Choosing your bales
Sep. 26th, 2007 by AlAfter getting to know your land surroundings better and design your strawbale house .
One need to where the bales will come from.So while designing your house, secure your bale source as to know roughly the size.Don’t settle for second best, look around in your area for the best source of bales available.
Bale inspection
Go through the color of the bales as they tell you the history of the bales.Have they been outdoors and have proper ventilation?Surface mould is a tell tale sign that the bales had been through rain or improperly stored.If you hit the straws and white dust bounced off,they may have plenty of interior mould which you cannot see on the surface.If the smell is musty, then the mould must be in there.Please do not use the bales if it’s in a bad condition to save a few bucks.
Bale density
Density factor is important and if one living in the west, one should be aware of this is part of the building code.This requirement is important as you need to guarantee the building inspector the quality of your bales.
Moisture level
The moisture content is important when choosing your bales.A bale which reached 20 %
is something that mould growth and decay sinks in and grow.It’s difficult to do anything to reverse that trend once that level is reached ,getting accurate readings of the bale is important so check them out during neutral time of the day and not early in the morning.
Use your senses to source out quality bales and remember the nearer they are near your site location, the better as it will be of minimal impact on the environment.
Have fun choosing your strawbales!
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