Tips about Bales – TLS #50

This article orignally appeared in issue #50, 2005

by Joyce Coppinger – Nebraska, USA

Tips about Bales
Why wait until you have the framing done and the roof on before finding
your bales. Find your bales during the planning process and well before you
begin construction. Knowing the size of the bales before you design the
building will help you determine wall spans and wall heights, perhaps saving
some of the cutting and retying of the bales, and can help you decide how to
stack the bales­ flat or on edge. Placement of windows and doors may be
easier to determine. You will even have time to select the best bales to
use, eliminating those that might have weeds and seeds, signs of moisture or
mildew, or aren’t shaped or tied well. For help in finding and buying your
bales, try these web sites:

www.strawlocator.com – At this web site, you can list the specifications for
the bales you need for your project, and you can search the listings of bale
suppliers.

www.hayexchange.com – Remember “hay” is not “straw” when searching this web
site.

www.thelaststraw.org – Click on Back Issues & CD-Rom, then scroll down to
2003 Resource Guide. The highlighted article titled Bale Wisdom-Bale Buying
101 lists 20 tips for buying your bales, information on bale orientation,
bale storage and handling bales.

When you know the size of the bales in the design process, you can
calculate wall heights so that you have full bales in each course,
eliminating the need to fill flakes and cakes at the top of the wall. You
can also calculate the placement of windows and doors so they fit readily
into the bale courses as they are stacked and/or the framing for the windows
can be spaced so a full bale fits under and above the windows and above the
doors.

Trimming the bales to eliminate the bent or folded (rounded) ends will
give you a rectangular unit to work with. All sides of the bale will have
cut stems and, when the bales are stacked, will lock together better­top,
bottom and sides. The triangular hole between bales that occurs when bales
are not cut will be eliminated, so you won’t have to stuff as much loose
straw or light straw/clay fill between the bales and bale courses. (See Tech
Tip, pg 23)

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