Great thread. I think I read all of the posts until they started talking about the death star, wha???
My wife and I built a cord wood bath house. We used denim batt insulation in the roof. GREAT PRODUCT! Highly recommended. non-toxic material rescued from jean factory waste stream.
http://www.bondedlogic.com/The cordwood infill is beautiful and performs well. However, I would NEVER do it again. Nearly wrecked my body and my mind wasn't too happy either...I believe it took me 6 months to wall in a 200 sf structure working 10 hours/day 6 days/week /wife working quarter time. So in deciding how to infill our timber frame we put high on the list that it must NOT be so labor intensive, which is why SIPS have been considered, but I think we are leaning towards something more sustainable. My property has a lot of clay and straw is farmed right next door. Now just need some kind cement mixer pourable straw clay mix into a form, or maybe some type of adobe brick press. Mass production has its' merits for this old body!
Lastly I read a book on sustainable building in England that mentioned board and batten siding on straw bale INSTEAD of stucco which brought straw bale right back in the running for me. Anybody familiar with this method?? Must handle moisture well if it works in England. I believe they provided an air space for chimney effect behind the cladding similar to roof insulation air space. My first thought though is, what about fires? But it does sound like way less work.
