Does anyone live in a straw bale home?

[AmberP]

We have been talking about dream homes a lot lately... though it is probably still several years in the future (10-15?), what I really want is a straw bale home and a plot of land for my mini-homestead. Does anyone live in a straw bale home? Did you build it yourself? Do you have pics? Details please! <3

We currently live in a mobile in a park and the topic that came up was buying land and moving our current house to it, then slowly building a straw bale home with a contractor and a lot of our own labor. There is a guy in Oregon that does workshops, and if our ideas ever come to fruition, I think I might like to attend one.

[raisingcropsandbabies]

My husband would remind me of the story of the 3 little pigs. Interested to hear if anyone does!

[AmberP]

Surprisingly, they are pretty hardy! I've done tons of research. There are houses still standing in Nebraska and Europe from the early 1900s. They withstand wind very well and are also fire-resistant and very energy efficient.

Also, because straw is a renewable resource and you can get it anywhere in the country, it a pretty low impact building material.

[aiyana4969]

is this related to a Cob home? I've seen pics of some pretty sweet hand built cob homes. One of the biggest hurdles with them though are local building codes often do not allow for them (But Oregon does. I remember reading, or watchng a special or something about there being a small community of hand built cob homes).

I'd like to talk DH into making a Barn out of one. Don't think he'll go for it though.

[solarbabies]

I live in NM and it is half way common here. We bought a wind turbine from a guy and he had a straw bale house he and his wife built. LOVED IT!!!! They are very sturdy. There are different ways to do it but I don't know much about it. I know you can basically frame your house like normal then use bales. Or you put bales on like long pieces of rebar that stick out of the foundation?? Not real sure on that though.

I know that it could be a concern in wetter climates, but we will never have to worry about that here. The insulation is AWESOME and the walls are pretty much sound proof. I LOVE the deep deep window seals you get and the curvy, roundness to the walls. It is a cozy feeling.

We have thought about doing it before and kinda looked into cost a little....seems like the cost isn't a lot different than a traditional house but the insulation, renewable building materials, and the sound proof-ness would be awesome!

[AmberP]

Originally Posted by aiyana4969 is this related to a Cob home? I've seen pics of some pretty sweet hand built cob homes. One of the biggest hurdles with them though are local building codes often do not allow for them (But Oregon does. I remember reading, or watchng a special or something about there being a small community of hand built cob homes). I'd like to talk DH into making a Barn out of one. Don't think he'll go for it though.

It isn't really like cob home. The straw bales are stacked to create the outer walls of the home and then plastered to seal it in. It is pretty amazing IMO.

http://www.strawbale.com/

[Samandy]

Oh man I would love to do what you want to do! I love the cob and strawbale houses.

[AmberP]

I haven't looked into cob houses much, but now I am curious, so I am going to investigate.

[cdwelton]

looks really interesting, I checked it out a little bit and it reminds me of the old castles in Europe mixed with the old clay Indian houses here. Deffinantly while have to look into it later. We're basically doing the same as you. Thanks for the extra option.

[3lilbubs]

Dh has said over and over he'd love to have a house like this! It would make so much sense here in the high desert. The summers would be so much more comfortable.