Straw Bale Construction

Straw bales are made from a waste product.

Straw bale construction. Some builders construct frames around the bales and use the bales for insulation while others eliminate the framing altogether. Advantages of straw bale construction. My name is andrew morrison and welcome to my straw bale building site dedicated to anyone interested in building their own straw bale house. This construction method is commonly used in natural building or brown construction projects.

To browse through pictures and videos of some homes we have built view our portfolio. Discover how an ecological way of building is creating homes and structures of high quality that meet state and local building codes and regulations. Straw bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw commonly wheat rice rye and oats straw as structural elements building insulation or both. Two hundred million tons of straw are burned annually in the us.

When appropriate for your project straw bale construction has many benefits. Once the edible part of the grain has been harvested such as wheat or rice the stalks often become a disposal problem for farmers. Straw bale construction is superbly energy efficient environmentally safe fun simple to work with and can be used to build structures that are durable innovative and beautiful. A good straw bale home is significantly warmer than conventional building methods because a well packed bale is rated at r30 r35 minimum or considerably more.

These green buildings use a natural renewable resource and are very energy efficient. Sandwiched between two layers of plaster it becomes one of the most fireproof houses you could build. And unlike lumber concrete and steel straw is produced in almost every state of the union thus saving fuel costs and less travel time to a work site. Compared with other building products like wood concrete or steel bales are extremely light and easy to transport from the field to the construction site.

Click here if you are new to straw bale construction and want to start learning. While loose dry straw would easily ignite once compressed into a bale you would have a hard time lighting it on fire. Straw bale built homes can be beautiful. Today insulated homes usually have r 20 in the walls and many old homes have r 14 for insulation or considerably less.

The bales are typically covered with concrete mortar stucco or earthen lime plaster achieving a high degree of fire resistance. Straw bale construction exhibits r values from r 30 and up to r 45.