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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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Popularity: 22%

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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Popularity: 61%

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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Popularity: 62%

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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Popularity: 44%

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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Popularity: 41%

When making window and door bucks for your load bearing home or other structure, you have a few choices to make. What size wood do you want to use? What design should you employ? How will you attach the bucks to the wall?
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Popularity: 47%

Retying bales is one of the most important techniques on a straw bale construction job site. You will be required to retie many bales over the course of the construction and each retying episode will take time. It is not a fast process to retie bales so every step that can be done more efficiently will impact the overall timeline of the job. In the following video, the first in a series of two, I teach you how to make two bales out of one bale with speed and accuracy. I also talk about spreading the bales and other details that will save you time and energy.
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Popularity: 84%

Weather cycles in many parts of the country are affecting the number of available straw bales. For example, drought in the Southeast has had a significant impact on the grain markets. As a result, more farmers are baling hay than producing grain crops. This means there is simply less straw available to builders and other end users and the price of those bales is higher than last year. A more global impact on straw bale availability and price is seen in the agricultural commodities markets. Prices for grain is rising in most countries and as a result, governments are actually buying less for international aid and long term stock pile reserves. This means that although the value of the grain is higher, finding a buyer may be more difficult. Partnered with this trend is the growing demand for corn based fuels like ethanol.
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Popularity: 39%

Here are some questions I got from a client yesterday. I think they are worth sharing.

Q1. How much force is required to tie the bales tight. (my elbows are killing me)

A: The knot that I use, the Miller’s Knot (although I have been told that the name might be incorrect) is so strong that it is possible to tie the bales tighter than the original baling machine. This requires a strong twine as well as the standard twine often snaps under the added pressure of this knot. Super blue twine works very well. In general, I try to tie the bales as tight as I can. This usually means that when I am done, the old knots are slightly loose and the new twine is very tight to the bales. In terms of foot-pounds, I have no idea. IN terms of elbow pain, I would suggest a little less than what causes pain!

Q2. How to handle situations where you are only 3 to 4″ short and too small for a bale. How to stuff, how to lock the bales from moving and the use of tar paper under the bales and strapping.
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Popularity: 42%

It is important that all wood surfaces be covered with roofing felt to separate them from the plaster. If you do not do this, the plaster will adhere to the wood and will be prone to extensive cracking as the wood dries and moves over time. a typical house has a lot of wood members that will need to be isolated so the process can be time consuming. It can also go quickly with a little planning and forethought. Here’s what I suggest. Figure out the major widths of the wood components that need to be covered with the felt. Add 4″ to that width for some overlap (I’ll tell you why in a minute). Now the roofing felt to the chop saw (use an old blade because the felt will gum it up terribly!)and cut the roll into smaller rolls matching the width you determined. Cut slowly to stop the felt from melting to itself rendering it useless. Now you have precut rolls of the size you need to move quickly through the structure. These rolls are not only cut to size, but also easier to carry around the job site and up ladders if necessary.

Now, why did you add 4″ to the measurement of the wood members? When notching your bales, I always tell you to over cut the notch rather than under cut it. If you try and hit the notch size exactly, you will miss most of the time and the trimming of the notch in the bale is hard to accomplish well. This means the bales will be harder to get into place and the time you’ll spend trimming, fine tuning and installing your bales will be huge. If you over cut the notches, you will speed the process immensely; however, you may end up with a bunch of 1″ gaps on the outside of the structure against the posts and beams where the over cut took place. You could stuff these, but it is hard (because they are only a few inches deep) and very time consuming (now you’re back to where you started with lost time!). The extra roofing felt (4″ over cut) acts as backing for the plaster as long as there is no more than an inch or so of space behind the felt. The other 1-3 inches of felt laps onto the bale, bridging the gap. There is no significant affect on the R-Value of the wall and the process is sped up greatly. Again, the faster you can move through the baling process, the sooner you can get the bales protected with plaster.

