There is a growing interest in building houses with straw and blue mussels shells as insulation material. Several self-builders have built houses in which these materials have been used in the external walls and roof or the eaves. There are also begun by craftsmen for a private builder.
The products are available in abundant quantities and have a very low environmental impact. It is therefore obvious to document the technical construction straw bales could be used on a larger scale.
Concerning straw bales, the aim of the project is to document plastered straw properties of the wick:
- Thermal insulation
- Moisture transport
- Fire transport
- Sound insulation
- Working environment
Blue mussel shells, the objective is to document the properties in terms of:
- Thermal insulation
- Capillary rise
- Life cycle
This note gives a brief description of the purpose, what we have done in each experiments and what results we have obtained so far.
Author: Birte Møller Andersen and Jørgen Munch-Andersen, 21.06.2001