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GBlist: Insulating a new stone house.




Hi Everybody,

I'm buying a piece of land in Missouri that I hope to start building a 
house on in the spring.  There are a lot of rocks from when the pasture 
was de-rocked years ago and I plan on using them as the primary building 
material.   The house will be banked into the hillside as much as 
practically possible.  I have a floor plan  I like almost done, and 
started doing calculations on the energy budget.  I need a cheap way of 
insulating the walls.

I thought about building a strawbale wall inside of the stone wall, but 
that would make the walls very thick.  I thought about making a double 
wall of stone/concrete but that doubles my work.  I'd rather not build a 
studwall inside the stone wall just to have a place to put insulation, 
but I'm running out of choices.  

If I do build either an inner studwall or an inner stone/concrete wall 
and fill the gap with insulation, will straw work?  I like the R-value 
numbers I see for strawbales, but would want to make the straw part 
thinner than a full bale.  Has anybody looked a the insulating properties 
of straw that is not baled?  Is there a known density for maximum R-value?

Are there any natural insulators that will work well between a concrete 
roof and a layer of soil?  About half of my roof will be underground.

Thanks

-->paul 
monk@radix.net           | And when we find ourselves   
A Shaker Song Circa 1840 | In the place just right 
Author Unknown           | 'Twill be in the valley
Verse II                 | Of love and delight
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