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Natural Building - Strawbale Houses
Building Green
Last Updated on:
06/24/2008 03:09 AM |
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Building a
Strawbale House |
We decided to build a
strawbale house for several reasons. First, we wanted a house
that required very little heating and cooling to free us from high
utility bills and allow us the possibility of not tying in to the
electrical grid, but instead use solar electric. Second, we
wanted a house that didn't feel like your average house that
everyone else has. Third, we wanted a house that would allow
us to do some of the work without the worry of it having to look
perfect; strawbale homes generally have a unique feel with unsmooth
walls and slight visual imperfections. Finally, we just knew
that if we were going to build anything, we were definitely going to
build a Green Home that was environmentally friendly.
This site shares some of the experiences we had in the building
process, some of the green and natural products we used and the
techniques we used to build and finish our strawbale house.
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Natural Building Links |
| The Case for Natural Building: Natural building is
any building system which places the highest value on social and environmental sustainability. It assumes the need to minimize the environmental impact of our housing and other building
needs while providing healthy, beautiful, comfortable and spiritually-uplifting homes for everyone. |
| Natural Building Photo Gallery: They developed an inexpensive way to monitor SB houses for moisture content in the
walls, and studied a few over time. More data on moisture is always a Good Thing, so contact them if you'd like to help out. (Seems to me that the best moisture peace of mind you could
get would be installing a few inexpensive meters in your walls so that you'll know if you've sprung a leak or something.) |
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NEW
Natural Homes:
An interesting interactive map of natural homes around the World.
Currently has 142 homes including off-grid homes which the site
has just started to publish including one in Antarctica. |
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Wood chip and Light-clay Infill Systems: We all know how things turned out for that first little pig, but he really didn't have such a bad idea. There's nothing flimsy about a
house made of straw, as long as the straw is tightly baled, free of pesticides, dry, and used in accordance with good engineering principles. Don't believe it? Meet Susan Riebel of
Rimrock, Arizona. She opened the Huff 'n' Puff Straw Bale Inn in August, 1996. The house boasts post-and-beam construction and a solar-powered electrical system. Hot water pipes run
under the concrete slab floor, offering radiant heating in the winter. "And my utility bill runs about US$18 a month," said Susan. "It's one of this house's many great features." |
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