The new year started with a flurry of activity. For 3 months we were helped by friends and WWOOFERS (willing workers on organic farms - check out the organisation for more info). Firstly Our dear friend Robert from Canberra came for a week or so. I can't find a photo but he patiently helped with making and installing moisture sensors and also designing and installing wooden pegs into bales as supports for skirting boards. The latter ended up as barbed pegs wrapped with insulation fluff and then not only hammered in but also rotated 2 1/2 times! This seemed to be the only way to hold them in place (i'm sure more competent SB builders have come up with a better technique; if so let me know!).
The moisture sensors have, for me, been the bane of the whole build. They were included throughout the house as a precautionary measure so that the relative humidity of the bales at these points(such as under windows) could be checked with a moisture meter. Fiddly to make (i would buy them another time), fiddly to install (the bales are compressed so tight that we had to drill out the holes with an auger and again they're wrapped with insulation to prevent heat loss around them) and their whole system took a lot of thinking of how to make it practical to use (we opted for short lengths of wire to brass screws on skirting boards etc rather than loads of long wires going back to a testing board).
We then had 2 German sisters, Theresa & Beatrice. Amongst several 'jobs', they did a great effort in insulating the toilet & bathroom. There we used 'Novatherm'; made from recycled milk bottles in Milton (2 hours away). Unfortunately the plastic is sent to China to be washed and 'pelleted'; although i believe there may now be a plant in Auckland. Great stuff, anti-allogenic etc but doesn't have the moisture wicking properties of wool batts; the latter we have chosen to use in the roof cavity for that reason. (PS. having used both as extra blankets on our beds, the Novatherm appears to be warmer than the wool!)
Insulating the timber plate below the top strawbale infill wall; using the 'Novatherm' underfloor insulation. Great stuff; have used it in all sorts of places instead of stuffing with straw. R1.4 every 50mm in both directions and clay plaster adhers to it really well
During Theresa & Beatrices' stay we also had a belgium family come too; Louis, Caroline, Eleanor & Milo. During their week Louis put up a 'wall' of coffee sacks, stripped and installed 4 internal windows and did some SB infilling. The latter has been a long time coming. This section is above the main SB wall and isa wood framed wall supporting the exterior weatherboards. It was was originally going to be wool batts. However with so many bales left over we decided to infill. Not easy due to the studs but Louis did a great job tightly stuffing them in and then bracing with metal strapping tape.
The former is in preparation for plastering over an internal framed wall. Some people staple up old carpet (i've never liked the thought of old carpet in a new 'eco' house, plus it's a 2 person heavy job) but we experimented with different hessian products and rough coffee sacks seemed great. A waste product, super strong and plenty of 'roughage' for the plaster to key into. Fine for 1 person to put up (although getting them very tight requires patience) and although Louis initially used 14mm hand staples i now plan to reinforce the sacks with large compressed air staples.
Caroline found time to fully insulate the turret. No mean feat due to double 6x2 walls needing filling. We used wool batts and i think acheived an R value over 7! Being an eco-architect she had some important suggestions from a European perspective. The main one being the use of an 'intelligent' paper between the ceiling boards and the bottom of the insulation. There is 1 product available in NZ, Proclima; its expensive and seems great in a passive house context but i'm undecided in our situation
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