Straw-bale Housing

Krisna Bour, Lizzy Tichi, Anna Pietsch, Cody Angle,

Kalissa Bryant

 About
Our project
Straw bales
Making of it
Benefits/Drawbacks
Comparisons
State Technical Stuff
Environment
Weather (Location)
Case studies
Building Code
Building technique
Construction period
Building time
Resources
Material costs
Farmers/states
Waste products
FAQ

About Our Project

Business Value proposition

Goal:

To design a proposal for nonprofit

organizations to change their building material to
straw bale homes
Positioning Statement: For low income families
who do not have access to affordable housing, straw bale
homes are a cheaper, sustainable choice because they
reduce heat loss and use renewable resources.
What is the goal of our project? Cheaper housing,
maintenance, etc.?

Straw Bale Properties

Material
Properties

Insulativ
e

Earthquak
e
Resistant
Fire
Retardant

Renewabl
e

Waste
Produc
t

Benefits:
Waste product/ renewable resource
Purchased from local businesses
R value:
Stick built home
Wall: 0-13
Roof: 30-48
Straw bales: 30-45
Construction of staking bales
takes
less time than stick built walls
Volunteer labor force
Naturally fire retardant

Drawbacks:
Hard to build in areas with
lots of rain fall
If you use a contactor, it is
15% more expensive than
a conventional house

Wall
Protection

LIME COATING
Water resistant
Slightly toxic to pests
Non-toxic to humans
Fire resistant
Mold prevention
Breathable surface
Interior and exterior use

CLAY
Helps resist fire/ slows the
process
Pests
Creates more installation
Natural barrier to moisture
This can wash away

Sustainable clay mining (may want to cut

to streamline presentation)(could add to FAQs)
Clay is an abundant natural resource that can be found all over the world and can be easily recycled.
Clay can be used naturally to form barriers against moisture and erosion

Construction

Properties of
Traditional Building
Materials

Straw-Bale

Traditional Home

Pros
Byproduct (sustainable)
natural insulator
Fire resistant
Its cheaper if you build it yourself
strong

Pros
Is Cheaper
Structurally strong
Thinner walls
More infrastructure

Cons
Still using material from
environment
Needs a long enough dry
construction period
Dry climate is better, so location of
these houses is limmited

Cons
Deforestation
Flammable
Susceptible to pests, insects,
mold, and moss

Long Lasting
Homes
Arthur Pilgrim Holiness Church
(1928-2010)
National register of historic places
Twenty-eight feet onto its load bearing
walls

Maison Feuillette (19212012 )

http://naturalhomes.org/strawbale.htm#usa

Case Studies http://naturalhomes.org/naturalhomesmap.htm

Audubon Center, Nebraska

2nd largest straw bale building
in the U.S. made with a timber
frame of local cedar.
Roam insulation made from
waste product left over from
processing gasoline
Closed loop geo-thermal
heating and cooling system
Solar tubes

The Lopez Community Land Trust

recruited an international collection of
college students and young apprentices
hoping to break into the building trades to
help the future homeowners build their
homes, and straw bales are easy for the
novices to work with. Even more
important, perhaps, is that the 18-inch
bales render an insulation value of
between R-35 and R-43. (Washington?)

Mattawa Library, Washinton

1st US strawbale public
library
small agricultural town of
Mattawa.
Empowered by IronStraw,
30 hardworking,
inexperienced builders built
this on a cold February
weekend

1st permitted straw-bale extension in Portland,

Oregon by Flying Hammer and Mark Lakeman of
Communitecture.
post and beam constructio
straw-bale in-fill
interior and exterior natural plaster
cob features
bamboo floors
reclaimed lumber
a cob sauna with a living roof

Strawbale House Construction Options:

Infill
Infill houses are
just like your
conventional stick
built home with a
rigid structure and
using straw bales
as insulation.

Load Bearing
Straw buildings with
very little wood and
are earthquake
resistant because
they do not have a
rigid structure.

Construction Conditions
Building Code:
IRC APPENDIX R & S STRAWBALE CONSTRUCTION
http://www.strawbale.com/wp-content/uploads/IRC_StrawbaleConstructionApp
endix_Approved_10.4.13r2.pdf
http://www.strawbale.com/irc-code-2013/
Construction Period:
Short in Seattle - 4 months
Cant get straw-bales wet

FAQ
Do you have any questions about straw bale homes or our project?

How long do these home last/stand for?

What kinds of straw are there? Do they change anything insulation wise?
How soon do you see these homes implemented?
What is the cost to build these homes?
How long does it take to build them?
How are the material going to be brought from the farm to the building site?
How is a straw bale home built?
Does the home smell if water gets into the straw?

Target Market: Nonprofit

Seattle Mayor
Ed Murray

Thank you

Bibliography
"Home Insulation: Its All About the R-Value." Federal Trade Commission. N.p., Mar. 2009. Web. 27 Jan.
2016. <http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/>.
"Hotbox Test R-value Database." Oak Ridge National Laboratory. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.
<http://web.ornl.gov/>.
James, Mary. "Refining Straw Bale R-values." Home Energy Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.
<http://www.homeenergy.org/>.
"Straw." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/>.
"Straw Bale - What's the R-Value." Sun Frost. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <http://www.sunfrost.com/>.
Swentzell Steen, Athena, et al. The Straw Bale House. White River Junction:
Chelsea Green, 1994. Print.
Thurber, Karen. "5 Interesting Facts About Clay Soil." do it yourself. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.
<http://www.doityourself.com/>.
Kahn, Lloyd. "Oldest Straw Bale House in Europe For Sale in France." LLOYDS BLOG. N.p., 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Apr.
2016. <http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/>.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arthur_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church_from_NW.JPG#filehistory

Where Straw Comes From

and Uses
8-10 acres can supply
sufficient straw to
build a small house

Benefits as a Building
Material

Volunteer labor force

Naturally fire retardant

History of Straw
Houses
Schoolhouse - Nebraska,
1896 or 1897

Unfenced

unprotected by
stucco or plaster

reported in 1902
as having been
eaten by cows

Common Uses:

Bedding
Biomass:
Biofuel:
Erosion
control

Horticulture
Packaging
Paper
Rope
Shoes
Hats
Targets
Thatching

To combat this, builders

began plastering their bale
structures.

Low Income Household

A family with one full-time
worker earning the minimum
wage cannot afford the local
fair-market rent for a twobedroom apartment anywhere
in the United States. - U.S
Department of Housing and
Urban Development
Those who pay 30% of their
income for housing are
considered cost
burdened
May have difficulty affording
basic necessities
About 12 million renter and
homeowner
households now pay
more than 50% of their
annual incomes for
housing.

Low Income Housing

Projects
Magnuson Park
Old World
War II Navy
barracks
Walking
distance from
Lake
Washington
Housing for
nearly 130
families