BaleHaus at Bath

Since the structural testing things has been fairly quiet at the BaleHaus, until last week when we undertook an acoustic test on the house. This involved blasting 100dB of ‘white noise’ at the house and measuring the difference in noise levels between inside and out. One of the rooms on the ground floor of the house was isolated and the window blocked, so that one of the prefabricated straw bale panels was tested rather than the window. Results are being analysed as I type and we hope to get them back soon, so keep an ear open for those.

The structural test on the house was undertaken at the very end of March and was set up to replicate the designed wind load that the BaleHaus could be subject to. A load of 4 tonnes was applied to the East façade of the house and movement measured on the West. The load of 4 tonnes was applied in three different set-ups and the maximum movement was less than 4mm, well within the design requirements. The test took most of the day to set up and we were on site until 8:30pm, by which time the big bad wolf was very tired indeed and the three little pigs were still safely in the straw house! Thanks to Dan for undertaking the test and Neil, Graham, Sophie and Mark for assisting in the set up.