Straw Bale Houses – Anything Goes

Suddenly it seems that you can build a house from almost anything. That’s what I like about green building – there are almost no limits as long as you keep your carbon footprint as small as possible. Straw bale houses are almost as green as possible. Many agricultural activities produce straw and there are many exciting things you can do with it. Unfortunately, millions of tons of straw are just left out in the field to rot or simply burnt to get rid of it. There are producers who make bio ethanol from straw. Ok, it is not very efficient, so why not use straw bale to build houses?

Straw bales can be used as a structural material or as insulation and substrate for plaster. In case of using it as a structural material, note that its load bearing capacity is only 600 pound per linear foot. This is certainly limiting and contradictory to what I’ve been advertising so avidly: build up, don’t expand! However, if it is a small single storey house you’re after, straw bale will do the job as a structural material.

A much more flexible approach to this green home plan is to build a timber frame and fill the gaps with straw bale. It is a wonderful money saving option. You don’t have to buy insulation and you don’t have to buy sidings – once the straw is fixed, you can just render it using lime or even a specially prepared clay mixture. You can cover the bales with a fine wire mesh to make sure the rendering sticks well. Straw is also a wonderful insulation material.

The trickiest part of building straw bale houses, especially in Britain, is to keep the structure dry before you get it weather-tight. Straw rots extremely easy. If you go for the second option and use a timber frame as a structure, it is easier. Finish the frame and put on a roof (at least a temporary one). Then fill in the gaps with straw and render it quickly. That’s the code-word – quickly – it’s how you need to approach straw bale building projects. Anything slower than that and the rain will come and spoil your party. Also make sure the foundation is insulated properly to stop dampness rising up the walls.

The bales are fixed together using a wire mesh, ropes or wooden sticks. As an alternative – bamboo stems can be used. And for the purpose of holding the whole thing together, a UK grown bamboo will do nicely. OK, I’m not sure about places up North but here in Dorset many people grow bamboo in their gardens. It grows quickly but never reaches the height it would reach in Asia.

Fancy an example? This one comes from the US. It is a guest house but this green home plan can be extended to fit a family house. It has a concrete slab foundation (not very green), single bedroom and an open-plan entertainment/dining area. If it’s a guest house, what is the garden tool compartment doing at the left of the house? It’s not a bad idea – get your guests to work for their dinner.

This green home plan is advertised as a passive solar house. It means that the house is positioned for as much natural sunlight as possible. The heating bill is somewhat reduced on the account of ambient heating. It wouldn’t work for Britain, though. Why passive? Make it active solar! The roof has a 14 degree angle, which makes it almost perfect for installing photovoltaic panels. A house this small with a roof area this big would potentially work as a 100% off-grid home.

As a layout it is not very successful. The square footage of the living area is 1100 sq-ft (100m2). One bedroom house? Plan a small hallway at the North side and put some partition walls up – you can have two decent size bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen/diner within the same footprint.

Please check the pic to see how I’ve re-planned this. Note that this is for educational/curiosity purposes only! Look at those two curvy surfaces you get down the hallway. I bet you’d love to decorate it. The garden tool compartment has gone for good. You don’t need that to be adjacent to the house. Instead, I’ve used that little cranny to fit in a shower and create an en-suite. The original plan is copyrighted by the Architecturalhouseplans.com

Straw bale buildings are known to the humankind for centuries. Today it is even more appealing an approach. Straw bale can be replaced with any other chunky material. Recycled bottles, compressed paper and cardboard junk, recycled textile etc. Endless possibilities!

The plan can be found at: architecturalhouseplans.com