Fixing straw panel wall

tbondar · Post by **tbondar** » Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:28 am

Hi All, The attached photos show the straw panel wall behind our shower. Anyone worked with these before? What's the best way to fix them? My plan is to use expandable foam to fill the holes, plaster over the whole thing, and rebuild the stud wall to hold the pluming for the shower. I'm just wondering if there is a better way to deal with it? Thanks for all suggestions!
(Sorry the images don't stand upright.)

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:29 pm

I do not know what is the correct way to do this but I think I would forget the wall and use the timber already there to form a subframe and then cover that with Aquapanel cement board or similar to tile over. This will be an impervious substrate for the tiles to fix to or plastic sheet wall. Have a look to get an idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Adhk78XqQ

DWD

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Mon Jun 12, 2023 5:01 pm

I am NOT a builder, but I would be worried if there was a leak the straw would act like a sponge, and you would not know until too late, if it were me (and it isn't) I would cut/remove all the straw and use waterproof plywood to fill the hole, then fix as dewaltdisney said

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Mon Jun 12, 2023 8:21 pm

I've encountered just this situation in the past. I seem to recall it was or is called stramin board. It came in large panels something like 8x4 and was covered in paper ready to plaster. In the case I worked on tiles had been put on and in time the grout failed and the straw soaked up water. It swelled up as SE supposed and started to stink too. It's a pain to cut , if not impossible in that state , so we took out the whole board and reformed the wall with studding. The awkward thing is that the board was quite thin , less than 50mm as I recall which means plenty of studs and noggins to try and keep it stiff. I forget what it was faced with on the shower side but DWd's suggestion of cement board is a good idea and a 6mm thickness will be fine.

Gadget · Post by **Gadget** » Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:47 pm

Stramit board.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234875008787 ... 9gQAvD_BwE

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:05 pm

I thought it was one of those houses they built out of straw bales. I saw one done in the UK once on TV see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Laem6rH2OLg

DWD

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Tue Jun 13, 2023 7:14 am

Gadget wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:47 pm Stramit board.

<a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234875008787 ... 9gQAvD_BwE" class="skimlinks-unlinked" data-skimwords-word="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F234875008787%3Fvar%3D0%26mkevt%3D1%26mkcid%3D1%26mkrid%3D710-53481-19255-0%26campid%3D5338268676%26toolid%3D10044%26customid%3DCjwKCAjwhJukBhBPEiwAniIcNdUZTduyU5hiI3gHO_uSHVnKCn6Kp4kEgYF6IgFbuTBIO6UWkDLMNBoCJ9gQAvD_BwE" data-skim-creative="500005" title="" style="">https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234875008787 ... AvD_BwE</a>

Ah , not quite the cigar...
Actually I've just looked at the link and that's not the stuff I came across. That was compressed straw between paper layers in the same way plasterboard is. It was only the once I came across it and it was used in a 1980's build and seemed to be the idea to keep the internal walls as thin as possible...

bourbon · Post by **bourbon** » Tue Jun 13, 2023 7:59 pm

Isn't the whole of Darwin park estate made with that stuff? I remember you telling me about it.

Razor · Post by **Razor** » Tue Jun 13, 2023 8:12 pm

Stramit is surprisingly strong as long as you don’t need to fix into it.

Never plaster in a wet area just finish the stud work and fit a bar mixer with something like a Shower Pl8 to mount it on to minimise joints behind the wall

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Wed Jun 14, 2023 6:25 pm

bourbon wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 7:59 pm Isn't the whole of Darwin park estate made with that stuff? I remember you telling me about it.

I had to check which one was Darwin Park but no it was Boley Park. Darwin seems to be metal stud and plasterboard...