Building a Straw House

"straw bales beat conventional concrete blocks hands down in any comparison of the energy used up in the manufacture, transport, construction and (eventually) disposal of the product" - Jon Hollely

In the USA building with straw has been going on for many a year. In the UK it is a relatively new phenomenon, which started in the 90ties and has been going on ever since.

The theory behind building houses with straw-bales is thus. Timber posts and beams are put in place, the straw bales are then placed between this frame in a rigid formation (like building a brick wall). Some liken it to the childhood persuit of building with lego, it's that simple. Building straw houses is that simple, everybody can do it, but before you set off and order your straw bales, get in touch with Amazon Nails, a straw-bale consutancy based in West Yorkshire, who can give you all the details you need to build a straw-bale house see http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/ for details.

• There are a number of benefits of building with straw,
• Breathable walls allow slow air transfer
• Straw is a renewable material
• Good value for money (£1.50 - £2.00) per bale.
• Easy to build walls
• Very good at blocking out noise

Once in place the straw is cladded with Eco Friendly lime or clay. 

Despite all these advantages of building with clay, there are some basic precautions that need to be carried out.

• Ensure that the straw bales don't get wet, this can cause fungal growth and lead to rotting, damaging the walls structure.
• Ensure that all bales are of sufficiently good quality, you can test them by holding them up by the string and making sure they stay compact.
• You might have trouble getting a Mortgage as lenders are not up to speed on these developments, the NFU seem to ahead of the game on this.

learn how to build straw houses with StrawBale.com

For more information about how to build a straw-bale house see -

www.strawbalebuildingassociation.org.uk & www.strawbale-building.co.uk

www.strawbale.com