Cal. Health & Safety Code § 18944.33 — General Provisions and Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms are defined as follows:

(a)  “Bales” means rectangular compressed blocks of straw, bound by strings or wire.

(b)  “Department” means the Department of Housing and Community Development.

(c)  “Flakes” means slabs of straw removed from an untied bale. Flakes are used to fill small gaps between the ends of stacked bales.

(d)  “Laid flat” refers to stacking bales so that the sides with the largest cross-sectional area are horizontal and the longest dimension of this area is parallel with the wall plane.

(e)  “Laid on edge” refers to stacking bales so that the sides with the largest cross-sectional area are vertical and the longest dimension of this area is horizontal and parallel with the wall plane.

(f)  “Loadbearing” refers to plastered straw-bale walls that bear the dead and live loads of the roof and any upper floor.

(g)  “Nonloadbearing” refers to plastered straw-bale walls that bear only their own weight, such as infill panels within some type of post and beam structure.

(h)  “Plaster” means lime, gypsum, lime cement, or cement plasters, as defined by the California Building Standards Code, or earthen plaster with fiber reinforcing.

(i)  “Straw” means the dry stems of cereal grains left after the seed heads have been substantially removed.