The Satisfactions of Straw

by Loralie Cecotti

The option of straw as a building material has not been overlooked by San Felipe builders be they full time residents or annual tourists. Prices compare well with lumber, brick or concrete and because of the ease of construction labor costs can bring a smile. You can do the work entirely by yourself or agree to assist a hired contractor. Construction is friendly to available used materials such as doors and windows. And if building costs are a smile, maintenance needs are a giggle. Due to its wonderful insulation properties, heating and cooling costs are reduced by 75%. Here in San Felipe, there may be none at all.

Construction is as basic as it gets. A cement pad begins the project with straw bales stacked upon it like ordinary bricks, seams staggered for strength. Bales set on their sides will have more strength than those stacked on end.

In load bearing structures bales are stacked and reinforced with rebar or stakes to prevent shifting. A post and fill method requires a simplistic wood or block framing with bales used for fill in to complete the exterior walls.

Sometimes the bales are pierced with posts running floor to roofplate to be tightened with bolts after the roof is installed. This compresses the walls to minimize settling. Doors and windows are spread evenly along each wall to create balanced weight distribution.

Chicken wire or stucco netting is wrapped around the walls to hold stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside. . Some folks choose to use a plastic membrane on interior bathroom and kitchen walls to fight moisture, others judge this unnecessary. Once completed, the structure must be left to dry before final plaster is applied to allow for full settling and the necessary drying. Then a good plaster cover eliminates problems with bugs or dampness.

Dampness being about the only enemy to straw, wide roof overhangs are suggested, with sloped surrounding grounds arranged to provide satisfactory runoff. Additional advantages of straw; the density of bales makes fire as likely as setting a phone book afire with a kitchen match, and also promises a noise barrier any schoolmarm would love.

Detailed building instructions and announcement of upcoming classes on the Internet can expand your knowledge and promise a project easily completed by any enthused layman. In stateside classes, half the enrollees are women.

Of course homes have been built of straw, grass or reeds wherever readily available throughout history. American straw bales began 100 years ago with Nebraska settlers finding straw more available than trees. Some of those first stores, homes and churches are still standing. Australia has a number of decades old straw bales still currently occupied and China, Russia and Germany as well as the States are today seeing a revival of the option as lumber prices increase. Most US buildings are found in the Southwest where building codes have been changed to accommodate them. The oldest existing, built in 1903 outside Aliance, Nebraska, though unoccupied since 1956, continues to withstand that stateÕs wide temperature swings and blizzard force winds. Advocates love to tell how a local family sat playing cards blissfully unaware a tornado was blowing past their front door. Straw homes in Wyoming endured a 5.8 earthquake in the 1970s without suffering even a crack in the plaster coating.

Environmentalists cheer straw bales boost to the environment. A by-product of hay with no nutritional value it becomes a burden for the farmer and must be burned to make room for new crops. Enthusiasts suggest the world will be much better off if we learn to bale and build instead of cutting trees. They point to a double savings in that once built, the insulation value of straw makes supplementary heating/cooling only rarely necessary.

Today we can buy 4x8s panels, competitively priced, light weight and strong. They are a welcome addition to material choices in RV and mobile manufacture. We can buy exterior roof panels, doors, shelving, even cabin kits. The kits come with steel mounting channels and advertise easy assembly of a cabin 500 to 700 feet square in three to seven days. Some 4x8s are sold with joining clips, others with tongue and groove or lap-jointed edges.

What woman who loves to rearrange furniture wonÕt go ballistic when she finds demountable partitions for sale? They are advertised to leave no scar on floor, ceiling or wall, should she choose to relocate them every now and then.

Finally, for the far-seeing among us, you can buy your own straw casket. You can order one complete and ready for use but if youÕd like to save a dime or two you can purchase a reduced price kit for family and friends to assemble and decorate. As an added feature, carrying handles can be removed upon arrival, at your final destination.