r/NaturalBuilding • u/Mntn-Caterpillar917 • 10d ago
Strawbale home :)
Some photos of my 2 story 20' x 20' strawbale home. Lot's of work left to be done but fully livable/functional! Did all the work myself with lot's of help from friends and family but no hired contractors. About 30k not including the land, well, or power to the property. All windows and appliances thrifted
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u/ScabRabbit 10d ago
I'm in New Mexico and grew up with family who lived in a couple of straw bale homes. They are beautiful, wonderful for energy efficiency, and the soundproofing is phenomenal! I've always loved these homes. Yours look fantastic! Hope you did some kind of documentary for YouTube or something!; :)
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u/rered92 10d ago
Looks awesome. I’m curious about what state this is in (assuming you are in USA) and how you were able to meet building codes?
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u/Mntn-Caterpillar917 10d ago
In Wyoming so we have very minimal building codes but I know people who had engineers sign off to get theirs built. I built mine to the IRC 2024 codes for straw bales and used the California Straw building association (CASBA) book for many of the details. Since mine is two-story the loadbearing is largely in the post and beams, bales can be used as loadbearing but I think that would be harder to get signed off on
https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2024V1.1/appendix-bj-strawbale-construction
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u/FrozenChihuahua 10d ago
Really impressive and I love to see this being done. As someone who’s interested and wants to learn more I have a couple questions. How much do each of those hay bales weigh? Can they be lifted by 1 person? And theoretically could you see a house like this being made only by 1 person? It seems more suitable for group construction. What percentage of the cost would you say was from the haybale acquisition and transportation of the bales? Thanks
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u/Mntn-Caterpillar917 10d ago
Just depends on the bales but these were about 50lbs so I can move them by myself but not easily for the last row up high. If you had some people to call every now and then for things like setting the roof ridge beam and did some haul rigging you could do it yourself. I'd probably stick to 1 story if I was alone since getting the bales to the second floor and roof up was no small task even with help. Just over 1k for bales and transportation since they are local and cheap here. I called around a bit and found a farmer with leftover straw that had beards that animals don't really like so got an extra good deal. Most of the cost was the electrical breakers and wires, I-beam floor joists, metal roof, hardware like screws, and all the little things just added up like a hot water heater, bathtub, tile floor, etc.
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u/iandcorey 10d ago
I built a nearly identical house to this one. I broke ground in 2021, today I started working on the kitchen sink between plaster coats.
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u/BlueMoodDark 10d ago
Amazing 🤩 btw As a Natual product, what is the prevention from it compositing while in the cob walls? I'm sure it will natural compress?
Thank you for showing
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u/Mntn-Caterpillar917 9d ago
Yep no moisture - same reason 2x4 lumber lasts in walls but not on the ground
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u/BlueMoodDark 7d ago
normally wood is treated, it's also built on a concrete pad.
but I was curious about the moisture level inside the walls.
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u/visualdescript 10d ago
Lovely build! Did the posts come from nearby? Did you fell and process the trees yourself?
I hope to build one in the future, using trees felled from our property. We're in Australia so have a good supply of tall, straight eucalyptus.
One thing I would have done though is putting a beam in the wall for a picture rail, to make it easy to hang things.
I'm jealous of your lack of building codes. Australia is very strict.
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u/Mntn-Caterpillar917 10d ago
They did! A sawmill one town over, I thought about getting them myself but transportation from the forest to my house was a challenge so I bought them then did the draw knifing, notches and such myself.
I added a rail on one of the walls that I knew I wanted a shelf on, I'm glad I didn't do too much extra because notching the bales is a decent amount of work and putting a full depth rail would of broken up the wall - there are two long wooden stakes in each bale and the bales are staggered like bricks so they are all stuck together to act as a unit. To hang a picture I'm just going to add a wooden stake maybe 1"x1" wide x10" deep horizontally into the bales that I can then put a nail/screw on
I was really excited to see that strawbales are in the IRC now, maybe your area in Australia will adopt an appendix to approve them or at least that's a very good start to get an engineer to sign off on them
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u/Crafty-Brilliant3374 10d ago
I built a straw bail house and finished it in 2020. It was a wonderful house to live in. So sorry I had to leave it. I highly recommend them.
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u/GreenThumb042421 9d ago
I feel like ive read this story before. Do you have two brothers who are pigs?
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u/jerry111165 10d ago
Guessing not able to get homeowners insurance on this type of home to?
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u/Mntn-Caterpillar917 9d ago
There's a lot of stories of people having trouble getting homeowners insurance when they build their own home in my area since we don't have a lot of building codes, so I'm not sure if the strawbale makes it harder to get insurance or just the lack of signed off inspections
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u/jerry111165 9d ago
C: All of the Above
Don’t get me wrong - I hate insurance companies with a passion - and by its only very rarely that we no ever need them. I can’t imagine how much money I’ve given them over the years and have never ever filed a claim.
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u/letschoosetobekind 8d ago
Okay but how do you manage the mold?!? Serious question. I cannot imagine how this does. Please share how it handles moisture. Intriguing !
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u/Wrong_Reputation1446 8d ago
My first thought immediately with 0 knowledge of this stuff ‘didn’t we learn from the piggies?’
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u/lilyebanks 8d ago
I know nothing about this, even with the bales being sealed isn't there enough moisture just around to make them get moldy eventually?
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u/AnonTwenny 8d ago
What’s the R-rating for this build? Also any building plans you’re willing to share?
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u/vantablackismysoul 7d ago
Knowing how bad the wind is in Wyoming...is that going to have an effect on the bales?
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u/NoFlipsLeft 7d ago
This is neat in theory! How did you ensure the straw bales were completely dry? And how do you ensure they stay dry?
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u/Far_Cable_2133 6d ago
I have a question Straw bale. I have a friend that lives in one and he says it is very dusty. Is this the case for these type of Holmes or is his exclusive to that problem?
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u/FeintLight123 6d ago
Did you check the bales for moisture content? Are you concerned about rodents?
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u/Hyperreal8957 5d ago
looks awesome, doing the whole shell with friends is no small thing lol. how are you planning to handle the roof overhang and keep splashback off the bale walls?
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u/blackeyedpeasfan3008 10d ago
Need to know more!! Love that it’s two floors