Popularity: 30%

When adding a straw bale addition to an existing straw bale house, you have to be sure to create a connection between the two walls (old and new). One way to do this is with dowels or rebar embedded into the old wall and laid in place in between courses of new wall. This allows you to leave the existing plaster in place and still accomplish a connection. Another way is remove the plaster from the existing wall and then use plaster lath on the top of each new course that is bent at 90 degrees and pined to the old wall surface. Use landscape pins on the old and new walls to attach the plaster lath. You will want to offset the new walls in either application so they are not in line with each other. In other words, add a right angle turn from the old wall and offset the new wall by at least one foot. This will help when you plaster because it gives you a stopping point (the corner). Without it, you will see a large plaster scar or will be required to plaster the entire wall (both old and new) to a corner.

Popularity: 29%

Do you live in a Tropical Rain Forest?

I am a big believer in the merits of straw bale construction. That’s probably obvious by now; however, there is one major drawback to working with bales: climate conditions. Bale homes are ideal for dry and mostly dry climates, acceptable in wet climates, and difficult to deal with in very wet and humid climates.

The big demon is not water, in the form of rain at least. In stead, it is humidity. Rain can be handled with proper design so even the wettest climates can accommodate straw bale structures. Humidity, on the other hand, cannot easily be designed out of a structure. It pervades everything and gets into everything. A bale house can stay dry from rain and still be saturated with moisture inside the plaster due to the acclimation of the bales to the area’s relative humidity. Everything eventually settles on a moisture content that is in direct relation to the relative humidity of its surroundings. Therefore, if the humidity is high, so too is the moisture content of your bread, your clothes, and your bales!

Let me give you an example, I used to live in Northern California, where humidity was often very high due to the coastal fog. My wife put her leather boots under our bed for a month and when she took them out, they were covered in green mold! Our house seemed fine and we surely did not expect to see that kind of mold anywhere near the inside of our house. But, the space under the bed is dark and has limited air movement, kind of like the space in between your layers of plaster.

What to do? Well, you must first consider if your climate is right for straw bale construction. If you have really high humidity and very little dry season each year, you may want to consider something other than bale construction. Another option is to consider mechanical help. If you install a whole house de-humidifier, you can minimize the amount of moisture in your house and therefore in your bales. Remember that when pressurized under normal living conditions, air moves out through the walls. If the air is dry, it is safe to pass through the walls. Systems like this can be installed into your HVAC system, if you have one, or can be stand alone units utilizing 4″ duct work.

Remember to design and build for the water and humidity. You not only need to design to keep water out, but also to allow it to escape should it get in (nature has a way of blowing even the greatest plans!) Plan for both, and you will be okay. Nevertheless, if you live some where that you think is too risky, ask for advice and then make whatever decision you feel is best around the use of bales in your home. And know that this is coming from some one who loves bale construction so I’m trying to talk you out of your dream!

Popularity: 30%

There’s no two ways around it. If you have bales delivered to your site, it will rain. Okay, that’s a bit pessimistic; however, it almost always seems to turn out that way. I have baled homes in the middle of the dry summer here is Southern Oregon, where summer rains are very unusual, and had rain clouds show up the day my bales are delivered. The point is you can never be too careful about protecting your bales from rain.

When bales are delivered to the site they will either be in the form of a large block, called a squeeze block, or stacked by hand. either way, the shape of the stack needs to be taken into consideration. Leaving a block flat or stacking your bales flat on top will create areas of depression that can and will collect water. It is best to stack the bales like a pyramid so that the tarp will shed water to the sides. If possible, stretch the tarp to cover the tops of the stacks without covering the sides. In other words, make a trap roof. This allows the wind and air to dry the bales from any condensation that may find its way in from under the tarps. It can be hard to achieve this if the winds are strong in your area. If that is the case and the bales will only be stored a short time, then you can leave the sides some what unprotected, assuming the weather is not bad. The sides of the bales can handle some moisture. The tops are what you want to keep totally dry. Consider that water on the side of a bale can only get so deep into the bale and can be pushed out with a dry day. If the top of a bale gets wet, gravity pulls the moisture down into the bale where it is hard to drive out. This can cause rot and long term damage. If the weather will be bad when you are baling, make covered walk ways from the bales to the house with tarps that keep the bales under cover all the way.

