[Greenbuilding] Sawdust + clay (was Re: straw clay)

Michael O'Brien obrien at hevanet.com
Fri Oct 15 11:54:12 CDT 2010


Hi, guys--

We are building a small studio using cedar wood chips coated with a clay slip to fill 8" Larson truss walls. The chips are held in place on the interior with wood lath and on the exterior with a rain-screen sheathing. I like the chips because they mix easily with clay in an electric mortar mixer, are fairly light for volunteers to carry in wheelbarrows and to pour into the walls, and pack better than straw, which likes to bunch up and create voids. Plus they smell great. A clay plaster will be applied over the lath.

I don't know the conductive heat loss of this setup, but I would guess it is similar to solid wood at about R-1 per inch, maybe a little better because of the air spaces. The studio is only 140 SF so a little heat should be sufficient.

Best,

Mike O'Brien


On Oct 15, 2010, at 6:56 AM, RT wrote:

> On Fri, 15 Oct 2010 03:03:33 -0400, Stronzo di Nord wrote wrote:
> 
>> Have you looked at Dr. Gernot Minke's "Lehmbau Handbuch"or  CMHC's "Initial Material Characterization of Straw Light Clay" ?
> 
> 
> Something that I had wanted (but forgot) to mention was the possibility of sawdust + clay as an alternative to straw + clay since the original question came from the coastal PNW where I presume sawdust is a more plentiful local resource than is straw.  A bit more dense (and hence higher compression resistance)but basically the same idea.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that I saw a recent research report on that somewhere on my hard drive, and I *suspect* (but could be wrong) that it, like the CMHC report on leichtlehm mentioned above, was also authoured by WatJohn. Then again, maybe the whole thing was just wishful thinking and there is no report ?
> 
> -- 
> === * ===
> Rob Tom
> Kanata, Ontario, Canada
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Mike O'Brien Photography
1905 N Alberta Street
Portland, Oregon 97217






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