STEP U1: INTRO INTO STRAW BALE BUILDING
Content: History and Modern Straw Bale Building, Customizing & Handling: quality, orientation, measuring, shaping, dividing, rebinding, cutting and notching bales, density, moisture, tools for straw bale building and storage of bales.
STEP U2: INFILL & PREFABRICATION
Content: handling tools, plan & construct INFILL double post walls, HYBRID constructions (CUT, OrganiCUT, GREB), execute different infill construction methods, know about PREFAB straw bale elements and advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques.
STEP U3: Load Bearing Straw Bale Construction
Content: Ioad bearing construction methods, resizing, compressing and fixing bales, construction of window boxes, base- and top plates, connection to roofs and ceilings, selecting good quality straw bales, structural behaviour, innovative examples of load bearing construction.
STEP U4: Straw Bale Wrapping & Renovation
Content: checking existing constructions, different wrapping and insulation methods (full bale with hybrid construction, binding, compressing; straw flakes with battens, planks, pallets, boards; prefab), finishing, inside insulation
STEP U5: Finishes – Clay, Lime, Cladding
Content: tools and machines for rendering and cladding, prepare the plaster base, plaster/render mixture (clay, lime), wall and supporting constructions for cladding, cladding systems, airtight, wind and rain proof details, calculating rendering and cladding quantities.
STEP U6: Building Physics
Content: Heat Transfer, Fire Protection, Moisture Transfer and Sound Insulation as well as Healthy Room Climates, Energy Efficiency and common mistakes and solutions in connection with Thermal Bridges, the lack of Airtightness and Windproofness. We show Energy Standards in different countries and how to achieve the standards in Straw Bale Building.
STEP U7: Architecture and Planning of Straw Bale Buildings
Content: principles of solar design, national building laws, building materials, cost estimation, technical details, sketching a basic design and a construction plan, understand and repair most common faults and damages in straw bale construction
STEP U8: Communication and Calculation
Content: how to communicate with your clients, how to estimate the building costs and make a detailed calculation. We also show essential (free and easy to learn) recommended programs for publishing/marketing: image + text, a slideshow, a video.