If you plan to build with bales, you absolutely must have a moisture meter with a probe. It is so valuable that I consider it a “must have,” not a “it would be cool to have” tool.
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Many of you have written to me in recent months asking about using straw bale walls for soundproofing against noisy streets and neighborhoods. I have responded to a lot of you individually, but figure it’s better to give everyone this information as well.
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I don’t know what the weather is like where you are while you read this, but it’s pretty rainy here today! It’s always a concern for bale builders that the rains will come at just the wrong time. In fact, I’ve said it before that as soon as your bales arrive on site, you can expect rain, even if you live in the Sahara! It’s Murphy’s Law I guess. Anyway, I’ve got some simple and cool tips for you to implement when building your house and the storm clouds start to roll in.
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A friend of mine just finished baling his house (Wohoo!!) and has over 100 bales left over. He is willing to sell them for $3 each. That’s $1 less than he paid for them. If you’re interested, please respond here and I’ll make sure he gets in touch with you. The bales are in Ashland, Oregon.

What is the perfect bale to use in a straw bale house? I am asked this question a lot. Most times, the question refers to what type of straw is the best. Some people say rice, others say wheat. I always tell people to buy what is most local as long as it is dense, dry, and clean. The other side of this question is in relation to the size of the bales to be used. Many people want to know if a 2 string bale is better than a 3 string bale for home construction.
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I received the following blog post on my old blog (that blog is no longer active so i can’t respond there). It started me thinking about rice straw and humid climates and I noticed that many of the humid climates are actually where rice grows and thrives. To that end, I wondered if it might really be possible to build with bales in a humid climate if the bales were rice straw. I am not in a position to undertake this study, but want to present a challenge to you all:
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There is a new website out there that helps people find straw bales all over the united States. They can deliver as well and have a price break for those buying in bulk. The website is very well designed and I hope will prove to be a great asset to us bale builders and home owners looking to build with bales.
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For years now I have been using a weedwhacker to smooth the walls of every straw bale house I have built. But no more! From now on, I plan to use this cool invention created at my last workshop here in Jacksonville.
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Landscape pins are something I don’t use a lot of; however, they can be a good friend when you need to stick the mesh or blood lath to a bale and sewing is not an option. One problem with landscape pins is they tend to fall out of the wall as fast as you stick them in. So, how to keep them put?
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When building a straw bale house, the bales are likely delivered to the site in squeeze blocks: tall 8′ x 8′ blocks of straw bales. Here’s a simple solution for getting the bales from the top of the delivered pile to the ground where you can handle them. In most cases, people climb their way to the top of the pile and then throw the bales off to the ground. This will usually damage at least some of the bales and is a good way to squish one or more of your generous helpers! There is a better way.
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One situation you are likely to find yourself in when building a straw bale house is the ends of bales sticking too far into a room or beyond the plumb line of an exterior wall. As you know, when you build a bale house, you interlock the corners by placing one bale East-West and then the next bale course North-South as you turn the corner. In doing so, it is easy to stack one of those bales out of plumb and not notice it until the whole wall is stacked. Another place this is common is around window and door openings. I have seen many folks terminate the bales too far into the window opening to create the shape they want when meshing and shaping. Those bales need to be cut back to allow for proper shaping.
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Example of an old stone buttress wall
When building a load bearing straw bale wall, you need to support the wall from falling over into the house or out of the house. The direction in concern is called the out of plane direction and is perpendicular to the wall. A wall should be supported in a ratio of 13:1 (length to thickness of wall). For a standard 3 string bale, this is every 25′. The question often arises about how to support a wall where an intersecting wall is not desired, such as in a living room or kitchen.
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I always remind people to clear the loose straw from their job sites for several reasons. The first reason is always fire protection. The second is for slip protection. The third and new reason is for snakes!
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I partly wrote this post just so I could use this picture, I admit it. Cool picture though huh?

I often talk about knowing where your bales will come from before you start building and even designing so you can know the dimensions and how those dimensions will affect your process. I cannot say how important this is, now more than ever. The number of available bales in the Northwest is so small right now, that I am struggling to find enough for my June workshop! I have contacted all of my sources and have managed to find some bales, only to run into the dilemmaFr1skyandS of how to get them here. Fuel costs being as high as they are, it is hard to cost effectively transport bales any distance.
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For a long time my crew has used the same mesh (2″x2″ 14 gauge welded wire mesh) to shape windows and door openings. It has always worked very well; however, I have recently found a situation in which that can be quite problematic for the plastering process.
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Perhaps the greatest tool on a straw bale construction jobsite is the bales themselves. Of course, I LOVE the straw bale needles I use, but there is nothing quite as amazing as the many uses of straw bales on a site.
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All too often the conversation about how to protect bales in a straw bale wall is held without any mention of how to protect those bales prior to their installation. So, how do you protect the bales once they arrive on site and before you install them? For some reason, most likely Murphy’s Law, it will rain once the bales have been delivered, even if you are building in the middle of the desert! I consider a fresh stack of dry bales to be a rain magnet.
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I recently heard that some, if not all, straw and hay out of the Pacific Northwest has a mold spore in it. The question that accompanied this information is how to counter act the affects of the mold on the bales so they can be used for constriction.
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I get a lot of questions about how tall a bale building can be. People want to know if they can build three story homes with straw bales or if they are limited to one story. That all depends on the way you chose to build: load bearing or in-fill.
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I would love to hear from people who may have experience working with government agencies to approve straw bale on government projects. In other words, building federal buildings out of bales. I know there are police stations, visitor centers, and more already built with bales. If you had any experience with these buildings, please help out Diane to achieve her goal. Thanks. More information about the goal is below along with my response to Diane.
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