
Kris Dick, Ph. D., P Eng

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

STRAW BALE MOISTURE SENSOR STUDY
Technical Series 99-206

STRAW BALE HOUSE MOISTURE SERIES
Technical Series 00-103

MOISTURE PROPERTIES OF PLASTER AND STUCCO FOR STRAW BALE BUILDINGS
Technical Series 00-132

MOISTURE PROPERTIES OF PLASTER AND STUCCO FOR STRAW BALE BUILDINGS
Draft Report

WOOD USAGE IN STRAW BALE HOUSE CONSTRUCTION
Technical Series 02-116

STRAW BALE HOUSING: A SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Other

ASTM E84-98 SURFACE BURNING CHARACTERISTICS 001, Straw Bale
Report No. 16237-106770
Prepared for Katrina Hayes by Omega Point Laboratories

A PILOT STUDY EXAMINING AND COMPARING THE LOAD BEARING CAPACITY AND BEHAVIOR OF AN EARTH RENDERED STRAW BALE WALL TO CEMENT RENDERED STRAW BALE WALL
Michael Faine and Dr. John Zhang

A PILOT STUDY EXAMINING THE STRENGTH, COMPRESSIBILITY AND SERVICEABILITY OF RENDERED STRAW BALE WALLS FOR TWO STOREY LOAD BEARING CONSTRUCTION
Michael Faine and Dr. John Shang

PRELIMINARY TEST RESULTS STRAW BALE WALLS
John Carrick and John Glassford

LOAD-BEARING STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION
A summary of worldwide testing and experience
Bruce King, PE

STRAW HOUSE
Straw bale construction comes of age
US Department of Energy

INITIAL MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF STRAW LIGHT CLAY (ABSTRACT)
Joshua Thornton

CASE STUDY – WEONA FARMSTAY

SUMMARY OF NEW MEXICO ASTM E-119 SMALL SCALE FIRE TESTS ON STRAW BALE WALL ASSEMBLIES

SASKATCHEWAN BUILDING OFFICIALS NEWSLETTER
Building Standards – January 2004

SASKATOON CITY COUNCIL MEETING CONDENSED AGENDA
Monday, February 25, 2002

STRAW BALE FIRE SAFETY
A review of testing and experience to date
Bob Theis

HEAT INSULATION PERFORMANCE OF STRAW BALES AND STRAW BALE WALLS
R. Wimmer, H. Hohensinner, L. Janisch, and M. Drack

HOW STRAW DECOMPOSES
Implications for Straw Bale Construction
Mathew D. Summers, Sherry L. Blunk, Bryan M. Jenkins

STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION IN CHINA
A comparison of obstacles between Northern and Southern rural areas for the use of Straw Bale Construction as an energy efficient building alternative
Linh Vuong

TESTING OF STRAW BALE WALLS WITH OUT OF PLANE LOADS
Kevin Donahue, SE

S-HOUSE – SUSTAINABLE BUILDING DEMONSTRATED BY A PASSIVE HOUSE MADE OF RENEWABLE RESOURCES
R. Wimmer, H. Hohensinner, and M. Drack

COMPRESSION LOAD TESTING STRAW BALE WALLS
Peter Walker

POLICY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURAL AND NON-STRUCTURAL STRAW BALE STRUCTURES
County of Calaveras, California Building Department

MISSILE PERFORATION THRESHOLD SPEEDS FOR STRAW BALE WALL CONSTRUCTION WITH A STUCCO FINISH
Joseph J. Bilello and Russle R. Carter

INCENTIVES AND IMPEDIMENTS TO THE ADOPTION OF GREEN BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES
Why Straw Materials have not Penetrated the Mainstream
Jay Ruskey

THE STRAW BALE HOUSE
Not for the Eastern United States
Paul Gillimore

THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF STRAW BALE WALL SYSTEMS
Nehemiah Stone

THE EFFECTS OF PLASTER SKIN CONFINEMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF STRAW BALE WALL SYSTEMS
Adrianne Wheeler, David Riley, and Thomas Boothby

STRAW BALE ECOLOGICAL HOUSING PROGRAM
Linda Zhu

STRUCTURAL TESTING OF PLASTERS FOR STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION
Kelley Lerner and Kevin Donahue

STRUCTURAL TESTING OF STRAW BALES IN AXIAL COMPRESSION
Kirstin Field, James Woods, and Claudia Fedrigo

Non-Straw Bale References

DESIGN GUIDE FOR FROST-PROTECTED SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
NAHB Research Center

FASTENER GUIDE
City of Hopkins, MN

Regulations

These regulations and rulings are based on an early understanding of how the straw bale wall system works (much of which has now been proven incorrect through testing by accredited laboratories and academic research here in Canada.) We provide these regulations only as examples of how other jurisdiction have handled straw bale construction be it good or far more often bad.

Early regulatory resistance and a confrontational atmosphere caused a number of state and local straw bale movements to push for early code acceptance of straw bale construction. The result was several local and state building codes which included and continue to include methods which not only do not add to the strength of the straw bale wall assembly but which result in a great deal more effort to build the wall system and the use of unnecessary components with high embodied energy. The Ontario straw bale movement decided early on that educating and cooperating with our building officials would do much more for straw bale construction in the province and would allow for more flexibility and greater advances in the methods and materials used than having straw bale construction added to the building code.

For information on the current state of the art in straw bale construction as it is practiced in Ontario please contact the Ontario Natural Building Coalition and request a copy of our Information Package for Building Officials.

BCC Ruling No. 07-24-1153
Mika Jantunen Oro-Medonte

BCC Ruling No. 99-56-712
Martin Liefhebber Mississauga Co-Housing

DESCRIPTIVE GUIDELINES FOR LOAD BEARING AND NON-LOAD BEARING STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION
Clark County, Nevada Department of Development Services

AUSTIN, TX CITY CODE – VOLUME II – CHAPTER 36 STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION

BOULDER, CO BUILDING CODE – CHAPTER 98 – BALED STRAW STRUCTURES

TAOS COUNTY, NM POLICY FOR EXPERIMENTAL PERMITS – JULY 13, 1993