bale houses

I am gonne build meself a cabin, for when DH is driving me nutty and I need space HE is not in.......and I thought last week I should build it out of straw bale. Thanks for the links!

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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

Rather leave them a strawbale house I payed for out of pocket than a stick built house with a mortgage or nothing at all and my grandkids would appreciate it I hope.

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

I was thinking of one for when DW is driving me crazy LOL

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

It's actually M'am ( but that's okay). Actually I have been to Austin and most of Texas...just couldn't remember..seemed humid but then I was living in West Texas at the time so that might explain why...Was in san antonio last June and it was humid as well...but then not as much as here. So I guess Stawbale houses don't do well in humid climates?

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended

West Texas is actually more dry than Austin and San Antonio, I'll grant you but humid? Nahhhhh, try Houston! I was told that West Texas does get much heat as the rest of Texas but it's called a dry heat and you apparently don't sweat half as much. I think people think heat=humidity which isn't true except for Houston.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

It was an extremely dry heat..I could actually feel the moisture evaporating from my skin...and then there is the constant wind...nice people though in most all areas of Texas

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended

jnap31...well if you can build the strawbale and have it paid for, then, you can build a stick built and have it paid for to.

Yea, I know the straw bales are all cutsie and cozy and stuff. But, the simple matter of fact is stick builts are dominant and will remain so. Building a strawbale won't save the earth.

That's why a strawbale is just a personal choice made by seeing all the advice and deciding what your personal goal in building any house is. Hey if it helps the grand kiddies fine, if it doesn't fine, it's your money.

[just for the record, I don't think building a strawbale will "help" the grand kiddies because it is such a wonderful environmental jesture on the part of the builder. And if more people worried about the "big" picture instead of their own little comfort zone bit of it....."oooo...I built myself a strawbale house....I'm so green......my own little world is wonderful...", we'd actullay all be better off. AND...I do think strawbales are actually pretty cool and more people should build them...unfortunately most people don't have the will, desire, or stamina to do so.] is that 3 cents or 4 cents worth?

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To find out what an Arborial Reconfiguration Specialist does visit http://home.bluemarble.net/~cmdrvoid/cpc.htm

Ed Stanton, you have 34 posts as I type, and I think that quite a few of them are probably on this thread. You seem to have an ax to grind on this subject.

We are country people with animals (and yes, my goats have eaten the straw, FWIW) and I have stacked many piles of both straw and hay. I find the notion of post and beam + straw bale to be fairly appealing, whereas strawbale + load bearing is shudder inducing. Unless we are talking about a very small structure with a lightweight roof and no snow load to speak of, I just can't see feeling secure in a load bearing straw bale home.

You are entitled to your opinion, but so are the rest of us.

DO IT!

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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

No sorry, I have no axe to grind about this subject. It just perplexes me why folks put forth opinions with little bearing in fact? Stacked straw or hay bales in a barn or field do NOT compare to their build in a load bearing strawbale house.

Folks earlier in this thread, and some who live in bale houses, have provided some great links with good information. You might want to explore these, or some recent books on bale building, and especially on how load bearing bale construction is done. You might be surprised on just how strong this construction is, vs. how weak and scary your opinion paints it to be, and you just might change your "opinion". :-)

Living in tn, the humidity is high. I still want to build a hay bale house. Silly question time, if I put solar panels on the roof, would the house be more susceptable to fire??

I'll have to assume this is a serious question, even though it is a matter of stating the obvious. Codes are about building a structure that meets a MINIMUM standard of habitability, occupant safety and longevity. Codes help prevent things like fires, structural collapses, water infiltration, life safety issues and a multitude of other problems. I live in a very fast growing area that was recently forced to adopt the residential code. The average person who migrates to the area and buys a new home has nothing to loose and much to gain, now that builders are forced to follow a reasonable set of standards. For far too long the unsuspecting public was robbed by the minority of the area builders who didn't think a minimum standard of quality and safety was something they should have to provide. You statement is absolutely false. Codes do nothing to prevent anybody from building what they want, by themselves, and with better materials. There are many styles of alternative constuction that have been done for decades in some of the most restrictive locales in the nation. The issue he is more of the mentality that "nobody has a right to tell me what to do", than the reality of building a safe, decent home. Codes aren't the problem. The fact that they exist are a problem for a very small percentage of those involved.

First off: Stop saying "hay" bales! It's straw -- no food value in it!

Secondly, why on earth would having solar panels on the roof have any effect on the walls of a structure? The only thing you want to worry about is water leaks, and that is something you would want to worry about whatever you build your walls out of.

Thirdly, strawbale walls (properly stuccoed and plastered), have a better fire rating than nice, kiln-dried stud -- dare I say, matchstick -- construction. Moreover, a strawbale even unprotected by stucco and plaster, burns very slowly because it is so tightly packed. Not like matchstick houses burning to a crisp very quickly -- even if it did catch on fire, you would have loads of time to get out. Your real problem with fire is going to be your absolute reluctance, after all the worry about wet bales and mould, to allow a fire hose to spray water on your walls

It should be noted that, while strawbales may catch fire fairly slowly, once going straw bales will burn with more intensity than anything you've ever seen.

I've always been curious about the wet bale thing and spontaneous combustion. As in...is there a situation where someone could let the bales get wet, stucco them, and then some how they combust. always thought it would take the natural moisture in the plant material rather than just rain water to get them to do that. beleive there is a difference in that type of moisture.

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To find out what an Arborial Reconfiguration Specialist does visit http://home.bluemarble.net/~cmdrvoid/cpc.htm

I actually know the architect/engineer who did the original burn test on bale houses. He kept a blowtorch directed at the wall for 2 hours. It never caught fire and held a flame at all. There just wasn't enough oxygen inside the bale for the fire to feed on. That is where the 2 hour burn rating comes from, I think.

We will be building with bale. It feels like a good choice for our family. If it is not a good choice for your family, good for you!

Anyone interested, check out the sites above. Good luck with your decision.

Cindyc.

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Mom to 5 cool kids and wife to 1 great guy. Life is good!

I believe strongly in the merits of strawbale housing, this is just an interesting story...
When my grandmother was young, my grandfather was drafted right after my mom was born, she couldn't afford a proper place to stay, so she stayed in a "summer" cabin in northern WI, in the winter the temps were probably down to -30, my great grandfather piled strawbales around the cabin in an attempt to keep it warm, I am sure it helped but the water pail was still frozen every morning!

I grew up in Florida in a concrete block house with a slab subfloor.
When I moved North and had my first exposure to "stick built", it was very
uncomfortable.

It FELT like sticks.
The feeling of the floor moving under my feet was very disconcerting.
Older stick built buildings felt better to me - at least the plaster walls and sturdier framing were readily apparent.
But those skinny little stick walls and paper/compressed powder walls
do NOT provide a feeling of comfort or safety. Just because a lot of folks are "used to it" or haven't experienced an alternative, doesn't make something good.

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Hut on the Hill Farm
http://www.hutonthehill.org

Thanks snoozy.

Here's a good resource for straw bale building and energy conservation. They have sensors throughout the building to monitor temp and humidity in order to generate data from an actual straw bale building in MN. In this case they are using 400 pound bales.

To my good fortune they are only 25 miles from here.

http://www.hugllc.com/index.php?opti...d=12&Itemid=23

I for one, would love some pictures. Don't keep em all to your own self.

I'll start:

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