Talk:Straw Bale Construction

Suitably licensed images

 * http://www.flickr.com/photos/iphilipp/418663320/
 * http://www.flickr.com/photos/iphilipp/418692224/
 * http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayburkhalter/6679370453/
 * http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricoslounge/18275652/

Literature
http://www.downloads.fasba.de/loadbearingandcreeping.pdf

=Weatherproofing= Should there be a section on weatherproofing?
 * Hi, it's best to have an account before you add edits and commenst otherwise we can't see who you are. I don't think weatherproofing should be a section, it is the basic purpose of all buildins and as such is covered in many places, especially http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Straw_Bale_Construction/Techniques/Walls when it's finished. --DuLithgow 11:54, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

=Task list=
 * find and correct all the broken links to wikipedia--DuLithgow 20:31, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * add acounstics, refering to the danish report. --DuLithgow 14:08, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
 * /Techniques/Roofing needs to be written --DuLithgow 11:38, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
 * New entries in the Glossary need tidying up --DuLithgow 11:47, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The details of this passage in roof insulation need to be better referenced "Rice hull has a thermal conductivity of about 0.0359 W/(m.°C); the values compare well with the thermal conductivity of excellent insulating materials (Houston, 1972).” Juliano (1985), p, 696. The thermal conductivity of rice hull ash is reported to be 0.062 W.m-1.K-1. See UNIDO, p. 21. A more recent test done by R&D services of Cookville, Tennessee, indicates a 3.024 R-per-inch."--DuLithgow 17:11, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Clarify the last two paragraphs of the Straw Bale Construction/Characteristics/Insulation page: "ORNL determined the R-value to be...R-33 for three string (23") bale wall systems.... Whatever the value, it is at least three times better than the average 'R-19' wood studwall system." To a layperson, R-33 doesn't seem to be three times better than R-19.--Cerewa 01:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

=Wish list=
 * find a front cover picture--DuLithgow 20:31, 4 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Commons only has this picture and another like it. Checked Flickr but couldn't find much else.. Cormaggio 21:24, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks Cormaggio, There are some nice pics like that but the problem is that the bales are the wrong sort! I'd just like to find a picture with the right shaped bales - anything will do for now - but I'm stearing away from buildings (looks like you are too) because that would suggest that SB buildings have a certain look. Great to see someone else working on this wikibook :-) --DuLithgow 14:03, 23 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh yes, I know they're the wrong bales alright! (I've never had the privilege to be involved in a straw-bale build but I know a bit about it). A photo of someone laying or shaping a bale would be great (as you say, steering away from prescribing what a straw bale building looks like) - sounds like an opportunity for someone to take their camera along to a build. You know of any? Cormaggio 14:32, 23 March 2006 (UTC)


 * No, I'm thinking that at the right time we could use the hunt for a good picture as an awareness raiser on the several straw bale email lists around the place. "Whose got the best pic?" kinda competition.
 * PS. Is there a contact where you are from in the contact list?


 * Best pic competition sounds good - but what's stopping you from doing that now and then from that getting some input into the book-writing process? Just an idea. Oh, and I'm from Ireland (though living/studying in Manchester, England) - my Meta and Wikipedia user pages have more info. Cormaggio 11:47, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

=What do we advise?=
 * I think that as a general rule this wikibook should not recommend anything which is quite contentious amoung Straw Bale builders. If in doubt we should mention the doubts. There is a piece in the text on curved walls that looks like this: "Bale strings can also be cut in order to allow the flakes to expand into the gap." This is not somthing that the SB community is in agreement on, it may well be ill advised as no-one has tested wether it is a good idea. It might work fine or it might not. It has not been tested to breaking point to see what effect is has on the walls strength. As such I have removed that sentence. --DuLithgow 20:46, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

=Layout= Phase one of the layout cleanup is finished. --DuLithgow 22:30, 26 March 2006 (UTC) Add comments about layout of the book generally here:

Page Turning
I guess this is a general comment on the wikibooks site but if this is supposed to be a wikiBOOK, as opposed to a regular wiki, then surely it should have an obvious means to turn to the next page when I finish reading the current one?

=References= Links which are embedded in wiki markup do not show up when printed. This means that important references can be lost in a printed version, and a printable version is a goal for me. I looked at a few ways of doing it but of those the best I could come up with that wouldn't make the print version a problem is as follows: (Doe, John. 1998) (Doe, John. 1998) (Doe, John. 1998) --DuLithgow 20:19, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
 * References are done in the same way as you would in an essay: (Surname, Firstname, YEAR). Each reference should be linked to the bibliography. The following reference can serve as an example: (Doe, John. 1998). I think this also mirrors what people expect in a professional text about a technical subject. Comments welcome
 * If you're unfamiliar to HTML making the links work can seem hard. In HTML and wikicode the shorthand for a directory is a forward slash "/", and the shorthand for going up to the directory above is two dots "..". So here are some tips:
 * If you're making a link from a main section then the 'Bibliography' page is below the main section. We only have to indicate that it is in a sub directory, so we add one slash. The link looks like this:
 * If you go into a sub-page, another layer down the hierachy, you have to indicate to the link that it must go up one layer before it look for the Bibliography page, that's done by adding two dots (..) so the link looks like this:
 * If you go into a sub-page of a sub-page then you have to add a seperating slash and anothe two dots, and so it goes on: