Author(s): Bruce King
Publisher: Chelsea Green
ISBN: 0964471817
Order From: Amazon.com
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Buildings of Earth and Straw : Structural Design for Rammed Earth and Straw Bale Architecture
Paperback, 169 pages
Publication date: April 1997
Review
“Bruce King has produced a book that is both long overdue and quite timely. While I find most technical books to be dry, uninteresting, and difficult to read, Bruce has managed to provide technical information in an accessible and entertaining manner. Although parts of his book will admittedly require engineering training to understand, even the uninitiated builder will find a wealth of usable material here.”
Bob Fowler, FAIA, PE, PBO past Chairman, International Conference of Building Officials, founding member, International Codes Council
“A revolution in environmentally friendly house construction is arriving. In this book, Bruce King explores the details and methods for building durable and safe earth and straw houses.”
Sim Van der Ryn, Architect, Educator, Author of Ecological Design
Preface
Introduction
- Who Would Want to Read This Book, and Why?
- Earth and Straw: Natural Companions
- What We Will and Will Not Talk About
- A Footnote About Bamboo…
Part One: BASICS
- Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Glossary
- Structures and Forces
- Physical Forces That Act On Structures
- Some Other Variables
- Foundations
- Gravity Loads
- Lateral Loads
- In-plane Forces
- Out-of-plane Forces
- Earthquake Loads
- Other Lateral Force Systems
Part Two: EARTH
- The Material
- Stabilized Earth
- Rammed Earth
- Gunearth
- Stabilized Earth Mix Design–A Case Study
- density and chemistry tests
- compressive strength tests
- moisture exposure tests
- bond strength tests
- fastener tests
- admixture tests
- absorptivity tests
- erosion and wear resistance tests
- Analysis
- Design in Non-seismic Areas
- Design in Seismic Areas
- Foundations
- Bond Beams
- Lateral Loads
- Analysis Method
- Design and Construction Considerations
- Stabilized Earth
- Rammed Earth
- Gunearth
- Sample Calculations
- Case 1: Seismic zone 2B
- check h/t ratio
- axial compressive stress at top of footing
- Case 2: Seismic zone 4, wall cantilevered
- check h/t ratio
- horizontal earthquake load
- compressive bending stress
- shear stress
- tensile bending stress in reinforcing
- Case 3: Seismic zone 4, same wall restrained at top
- horizontal earthquake load
- design fc
- compressive bending stress
- shear stress
- tensile bending stress in reinforcing
- wall connection at top
- Conclusions
- Appendix E-1: Soil References
- Appendix E-2: Soil-cement References
- Appendix E-3: Sample Specification
Part Three: STRAW
- The Material
- Straw
- Bales
- Bale Variables
- Bale Wall Types
- Test Results–Straw Bale and Wall Properties
- Bou-Ali test, Tucson, Arizona
- SHB AGRA test, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Ship Harbour Project test, Nova Scotia
- Fibrehouse Limited test, Ottawa, Ontario
- Analysis
- Load-bearing Straw-bale Walls
- Gravity (Vertical) Loading
- Lateral Loading: Wind
- Lateral Loading: Earthquake
- Non-load-bearing Straw-bale Walls
- Design and Construction Considerations
- Bales and Pinning
- Wall Settling
- Moisture
- Fire
- Sample Calculations
- Case 1: Load-bearing Walls
- design for bale bearing and precompression
- check plaster skin in compression
- design for out-of-plane shear
- design for in-plane shear
- Case 2: Non-load-bearing Walls
- design for bale bearing and precompression
- design for out-of-plane shear
- design for in-plane shear
- Case 1: Load-bearing Walls
- Conclusions
- Appendix S-1: Straw Panels
- Pyramod International, Inc., City of Industry, California
- Stramit, U.S.A. L.L.C., Perryton, Texas
- BioFab, Redding, California
- Meadowood, Albany, Oregon
- Conclusions
- Appendix S-2: California Straw-bale Code
- References
- General
- Stabilized Earth
- Straw
- Seismic Zone Map of the United States
- Unit Conversion Tables
- Base Units
- SI Prefixes
- SI Derived Unites with Special Names
- Conversion Factors
Index