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GBlist: Strawbale not good for humid, mixed heating and cooling climates



I want to build a sustainable home (for example Earthship or strawbale)
and
may eventually build a small community of similar homes around it. I
know
trying to build strawbale or Earthship (or perhaps even post and beam
with
straw bale insulation) means a trial with code officials. But I'd like
to work
with them to develop something we can all feel good about. 

Dear Olivia,

The building code would be the least of your problems if you were to
construct strawbale houses in NC. The big problem is the "face sealed
stucco" exterior finish systems. There is currently over $9,000,000,000
worth of moisture damage in new homes in your area that employed this
siding. They were all built to code and failed instantly. These houses
can be saved with $30,000 worth of repairs each because of their
conventional framing. There would be no saving a straw house with this
type of failure.

Clearly this is not sustainable building and I encourage you to find
other alternatives that have stood the test of time. Perhaps an
autoclaved concrete block or cellulose dense packed wood framing would
better fit your requirements.

Regards, Fred
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