|
STRAW BLOCK BUILDING PRODUCT
by Dale Eatinger, Straw Hut, Inc., Manhattan, KS To be accepted as an option in even a small fraction of homebuilding, commercial quality bales that fit the dimensions of most residential developments must be offered on a large scale. We must demonstrate that the finishes can be modified to show many attractive designs from stucco to simulated brick at acceptable costs. Straw Hut is sponsoring a class project this year at Kansas State University to look at production of smaller, more compact bales of consistent size for use as building materials. This study will be done by senior agricultural and environmental engineering students. We know the process will work, but no one has been found as yet to help obtain funds. The project needs more documentation of potential uses in combination with commonly known building techniques and methods in the region and other parts of the U.S. A web site is being developed for launch in the spring of 2001; legal and financial issues are being researched and resolved. Several Kansas and Nebraska communities have been contacted about establishing a pilot plant for production of the bale blocks. The key piece in the plan at the moment is financial. Anyone with economic common sense and a knowledge of the insulation value and acoustic properties of straw and other agricultural residues, an awareness of the continuously shrinking rural population for lack of innovation and diversity in agriculture can see the economic benefit of developing the straw bale as a commercial building material. Dale can be reached at: eatinger@flinthills.com, or 785.776.5353, ext. 109 |