I built my own strawblae house and have worked on half a dozen others. I have designed 3 award winning homes, one of them was strawbale.
Mice aren’t a problem, the walls are sealed with clay (inside) and lime (outside) render, the mice can’t get in.
Same with fire, the straw is tight and sealed, they don’t burn. In huge bushfires in southern Australia a few years back, several families sheltered I a strawbale home as the fire passed.
Moisture not a problem if you have proper eaves and footings, which you will cos you design it properly, right?
Loads of massive benefits over brick or stick built.
I have no data on wolves sorry, but definitely dropbear proof
Happy to answer any questions.
My biggest question is: why?
If it’s safe from mice, bugs, and fire, then it just seems like the housing equivalent of wearing a boot on your head. You can do it. It’s not hurting you or anyone around you. But it’s kinda just weird. Is there some sort of benefits to this over a normal house? Or is it just a boot on your head?
Pros: Cheap, good insulator, doesn’t require any experience to install, local, low environmental footprint.
Cons: Thick, does not handle moisture well at all so it must be completely sealed. A small leak will ruin all the hay in the exposed area and, with a bit of airflow, can spontaneously combust. More likely, though, is that it just degrades rapidly. Like a lot of things, good planning can keep you fine.
If you’re going to seal it, why not just use mud, clay or whatever ground/dirt instead? Probably won’t need to be as thick to give similar insulation.
Also, what about impact resistance? Can an angry punch break that outer lime layer?
What’s the tallest one of these buildings can get?
Well, because straight earth as in mudbrick (or concrete, normal bricks etc) is not insulation. That’s thermal mass. It stores energy. Insulation (like strawbales) slows heat movement. So you need insulation on the exterior and thermal mass on the interior for a properly thermally regulated building.
At 2 inches thick of limestone, you can sure bust it up with a sledgehammer or similar. A punch won’t do much more than hurt your hand. Still, if you take tools to the majority of homes they break quite fast.
Couldn’t say houw tall they can get but from memory I think I’ve seen 3 stories? Over that you’re talking more full on construction. I’ve seen a 4 story using super bales that was in an commercial carpentry shop