Oh yeah. I probably should have said this earlier, but you should always stack the bales on pallets to get them off of the ground. If you don’t, your bottom layer of bales will be brown with mold and, over time, will turn to compost. If the bales are to be stacked over grass or other plant life, put a layer of 6 mil plastic or weed cloth down first, then the pallets, then the bales. The plastic or cloth will kill the grass, but it will also stop it from growing up into your bales. If you plan to move the bales quickly into the structure, then don’t bother with the cloth or plastic.

A final cool tip: When unloading a stack of bales that is tall, like a squeeze block, it is best to make a slide. Take a couple 2×12’s that are long enough to reach the top of the stack while still providing a relatively gentle slope. Once at the top of the stack, climb up and use the ramp to slide the bales to another person on the ground. This keeps the bales from getting knocked out of shape and speeds the delivery to your stacking crew. Just be careful not to stand at the bottom of the ramp! Happy baling.

Popularity: 10%

There are those out there who say the best straw to build with is rice straw because it is very strong and has a high silicone content which makes it hard to burn. Others say Flax straw is a great idea because it is really rot resistant. Some suggest wheat is best because it can be long cut straw in tight bales and at the same time is easy on your tools. The answer, as far as I am concerned, is all of the above and none of the above. For me, the best straw to use is the straw that is local to you. Consider that you are building an energy efficient home. Does it make sense to truck straw across the country to your site because rice is better than wheat or vice versa? I don’t think so. As long as the bales are tight, uniform, dry, and of general high quality, I think you can use what is closest to your site. In fact, I even know of a guy who built a house using bales of old, compressed cereal boxes! Yup, even that worked and his material was basically free since the recycling center (who did all the binding and compacting) was happy to give it away instead of process it. They saved money and he got free building materials (small transport fees did apply of course). So use what is high quality and close to you and you will be happy in the end.

Popularity: 10%

Having built a number of straw bale houses now, my crews have started to focus on production. By this I mean they are always looking for ways to make the bale stacking, tying, and meshing go faster. We have developed a better straw bale needle in that effort (the plans for which can be purchased on my website), as well as other tools like “the salad fork.”
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Popularity: 20%

I got a tip from a reader today about stuffing loose straw around bales. He uses tubes of burlap with a knot in one end and then stuffs them full of straw.
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Popularity: 10%

Well I landed in Denver, Colorado today right behind a big snow storm. I am lucky to have made it in, or so it seems. Some areas of Colorado got over two feet of snow today! Funny, when I left Oregon it was 65 degrees. Oh well. While I was traveling I thought about when and where to use straw bale construction. Surely this thought was egged on by the thought of landing in the Colorado snow. What I jotted down on the computer as we flew was that most areas of the World are perfect for SB construction, but some are not. As a professional builder I need to be able to inform people of when and when NOT to use bales.
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Popularity: 10%

There is no need to have rebar in infill straw bale walls anymore as far as I am concerned. In fact, we have not used it in years, with inspector approvals I might add, even though the Oregon code requires it. Here’s why:
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Popularity: 9%

Oh no! The biggest fear of every straw bale home owner just came true! I smell mold. I think my bales are getting wet. I have high moisture readings on my in-place sensors. What do I do now? Well, the first thing, after you breathe and take a step back, is to find the cause of the moisture infiltration and fix it. Without that, anything else you do will be a waste of time.
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Popularity: 7%

I am often asked what the pros and cons are of laying bales flat versus laying them on edge. To me the differences are many and important. Every house I have built I have laid the bales flat. Every time I have worked with folks who have opted to lay bales on edge, the feedback has always been the same: “I would never do that again.” Here is a quick run down of the cons to stacking the bales on edge.
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Popularity: 6%