Straw Bale Construction Revisited

Nathan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:03:48 +0000

About two years ago, my friend Woody posted an article about straw bale construction (Click Here to see the full article). At that point in time, straw bale construction was just starting to build popularity, and it has only gotten bigger since. Even in our current economic recession, more and more people are “going out on a limb” to experiment with this relatively uncommon building method. But then again, building a house using straw bales is nothing new; there are straw bale homes in the United States and Europe that were built in the 1800’s — and they’re still perfectly sound!

The exciting thing is that straw bale construction has advanced so much recently. You can still purchase bales straight from the farm, but by using special compacting tools, these bales that can support up to 4000 pounds per linear foot. How’s that for innovation?

If you’re interested in building a home using straw bales, you definitely should check out this website:

http://www.strawbale.com/

You can find just about anything you need at strawbale.com — everything from basic straw bale info, names of experienced straw bale builders, specialized compacting tools, and so forth — you can even find information about how to finance a straw bale home!

And just in case you’re having some trouble visualizing what a straw bale home might look like, here are a few pictures I found on Wikipedia.org that show how awesome straw-bale construction can be:

This shows the straw bales during construction

This shows a fully-finished straw bale home.

This shows how luxurious a straw bale home can really be!

Staw Bale Construction

Woody — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:47:30 +0000

Straw Bale homes have been a hot topic lately. Their R-value is outstanding, and they are quite earth friendly given the rapidly renewable resources they use: namely straw and clay. I checked it out (google straw bale houses or house plans) and was pleased to find plenty of sites willing to share the trade secrets on how to build your own straw bale house. (As always, I would advise anyone looking to construct their own house, no matter what method they use, to consult with professionals and their building inspector. If you have training, great, if not, be very careful.) One of the biggies that I think many would overlook on a straw bale house is the un-eveness of the walls and the cost of plastering them. One site said it would cost roughly $5 per sq. foot to plaster and be approximately 20% of the budget (Morrison – StrawBale.com).

Personally, I think the idea is fantastic. Especially in colder climates. The look is very easily rustic, the finish is very natural (no need for paint in most places = little to no VOCs), and the cost relatively low. A concern that I know has come up in the past is fireproofing. Many are worried that the bales, being a very dry grass, would burst into flames very easily. The truth is that straw bale homes are much more fire resistant. The best defense is the way the bales are sealed off. The walls are very tight and don’t allow much oxygen. The tight bale walls are then covered in over an inch of plaster. Ever tried to burn plaster? It really doesn’t burn. This is much better than a half inch of gyp board (sheetrock) and wooden 2X4’s surrounded by air. Altogether, there are plenty of pros to building a straw bale house.

Check out some interesting straw bale home plans at this site: http://www.balewatch.com/
Check out some great information on straw bale construction at this site: http://www.strawbale.com/

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Straw Bale Construction Revisited

Staw Bale Construction