So what can you tell us about Straw Bale Construction??

We are moving to a larger premises and are seriously looking into this option of construction - among other things the factory will also include 7-10 Rehearsal Studios as well as a Recording Studio / Control Room - mainly recording bands.

We have found a bit of info on the net but would love to check out any Australian studios who have used this construction method - are there any? We are located in Australia - Melbourne's South East.
It seems that straw bale construction is a definate alternative to double stud walls with rockwool insulation. - also being eco-friendly! :D

Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Geoff Mison
PONY MUSIC
www.ponymusic.com.au

I don't know much about it, but it sounds like a fire hazard.

I don't know about Vicco... but here in NSW there are regulations on insulation in regards to being fire safe... might wanna check into it...

I remembered seeing a program about the construction of a house from Straw Bales. Not a fire hazard at all once treated and extremely well insulated.

Here's a link to the program, not sure if it help:

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/...oad/lot-2.html

Cheers,
Rich

Ooh found the house owner's site and his construction diary:

http://www.strawbalefrance.com/construction.htm

thanks guys. As for it being a Fire Hazard the Rice Straw Bales we are looking at are one of the highest fire ******ents around - the Country Fire Authority actually use them to put fires out!!

I've seen it in the southwest US. I think floors would be your problem, they rest on the walls. They get plastered anyway (the walls) so you'd have to treat them acoustically, great R factors. try Quiet Solution for some flooring ideas.

Friend of mine built a straw bale house and it's fantastic. A little more expensive to construct (25 %), for typical house constuction. I think that this is due to a newness of the method rather than any other factor. It's also a method that can have reduced costs from the," owner does a portion of the work" factor.
As far as building a studio goes if the typical bale that is plastered and cemented inside and out will give you enough mass to reduce bass frequencies going out and traffic noise coming in then it may be cheaper than a double wall construction. My friend's place is in a rural area so it's hard to judge the noise factor, but his heating costs are fantastic.
Look into environmental groups that may be willing to get behind such a project for additional labour. take care Logan

Paging: Thread to Atticus.... come in, Atticus....

Haha. This is what exactly what Atticus and I have been wanting to do for some time now. I won't steal all his glory though. He can tell you all about it when he gets here.

I know a few peeps that have built a straw bale house, and studio: all are compete zealots over it, and it is not a fire hazard as one might expect - the bales are usually covered (with fire-******ant materials) with your choice of materials, and if you're in a temperate climate, can be great for extreme hot, or cold weather, as it's RF equivalent shields the dwelling from the elements extremely well...

I've been wanting to build a place out of 'cobb' - an ancient building material that's very 'clay-like', and can be designed into virtually any shape, as it is a soft medium that can be formed. As a structure, it can be as 'wild' looking as your imagination. Better option for moderate and dry(er) climates, tho in many places, cobb structures are still standing and functioning after centuries (scotland, etc)

best with it!

If these bales end up with a layer of concrete on them, make sure to build the place bigger than you need. Normally, gypsum board walls absorb a fair amount of low frequency energy (they act like pannel traps).

In small rooms with, essentially, concrete walls, you will have more bass resonant problems to deal with.



-tINY

thanks for the responses.. keep them coming..

I should also mention that we are looking at building the studios in an existing factory (739m2) so they will be inside an already established building with concrete walls and floor and tin roof.

would love to check out some other Australian studios who have used this method of construction.

keep 'em coming.
cheers

I was a home builder for quite some time. A few years ago a friend of mine approached me with a strawbale house plan. Essentially it was a post and beam structure. The walls just sort of get stuffed in under the framing. Then it was covered with chicken wire and stucco. It looks like an old English Cottage. Pretty cool really. So in the end he has a very well insulated House with some interesting deep window and door frames.

The problems we encountered were attaching things to the straw walls, running wire and plumbing and trimming out the straw walls. For example. You need to add nailers to the walls where you would be hanging cabinets. without them the cabinets won't stay up. A lot of little stuff really but make sure you think ahead before covering anything up.
Anyway I say go for it. Save a tree and feed a hay farmer.
Eric

Check this out:

http://www.skillful-means.com/projec...e%20Vault.html

wanted to bump this post to see if there is any interest in this topic?

I am thinking of doing a straw bale studio myself here soon...

We never followed through with the idea after more research and finding out there were only certain times of the year the straw bales were actually available and that we would need some crazy amount of semi-trailer truck deliveries of it for the size of our studio complex. That and the amount of space we would lose due to the sheer size of the bail construction.

For a small home studio on a farm block somewhere I'd say it would be a great idea, for what we required in terms of size and noise reduction it just wasn't going to work for us.

We have a complex with 6 x Rehearsal Studios, our Recording Studio backs onto two of them and the live room has a size of 10m x 8m and a height of 8.5metres.