Guest Author: Virginia Carabelli

For Part 2, click here, or if you’re new to the post this is Part 1.

You might wonder at this point, what about permits? All materials used for building in the US have to be tested in a federally approved lab. Straw bales not only passed the required standards, but exceeded them in many tests. Federal building codes supersede state building codes, meaning that no state can legally forbid its use. Most people, including many building departments, are unaware of this fact. Each state, has slightly different requirements. For example, if you live in a seismologically active area, your building code will reflect that (by the way, straw bales perform exceedingly well in earthquakes).

So if you want to build a post and beam structure with straw bale insulation (which is the basic building technique), you should have no problem. However, if you want to build a load-bearing structure (no post and beam to support your roof), you will have to restrict yourself to a small building, following a given formula depending on the size of your straw bales. You might run into some resistance in certain states, although load-bearing was one of the required tests passed by this material. Here in New York, several lovely load-bearing straw bale structures have been legally built.

 

As I said earlier, I do not want to get too technical, especially since you can now find all of that information on the Internet. If you interested in learning more, I do recommend that you purchase The Straw Bale House by Athena and Bill Steen, which is the best and most comprehensive how-to book on the market to date, with lots of good and clear pictures. I also have my own website page on straw bale construction which you can visit here. If you follow the link you can see photos of my own house, and access more links such as the excellent study the Department of Energy (DOE) did on the building technique.

Straw bale buildings are now going up all over the world, from downtown Paris to rural Africa. In my opinion, and in the opinion of the DOE, straw bale construction is an excellent and under-utilized building material. It lends itself well to pretty much any design and building size, offering unbeatable insulation, sound-proofing, longevity, and beauty. The savings in heating and cooling alone make it quite attractive, but the ecological aspect is also very important. Instead of burning all of this unwanted straw, we can use it as the great building material that it is, and provide farmers with an extra source of income.

About the author: Eco Peace Solutions with emphasis on Straw Bales Building – Artist – Contemplator “Don’t think, don’t make effort. In between the two is the diamond” Papaji – Sri Hariwansh Lal Poonja