When you think of straw-bale, you probably picture it as building material—and that’s fine because it’s usually how straw-bale is used. But one of the reasons it’s growing in popularity as construction material is because everything about straw-bale is beneficial.
It benefits the environment as much as it does your construction budget. The beauty of straw-bale, though, is also that it is highly efficient, inexpensive, and easy to use as insulation. Straw-bale construction depends on being suspended between the rigid framing of what usually is wood. But, let’s shift the concept slightly and improve it dramatically. What if you used straw-bale insulation in a steel and metal building, instead?
More Of Everything You Want
There’s synergy happening with Miracle Truss® and straw-bale insulation. Both contain sustainable, recyclable products that are made to last for generations. The structural steel in our buildings is all recycled and American-made. Straw is an agricultural waste product. Bailing it for insulation gives it new life.
Do you live in a cold climate? A Miracle Truss® building removes the worry about the weight of snow on the roof, and straw-bale insulation can give you insulation values of R-30 or even higher. The thicker the bale, the better the R-value.
Yes, you’re going to have thicker walls with straw-bale insulation. It also means you’ll have superior sound insulation. You can keep the loud noises of a workshop contained inside, or keep the din of a working farm out of your man-cave!
But, hold on! Isn’t straw highly flammable? That might have been the case in its former life, but straw-bale walls have been through fire rating tests by the American Society of Testing and Materials. Protected between a metal outer wall and an inner plasterboard drywall, straw-bale insulation successfully passed code-recognized testing. The straw-bale insulation actually proves to be more fire resistant than conventional batted fiberglass insulation.
Any Downsides?
It doesn’t matter where you live. Be sure to access the local building codes for your area as you start the process of working with us to design and prepare for delivery of your DIY steel and metal building. If you discover that straw-bale building codes aren’t part of your local codes, you may have just a bit more work involved in getting the plans approved.
If you’re in a super-high humidity area, you might want to pass on straw-bale insulation.
That’s it for downsides.
Plays Well With Others
The flexible design characteristics of our buildings work well with innovative materials like straw-bale insulation. But the “outside the box” aspects of our steel, metal, and wood hybrid building shouldn’t give you any concerns about finding anything off-the-shelf you want to add. The overall construction creates 24-inch on center studs.
That gives you nearly unlimited choices for standard building elements like windows, doors and anything else that you would be attaching to an interior wall.
The possibilities of what you can use a Miracle Truss® building for are practically endless. Head here to see a gallery of what our customers have used them for. If you’ve got the space, we can help you build the place. Just fill out this form and we’ll get free building kit brochures right out to you.
