Canada

We tell kids, when we talk about straw bale houses, that the fourth pig combined all three of the systems that the first three used, straw for insulation and structural integrity, wood for headers, window framing, and interior walls, and cement (Portland lime) for load bearing skins and fire resistance.

Our walls are 10 times as strong as a 2x6 wall in a vertical load, 6 times as strong in a vertical load, have a 2 hour commercial fire rating, a Catgory 5 missile penetration rating (a 2x4 fired at Categort 5 hurricane speed will not penetrate the wall, and an isolated section R value of 70 with a system R value of 40.