http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/25/HOGFTDD4J51.DTL
“Porch said a do-it-yourself straw bale house can cost as little as $50 a square foot, “or it can be as expensive as you want to make it.” Hers cost $240 a square foot, and the house is 2,046 square feet for a total cost of about $491,000. “
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Replies
Which is the problem with talking about sq ft costs, no matter the house choice.
Had to get most of the way through the article to find it was a post&beam house with straw bale infill. Insulation is what the straw is. On the alt architecture lists it's been noted that walls are the easy part, pile up pretty much anything. It's the roof that gets interesting.
There are structural straw bale houses built, but they're rare. Designer in Spokane was promoting them. Gotta find someone who can do the baling just right.
A guy here, several years ago wanted to build straw bale. Unfortunately he wanted the bales to go 4' below grade. The building dept didn't think much of the idea. With the original excavation already done, he wanted me to scrape out a bowl for the house to sit it, eliminating the dirt outside the house. Oh, yeah, good idea for drainage. From all sides, direct to a house that had particular need for dryness. He couldn't understand my refusal. House wasn't built.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Someone built a straw bale house here in Minneapolis a couple years ago. It lasted about a year or so before it got so moldy they had to tear it down. I think the main problem was improper application of the synthetic stucco finish, it turned out to be a pretty expensive mistake.
Far as I know, synthetic stucco is a bad mis-application. Straw walls need to breathe. Lime plasters work better. Might have worked with a perfect interior vapor barrier, or not, if there was exterior moisture penetration.
The Spokane guy has recommended incorporating probes to periodically check the mc (moisture content) of the walls. If abnormally high, I suppose you then get to rebuild anyway. He also sometimes buries strawbales, with water-proofing. Been doing it quite awhile and is successful.
There's a strawbale around here somewhere. Haven't met the owners, who are presumably the builders. You obviously have much colder winters than we do, but also humid summers, IIRC. I've heard of several Canadian strawbales, though they run into large bureaucratic problems.
Certainly no strawbale expert, but when you're dealing with somewhat unknown materials, there's a lot of room for mistake. BT frequently deals with mistakes with known building materials. Some think I live in an experimental house, but it's structural concrete with well known materials. Just a slightly different application.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
"Far as I know, synthetic stucco is a bad mis-application. Straw walls need to breathe. Lime plasters work better. Might have worked with a perfect interior vapor barrier, or not, if there was exterior moisture penetration."
That was my impression as well. There was an article in the local paper about the whole deal; it sounded like there was a whole series of errors in the construction of that house, they didn't really know what they were doing.
it sounded like there was a whole series of errors in the construction of that house, they didn't really know what they were doing.
That can destroy any building method. Don't know your time frame, but the information's been readily available for more than a few years. Only reason I don't know more is little interest.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
that's the problem,
synthetic stucco has cement in it which wicks moisture,
straw bale walls need to breathe,
plaster, clay or wood is the only way,
straw bale builders who cover straw with synthetic stucco are asking for trouble, there are many examples of straw homes that are nearing the century mark that have kept their walls in a breathe mode
"synthetic stucco has cement in it which wicks moisture"I thought that regular stucco had cement in it. But the advantage was that it could wick mositure. Wick it OUT.But that synthetic stucco is impervious and will not wick it in which is good. But if any drop finds it's way in at some window or other junction that it can wick it'self out either.
I understand from people in the 'biz that synthetic stucco if misapplied/improperly flashed can lead to serious mold problems with ordinary construction. Hate to see what would happen to a straw bale house if it were done badly with synthetic stucco.
I have an acquaintance who built a straw bale house. It was a timberframe with straw bale infill. Large overhangs and lots of attention in design and installation to avoid moisture penetration in the first place are clearly important with this building style. He also had to educate his rural building inspector, who then was called in to other jurisdictions as an expert to teach other building inspectors on what's required for this building method!
I am not really into "alternative" construction past SIPS and ICF.But I think that I saw someplace that most straw bail houses are post and beam.
That would be correct. A very large majority, AFAIk.
Here's a pic of another material I find fascinating, if currently unavailable here. Guy near Colorado Springs has used them very successfully. Spokane designer has also come around on them.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Could you elaborate on that pic?
What is that, twisted tires?
be tired
A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
Not twisted, baled. Here's Mikey's site: http://www.touchtheearthranch.com/tirebales.htm
Real close to instant walls. If you'll set it up, I'd buy some bales from you. Maybe a lot.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I've got a couple chinese hydralics used for popping joists and stuff.
Wonder what they do with old bicycle tires?
greencu invented compression
A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
Just so you don't need a jack to pop you off.... (I love my jokes)
Concrete works great in compression. Thanks, greencu.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Tom - Was down in (Clarksville) Va. last week. thought about you as I was heading up 95. Hope all is going well. What does PAHS Designer/Builder stand for? Don
Hi Don, if you decide to detour over to US 29 sometime, give a yell. Not so direct for you but a whole lot nicer drive than 95. Doing fine, thanks.
Passive Annual Heat Storage (PAHS) is a totally passive heating/cooling system relying on large insulated mass. I jokingly refer to living in an underground house. In fact there is 2' of dirt overhead (next house will have more), but with 28%, we probably have more glass than your place/sq ft. For a "cave" it's real bright in here. And comfy. We don't have to work that (normal) month every year to pay for our creature comforts (heating/cooling).
Here's an excerpt from the 1983 book I took the concept (not the architecture) from: http://www.axwoodfarm.com/PAHS/UmbrellaHouse.htmlPAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I was a labourer on a crew that put one up.
Infill post and beam, sitting on a poured concrete foundation. Grade was draining away; eaves extended 24"-30" or so. Lots of attention was paid to the parging/stuccoing.
Straw was specially baled for the purpose, meaning each bale was compressed consistently. Bales were delivered with a known moisture content, and kept in a dry place until used.
Placing the bales was a fun volunteer project. With good supervision, reasonably adept volunteers can put up a lot of wall in a day.
There are a couple moisture detectors in place within the walls, to provide an advance warning should moisture penetrate the walls.
Cost to build from excavation to roof with doors and windows and wiring/plumbing/HVAC was CDN$68/sq.ft. or thereabout.
House has been lived in for 6 years or so, no problems so far.
Edited 6/26/2005 8:45 pm ET by Pierre1