Posted on 12/07/2011 8:30:41 AM PST by ferrgus
So, I just discovered a product called "strawboard." Apparently it's been used in Europe for 40+ years, but it's kinda new in the US.
Some sources say that a typical house requires about an acre's worth of clear-cut timber, which would take about 30 years to replace. That same house (according to these sources) could be built using 18 acres of straw -- which is a waste product from wheat production.
I've been searching, but I haven't found any serious problems with using strawboard. Presumably, it doesn't hold up as well to moisture as traditional wood does, but I don't know that for sure.
Anyone have any experience with this stuff?
Bump for later
A solution in search of a problem.
I once spent a year in Cambridge, England. The local farmers used to harvest their crops—wheat, barley, corn, or whatever—and then when the stubble had dried out, they would burn it off. That quickly prepared the land for planting winter wheat, by removing the stubble and getting the remains into the ground, and I suppose as you say reduced the carbon.
It was an interesting sight, although things got pretty smokey right into town in the burning season. I don’t know if they still do it. I doubt it, because the greenhouse gas folks would probably be all over them if they did.
Gone with the fox hunts, I expect.
Said farming method dates back to at least Old Testament times. See Malachi 4:1.
Be sure to look into mud for a foundation says this little piggie…
Technically, straw is not a “waste” product. Ideally, it is either shredded and plowed under as-is, to decay and replenish the soil; or is used for bedding for livestock which causes it to become mixed with manure, and is THEN spread back upon the land, plowed under and even further replenishes the soil. Periodical supplemental applications of lime and fertilizer complete the program of soil replenishment and enrichment.
I used to work for a guy who built a strawboard plant in Whapeton, ND. I used to run a custom cabinet and millwork shop in Wisconsin. We used a lot of the strawboard in lied of particleboard. No formaldehyde used in making of strawboard. Very uniform particles and behaved just like particleboard. It is not OSB nor MDF.
Thanks ferrgus.
No wonder I look so good. All that preservative.
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