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Fall, 2017 - Catastrophic fires destroyed thousands of structures in Northern California. Straw bale walls performed well. Projects above, Arkin-Tilt Architects' straw bale projects, house on left survived. Studio on right, wood portions of building destroyed, while straw bale walls survived. Photos: Edward Doody

Straw Bale Test Program

Supported primarily by a grant from the California Department of Food & Agriculture, EBNet has completed an extensive series of tests and research on the material properties of straw bale structures. Each individual test is available as a downloadable PDF document here. These program results have also been combined into a book edited by Bruce King, Design of Straw Bale Buildings, the State of the Art, also available as a PDF download here.

Support

You are welcome to download any and all of the test reports and research summaries listed below (they are not copyrighted, and forefer in the public domain. And we hope you will find them useful. Please be aware, however, that these resports - despite having been supported by grant funding - were generated only with an enormous outpouring of unpaid effort by EBNet and the project participants. We intend to improve and expand on these tests, but can only do so with continued support. We ask that you make a donation to EBNet in proportion to the value you receive from this work, and suggest $5 per document.

Be extremely cautious about using this information in the design of building structures. Some of these tests can only be fully understoodand applied to a specific project in a specific location by a qualified design professional. Please contact the test's author if you have questions.

Test Reports