HOUSES OF STRAW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23592, 31 August 1938, Page 5

HOUSES OF STRAW

AUSTRALIAN EXPERIMENTS A CHEAP BUILDING MATERIAL NEW ZEALAND COMPANY TO BE FORMED The proverbial interpretation of houses of straw will have to be seriously revised if a new vogue in building results.from experiments that have been carried out successfully at Port Pirie, South Austral.'a. where some remarkable buildihug have been constructed by one of the stock and station agent companies. At a cost of half that of a similar dwelling built of wood, and a third of one of brick, a home, warm in winter and cool in summer has been constructed of plastered sheets of compressed straw, and so successful have these first homes been that it is now proposed to form a company, in New Zealand for the manufacture of the material. Mr W. G. Thompson, of Middlemarch, Who has recently returned, from a visit to Australia, says that one remarkable fact about the sheets of straw is that when subjected to the concentrated heat, of a flamethrower they resist fire, and they have also passed the severe tests imposed by fire boards and insurance companies. Method of Manufacture Canterbury has been suggested as a suitable place for the building of a factory, as abundant supplies of straw are close at hand. This will be compressed "by, machinery into sheets six feet wide arid two inches and a-half to three'inches. '■/. thick, bound together with wire. For a shed or outbuilding these straw sheets will be all that is required apart from a frame of wood, the uprights being spaced to suit the width of the sheets. '■■} In the case of a dwelling house, however, the sheets' are .plastered outside and inside, the resulting building having the appearance and all the advantages, of a brick and plaster . home. Quotations' -were called in Australia for the construction', of a dwelling hoilse' in brick, stone,'wood; or'straw-and plaster. The price quoted for a brick or stone building was £2OOO, for the- same house-in wood £ 1300, and in.straw with plaster-only £750. The 'Completed building, through which Mr Thompson had been shown, had the appearance and finish of one of the most up-to-date homes. .■ ~.