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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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