Lath-Plus™
Lath-Plus is our next generation straw/clay building system, engineered exclusively for The Naturally Passive House. This system is comprised of a double stud wall, where the interior stud-frame wall is sheathed with wooden lath and the cavities between studs then hand stuffed with straw/clay in the same way as with our lath-n-stuff system. The gap between the two stud walls and the cavities between exterior studs are filled with cellulose, which boosts the insulation value of the entire wall assembly sufficiently to meet Passive House standards. Our Lath-Plus system offers the following additional advantages when compared to more conventional straw/clay building systems (above and beyond those of our Lath-n-Stuff system):
- greater insulation value — straw/clay walls without additional insulation have too low an R-value to be energy efficient in all but the mildest of heating climates
For use in The Naturally Passive House, our Lath-Plus system also offers the following advantages over our Edge-Plus system:
- more floor area — a Lath-Plus wall is a few inches thinner than an Edge-Plus wall for the same insulation value
Once the inner straw/clay wall is fully stuffed and all the voids filled, the interior face of the straw/clay wall is coated with a thick layer of earth plaster. A thin coat of breathable finish plaster is then applied over the rough coat of earth plaster — lime, earth, and gypsum are all appropriate finish plasters. Please contact us for specifics regarding your Naturally Passive House project.