Straw-Bale Construction: A Great Material for Eco-Conscious Housing Design
Home design and home construction is one of the major areas with which we can choose to "go green". If you are looking into building an environmentally friendly home, you might consider using straw-bale construction techniques. You can use this construction method in a number of ways and it can be a non-load bearing construction element, or it can be used for load-bearing support. This renewable, durable, affordable, and eco-conscious home design solution is slowly gaining recognition as many become more interested in environmental consciousness. Many of us wish to reduce our impacts on the environment, and if you are in the market to build a home, this is the obvious first place to start in greening your lifestyle.
Straw-bale construction is the technique by which, well, bales of straw (from barley, wheat, or a number of other grains) are affixed together and used as either an insulated fill layer, or to actually be part of the structural support system of the house. Straw-bale housing is not universally appropriate, however, so depending on the climate where you live, your ability to obtain a load-bearing straw-bale home just might not be an option. This doesn't mean though, that you cannot use straw-bale construction techniques in these climates, it just simply means that the materials are not suited towards bearing a load in the climate you live it. It still holds immense value for greening your home.
If you live in a southern, drier climate, building a load-bearing straw-bale constructed home is an affordable and very good choice in building materials. Straw is an abundant and cheap material which is a waste product from farming. Farmers do not use straw to restore nutrients in the soil, the only economical use for it is as an animal feed. But as a housing material, it provides superior insulating properties that are vastly higher quality than most commercially available insulating materials.
The bales are generally stacked on top of the housing foundation and secured together with any different number of materials. These bales are then covered with stucco or some other "breathable" exterior finish, generally giving straw-bale houses a "southwestern" style look. These houses are highly efficient and are easily repairable due to the cheapness of the construction materials. The bales used in household construction are not the traditional bales you see lying in farmers' fields. These are highly compressed bales that are designed to withstand the burdens that a load bearing frame would need to handle.
However, in moister climates, or places that see a good deal of snow, a load-bearing straw-bale construction is not the greatest idea. While when cared for, straw-bale homes are incredibly durable, and they are only prone to rotting under intense moisture conditions. This means that places that see a lot of rain are not the best places for a load-bearing construction. And though they are durable, they are not intended to hold the heavy weights of large snows that some of us face in the climates with which we make our homes.
But this does not mean that straw-bale construction has no use to you. Far from it. Straw-bales, when used as insulation material can be up to three times more effective at insulating your home than traditional insulations. This technique is called "straw bale infill". Your home is designed using the traditional "post and beam" style of construction. The difference is that your walls are then filled with straw bales that will add a renewable, eco-friendly, and superior insulation to your home and an inexpensive price.
When contemplating the design and building materials to use in new home construction, particularly if you are concerned about using green materials and building in as environmentally conscious of a manner as possible, straw-bale construction is an excellent option. Affordable, very eco-conscious, easy to design and build, and highly efficient in its insulation properties, straw-bale construction is an excellent building materially for the environmentally minded.
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