Eco Lesbo Vego

Spotlight: Strawbale Construction

February 2, 2009 at 12:03 am 4 comments

In a post a couple of weeks ago (Reduce: Summer Cooling Costs), I waxed lyrical about the Queenslander style home. The Queenslander is designed for our hot, humid climate and allows us to manage summer without heating costs. Our winters are so mild that we don’t much have to worry about heating either. When I ‘grow up’, buy some land and get set to build my own house, I’m going to build a Queenslander. Sort of. Really, it’ll be a strawbale Queenslander-esque house o’ dreams!

Strawbale, for the uninitiated, is a type of construction in which the main building material is bales of straw. The bales are stacked on top of a waterproof foundation, trimmed as required, and then rendered to produce a stucco-like wall surface. They’re sturdy – no huffing and puffing to blow these houses down!

Strawbale home - from www.nicklangfordconstruction.com

Originally developed over 100 years ago on the prairies of Nebraska, where grass was the only plentiful building material, strawbale construction is experiencing a resurgence in popularity as part of the growing low impact movement.

Strawbale houses are popular with environmentalists (including me!) because:

• Thick strawbale walls provide excellent insulation – keeping you cool in summer and warm in winter without the need for electrically powered temperature control.
• Building materials are all natural.
• No significant quarrying, mining or deforestation is required to build the home.
• Straw used for building is not burned like most straw is (considered a waste product by food-crop farmers).
• Straw used for building does not release methane by decomposition.
• Rendered walls reduce the need for environmentally damaging paints and solvents.
• Construction waste is minimal and can mostly be used in the garden, meaning it doesn’t need to go to landfill (a large percentage of waste in landfills globally comes from the construction industry).
• Building materials can be grown sustainably in one season and don’t release massive amounts of carbon during harvest (which occurs as part of food-crop harvesting anyway).
• Building materials can generally be locally sourced.

Strawbale pre-rendering - from http://home.howstuffworks.com/straw-bale-house1.htm

Other benefits of straw bale homes:

• Strawbale is one of the most fire-resistant types of structures due to the closely packed straw (not enough oxygen to feed a fire).
• Strawbale can be built by the owners – experts are not required – which makes it much cheaper.
• Professionals are available to build the home if desired, and it’s still cheaper than conventional home-building.
• The two-foot thick walls allow ample space for benches, window seats and shelves.
• Walls can be erected quickly – in a single weekend.
• Walls are somewhat soundproof, so the inside of the house is peaceful and quiet.
• Straw is naturally termite (white ant) resistant (most species).
• Strawbale houses are durable – there are some almost 100 years old in America that are still going strong.

So my awesome house-to-be will be strawbale, for sure. In addition to all the environmental and financial benefits, I just like the way it looks. You know it’s going to have wrap-around verandahs though!

What do you reckon? Strawbale housing for the win?

Entry filed under: Spotlight. Tags: construction, environmental benefits, land use, low impact, pollution, strawbale, temperature control.