People have needed houses since the very beginning of the human race. Although the first people probably lived in caves, straw bale house builders lived in Africa long before written history. Settlers on the American prairies built this kind of housing in pioneer days. People of all walks of life are still building them today all around the world.
Straw makes great building material. It's better than hay, which has intrinsic value (it can be used or sold for animal feed), entices animals to chew on straw-based buildings, and can harbor insects. Stalks of grain when mature have the food value in the seed heads; the rest of the stalk is dry and lifeless. Even insects (including termites) don't bother with it.
A tightly-bound bale of dried grain stalks is strong and an excellent insulator against heat, cold, and noise. Homes built with this material in the walls are outstanding for energy efficiency, saving their owners money year after year. Construction workers need to insert PVC pipe 'speaking tubes' between bales if they want to communicate with workers on the other side.
You don't need to be a contractor to build a house from straw-bales. It's not hard to find a contractor who can do the job, but many people consider a simple home of this type a DIY project. In the early days, people built one-story structures with a foundation to keep the bales off the ground and away from moisture. The bales formed load-bearing walls. Plaster inside and out, or stucco, protected the bales from the weather. A tight bale is also virtually fireproof.
Today there are workshops, blogs, informational books and websites, videos, and lots of how-to tips for people who want to build an affordable house of their very own. Using bales in construction results in savings on the initial costs of construction and even more impressive savings in energy and maintenance costs over the years. A basic one-story home with a slab foundation, stuccoed and plastered walls with reinforcing rods or framing, and a standard roof is a great DIY project.
A one-story home built on a slab, with a regular roof, is a good DIY project. More complex structures increase both the cost and the time required to build; bales become more insulation than structural, load-bearing components. Most of the expense is in the foundation and the roof, both necessary to protect bales from ground moisture and rainfall. Wings, roof peaks, or projections are best left to more conventional construction methods.
Although straw-bale building works best in fairly dry climates, people who plan carefully have perfectly livable ones in the Pacific Northwest and New England. The thick walls mean that door and window recesses are deep, giving an old-world charm to even new construction. There are many contractors who understand the art of building this kind of structure, and many floor plans available for study.
Check out the photo galleries online to see homes of all sizes. Some are perfect for a homestead, while others fit right into any modern setting. In recent years, building codes have become friendlier to this kind of construction, and banks are more likely to extend financing to well-planned projects.
Straw makes great building material. It's better than hay, which has intrinsic value (it can be used or sold for animal feed), entices animals to chew on straw-based buildings, and can harbor insects. Stalks of grain when mature have the food value in the seed heads; the rest of the stalk is dry and lifeless. Even insects (including termites) don't bother with it.
A tightly-bound bale of dried grain stalks is strong and an excellent insulator against heat, cold, and noise. Homes built with this material in the walls are outstanding for energy efficiency, saving their owners money year after year. Construction workers need to insert PVC pipe 'speaking tubes' between bales if they want to communicate with workers on the other side.
You don't need to be a contractor to build a house from straw-bales. It's not hard to find a contractor who can do the job, but many people consider a simple home of this type a DIY project. In the early days, people built one-story structures with a foundation to keep the bales off the ground and away from moisture. The bales formed load-bearing walls. Plaster inside and out, or stucco, protected the bales from the weather. A tight bale is also virtually fireproof.
Today there are workshops, blogs, informational books and websites, videos, and lots of how-to tips for people who want to build an affordable house of their very own. Using bales in construction results in savings on the initial costs of construction and even more impressive savings in energy and maintenance costs over the years. A basic one-story home with a slab foundation, stuccoed and plastered walls with reinforcing rods or framing, and a standard roof is a great DIY project.
A one-story home built on a slab, with a regular roof, is a good DIY project. More complex structures increase both the cost and the time required to build; bales become more insulation than structural, load-bearing components. Most of the expense is in the foundation and the roof, both necessary to protect bales from ground moisture and rainfall. Wings, roof peaks, or projections are best left to more conventional construction methods.
Although straw-bale building works best in fairly dry climates, people who plan carefully have perfectly livable ones in the Pacific Northwest and New England. The thick walls mean that door and window recesses are deep, giving an old-world charm to even new construction. There are many contractors who understand the art of building this kind of structure, and many floor plans available for study.
Check out the photo galleries online to see homes of all sizes. Some are perfect for a homestead, while others fit right into any modern setting. In recent years, building codes have become friendlier to this kind of construction, and banks are more likely to extend financing to well-planned projects.
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