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If only the first little pig had baled his straw By
Matt Flitton
Homes made of straw bales are growing in popularity throughout the world. They can be found from South America to Finland. But nowhere are they more popular than in the Southwestern United States. "I think it will become a part of our culture," said Jack Greene, who teaches a workshop on straw bale construction for the Bear River Institute. "There's more and more interest going in that direction." As part of Greene's workshop, participants will build a greenhouse at Logan High School in April. He hopes to raise awareness of alternative building practices and sustainable technologies. By sustainable, he means: "Those technologies that better utilize our resources over the long haul." Building homes of straw began in Nebraska around the beginning of the 20th century. Nebraska homesteaders built homes of straw bales as a temporary measure due to the scarcity of other resources. These homes were plastered on the interior, and the straw was exposed to the elements outside. Eventually, many decided these were permanent homes, and added plaster to the exterior. Many of today's builders use it for insulation value, ease of building, or straw's availability as an agricultural byproduct grown yearly; it takes years to grow wood. According to a booklet published by the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States produces enough straw annually to build 4 million to 5 million 2,000-square-foot homes. That's nearly four times the houses currently built. "One thing I like, is it's a waste product," said Darek Staab, BRI program coordinator. "If it's not used, it's burned off the fields." Straw bale homes have an insulation value of R-40 to R-50 as opposed to wood frame homes with values of R-10 to R-15. They lose little heat over long periods of time. Dion Hollenbeck, of Colorado, shared how well her home retained heat when the furnace stopped working. "(We) left it for 24 hours, only to find that it (the boiler) was completely shut down for all that time," she said. "In 24 hours, the building only lost 4 degrees (Fahrenheit)." The DOE booklet tells of Lucille Cross, who was raised in a hay-bale home. Cross said the building insulated sound so well that one day a tornado came through the neighborhood, and her family played cards in the house, unaware of any disturbance. Staab helped build a community house in Brown's Hole, Utah, as part of a workshop on straw bale construction. During that experience, he said everyone helped out, even children, who applied the stucco exterior to the building. "It almost goes back to the days of barn raising," he said. Richard Macatee of Avon is building his home/potter's studio of straw bales. He has enjoyed the challenge of straw bale construction. "It was actually very challenging and fun to build the walls," he said. "It was a lot like a puzzle, putting the bales together." Upstairs in the living quarters he shows off alcoves that he cut into the wall. "That's one of the advantages of straw bale, is you can carve into them and make these little things," Macatee said. Labor accounts for 50 percent of the price of a new home. Those who help in building their own homes can save on building costs. That is one of the attractions of straw bales. Many organizations teach weeklong workshops to give people the skills they need to build with bales. "I think that having construction experience is going to insure that your structure is really sound, but there are definitely phases within the straw bale structure where you don't have to have experience," Staab said. Macatee framed his home with construction grade trusses and slid bales between them. Just as Macatee came up with an original system for building with straw, there are many different ways to work with the material. The most common method for building the walls is by stacking the bales like bricks and driving rebar down through the bales to provide additional stability. Some people have used bamboo in place of the rebar. The most common materials used to cover a straw bale wall are stucco or adobe. However, many materials can be used. Macatee, for example, covered his walls with cedar shingles so his home would resemble a barn. One concern when building with straw is compression of the straw caused by the unequal loads from the roof. Careful planning can keep compression to a minimum. The biggest concern of those new to straw is the fire hazard in bale house. The National Research Council of Canada reported that a plastered wall withstood temperatures of 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours before cracks developed. Actually, the biggest threat to a straw bale building is just the opposite. If moisture becomes trapped in the straw, it can cause the entire wall to decompose. To avoid this problem, John Swearingen, principal architect at Skillful Means, counsels would-be builders to avoid moisture barriers that are required on wood frame homes, but could trap moisture inside the straw walls. Staab said this type of construction fits better into the ecology of the planet than other methods "You're using straw, earth, wood, and a few other materials," he said. "If something happens to the house, it will collapse back into the earth."
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