Posted on 04/11/2009 9:50:53 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Your next home could be growing in a farm field this summer.
Energy-efficient straw bale houses, once considered a fad, are going mainstream, thanks in no small part to skyrocketing heating costs.
Those that own them swear by them, contractors can't keep up with the demand, and even municipal building permit approvers, cautious by nature, have gotten with the program. Best of all, straw is a readily renewable resource.
Straw is the dry stalks of harvested wheat, barley and other cereal plants. Tightly baled and used for exterior walls, straw is a strong, nontoxic building material with great durability: Straw bale homes and churches built by wood-starved pioneers in Nebraska and the Canadian west over a century ago still stand.
And it's hard to beat straw's insulating value, which proponents claim has an R-value of 35 to 50, double to treble that of a conventional wall.
"It's been way cooler all summer inside our house than it's been outside," says Harry Kits, who moved into his new, 2,200-square-foot straw bale home in North Gower, just south of Ottawa, this spring.
Mr. Kits and his wife Marianne Heinen's home is a modified straw bale design. Instead of the traditional solid straw walls, their home uses 400 bales placed on edge as infill between 14-inch deep wooden uprights roughly six feet apart.
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
Yeah. It SOUNDS like a great idea, but then the big bad wolf comes by...
Not much. I remember reading plans for them 20 years ago. The ones I remember had extremely thick walls.
As I remember, the downside was rodents and insects.
Mice, snakes and other critters would love this home as well.
Did you see the photo? Not a very attractive house.
The windows are kinda strange in these homes...very thick walls make each window into a sort of seat or shelf. Good places to sit houseplants though.
Lots of info on the net about straw bale homes. Know a guy who just built one last year. Loves it. VERY energy efficient. Low construction cost and its pretty easy for DIYer types to build. You cover the bales with something like stucco inside and out and rodents/mice are not a problem.
Would they be fire resistant
And IIRC, the walls must be sealed well or mold grows in the straw.
Nope.. but have fun with the Straw itch mites.. they never go away nor do they pay taxes!
Downright ugly if you ask me.....a straw bale house could be esthetically pleasing...this one falls short.
Although the article says not.
Yep, my neighbor has one and I helped him build it. The bottom line if you figure in all the extra time and work they require to build there is no savings. And compared to my SIPS (structural insulated panels) house it isn't very good energy wise. Nor is my SIPS as good as advertised, a couple of windows completely negates all the extra insulation values of the walls and ceiling.
Bottom line? Focus on windows and air leaks for energy efficiency and cost savings, everything else is just hype.
They look interesting but I wonder what it is like for people with allergies to hay and grass? It seems it would cut down potential buyers.
I have allergies to both (not bad) and I know a lot of people who do.
Good advice to focus closely on poorly designed/installed windows and doors for air leaks. Ceiling insulation is quite important though...and really pays back in energy savings.
I looked into it when I was researching alternative building techniques. It’s great as long as the plaster coating doesn’t crack. Ever.
One tiny crack on the outside wall, even one too small to see, and moisture starts to get in. Soon enough, your walls are made of rotting compost.
Oh, and mice love it too.
That said, with careful maintenance and in the right location, this can make for a great house.
Agreed.
My sister-in-law and her husband built one of the first straw bale homes in Prescott, Az. It has straw bales in between the outer and inner walls. Both the outside and inside walls are stucco. In the winter they use a pellet stove for heat. No a/c is necessary (of course, they are up in the mountains too so it’s pretty cool). When they first built the home, they were also off the grid and relying solely on solar panels and battery power. But as they got older, and my BIL developed a terminal illness, they had electricity run to their house.
But for years they had people studying architecture at some Arizona schools coming to their house to see how it was constructed and 15 years later, the house is still in very good shape and they’ve had no problems.
Like your tag line ...it’s very true :-)
I don’t know about building a house with hay bales, but I built I nice hooch out of them using a couple of poncho halfs for the roof one time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.