Straw Bale House

If you are looking to have a green energy home then you can make use of straw bales which are normally composed of wheat, rice and / or oat straws. The straw bale houses offer great number of advantages over other houses which are very costly to construct.

First, the straw bale houses are relatively easy to construct and do not require much skill. Second, the straw bale houses can be constructed quickly whereas the usual homes take months for their construction. Another advantage of a straw bale house is that it provides perfect insulation from the outside temperature and noise.

Building straw bale houses is relatively inexpensive as compared to a normal house. The straw bale is less prone to fire (when covered correctly) and thus is very safe. Straw bale houses can be constructed in two major ways including in-fill and load bearing.

The load bearing method involves the construction and filling of the house walls and then later on constructing the roof of the house whereas the in-fill method involves the construction of main frame first and then later on filling it with straw bales. Each of these methods has certain advantages and disadvantages associated with it.

The load bearing method makes use of minimum quantity of material and also the straw bales get time to settle completely so the rendering does not crack quickly. This method however has a disadvantage in that the bales are prone to weather until the roof is constructed.

The in-fill method has the advantage of protecting the bales from weather and also provides a shelter for residents before the construction of the house is completed.

However it suffers from a disadvantage that one needs to compress the bale manually before rendering the walls because otherwise the rendering may crack.

Constructing a straw bale wall is a fairly simple task involving the construction of a foundation first and then later on constructing a moisture barrier. Once the foundation is made one can fill it up with straw bales and then join each layer of straw using wires. Finally after the straw settles down one can render the whole wall using a mixture of clay or earth.

One must ensure that the straw has properly settled before rendering because otherwise it may cause some problems that no homeowner will want to deal with. Also one must remove bits of straw coming out of the wall before rendering. Once you have rendered the wall you need to wet the wall for at least a week so that the render dries slowly and does not crack quickly.

Before rendering and tightening of straw against each other it is very essential to fill in the gaps. The walls made of straw bales help with insulation thereby keeping the house cool. Thus we see that straw bale houses are usually constructed in villages and places where there are little resources available. Also the straw bales house are constructed in places where the weather is usually hot. In addition, straw bale houses have caught on with environmentalists who insist on green living and green building.

With straw bale houses that are covered in clay such as adobe style dwelling it may be hard to tell that straw was actually used in construction since surfaces will be covered. Many of this type of home will have a "Truth Wall" which consists of a small door the one can open to show visitors the straw that does indeed reside within the walls.