Tim,

I had a meeting with the client today, where we toured the barn and gave it a good inspection. I gave him a crash course in TF load transfer, and pointed out a couple of areas that needed to be added to the to-do-list.

The sill beams will have to be replaced on at least one side wall and one end wall.

He said that he was leaning towards cantilevering the floor joists out of the structure, and resting on the sills and lower tie beams. This means that the sills will be exposed to the cold, and we will have to come up with an idea for insulating and covering that area. And there is plenty of room inside.

I recommended using a built up foam insulation with 2x strapping with a steel roof.

He is not sure what to use as the outer straw bale wall finish.
He wants to know if he can use Stucco.

So I will be learning more about timber-frame/ straw bale combined systems and maybe I will be able to offer that to some of my future customers.

Rooster