Research Report of Strawbale Houses in VT and NY

A study of 7 strawbale homes' heat loss and airtightness in the Northeast

Primary author Jacob Racusin
with McArleton,Graham
December 12, 2011

NDB worked with New Frameworks Natural Builders, the authors of a study of the energy performance of several strawbale houses built in the past 5 years. The energy audits were performed by Building Performance Services of Waitsfield, Vt.
This study was primarily undertaken to assess the strategies for air sealing strawbales using plasters. It was also useful for understanding the overall performance of strawbale enclosures and its relation to conventional construction.  This report is important work in the development of strawbale construction for cold climates. Initial results show that strawbales can be installed to perform as well as or better than any other type of construction in terms of air tightness and creating a consistent thermal barrier.

There was also data taken on moisture content that confirmed much of what we already knew about strawbale's performance with regard to moisture.

Please contact Ben if you are interested in this report.

SBF# 19 Local, Natural and Reused Materials

Today we made a lot of decisions around using local, natural materials for finishes. Most of it revolved around the kitchen design, which is being coordinated with Eyrich Stauffer of Worcester, Vt.
In order to make design decisions about the materials used for the kitchen cabinets and counter tops, we wanted to coordinate with the other finishes that would be impacted by these decisions and make sure everything worked together.
This included the wood floor, wood trim on the cieling, panelling on the back side of the bar- along the coat shelf and both the closet and book shelf at either end of the kitchen.
Eyrich initially suggested butternut from Vermont Wildwoods that sells Vermont forest salvaged butternut, for the cabinets. Jan liked the look of this wood along with soapstone counters. While Vermont Soapstone used to supply the stone from Vermont quarries and plans to in the near future, currently their stone comes from Brazil. Wayne likes the idea of using a more local slate. We'll see how that turns out soon, but we did come to agreement on using local pine for the floors, and planing the barn boards from the site for the paneling and window trim. We are having a tough time identifying this 100+ year old wood and are thinking in the range of fir or hemlock.
We also decided to resaw some of the old timbers from the barn into countertop material and trim for the ceiling. The tight grain of the spruce and pine is exquisite.

We found that these woods will create a consistent aesthetic throughout the house and have a similar yellow brown hue that will have a warm and relaxed feel.

Stay tuned for the post on clay plasters in the Dining/Living Room.