My dream home

[EccentricAnomaly]

Round strawbale house:

http://www.gwaliaessences.co.uk/strawbale.htm

She was originally going to build a timber and stone house, I think it was, but it was actually building control which, for various reasons, suggested the use of strawbale.  The BCO was pretty helpful about the whole thing and I think the planning officers were OK but there was a bit of local opposition at first.  Built with help from Amazon Nails.

On a rather different note, a blog about the construction of a timberframe/strawbale house in the Scottish borders:

http://thefirstlittlepig.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

[Billy]

Ah,

It's been some time but I have spoken to friend re straw house near Colchester in Essex.  Turns out I was not listening properly (what's new).  The place is called Assington Mill, do all sorts of courses including bale building.  They did an infill garage not a house and it is in Suffolk.

I can't even remember who it was who sent me the pm, forgive me and I hope you read this.

Billy 

[daftlad]

Hello all, my first time on an online forum of any kind
Electrics in straw bale:-
These days people don’t use pyro much, fp200 is rated to the same fire rating, it is “self extinguishing” so it there is a spark the fumes from the cable on fire puts the fire out and the inner cores are wrapped in a metal sheath so if anyone puts a nail through it, it will trip out.
As far as running the cable through the straw, I would use cable twice a thick as needed, there is a regulation that requires for you to double the current carrying capacity of cables when they are completely enclosed in thermal insulation, cables would be stuck to the surface of the straw and then be rendered so there is only insulation on one side so this would be fine.
I have been looking into enviro construction for a bit now and the conclusions that I have come up with are as follows
Straw is the best cheap insulating wall material around.
I would face it south and install a passive solar conservatory.
To store the solar heat I would build some of the interior of the house in stone or brick or something dense, maybe put some in the conservatory as well and install some inline fans to get it to where it is needed.
To further heat the house I would fit a “masonary/ Russian/ ceramic stove” these seem much more efficient and less work (only 2 burns a day) than a normal wood stove.
Then I would go for the technology.
Solar hot water.
Solar electricity.
Wind turbine
I maybe would not go for a grid connection (even if one is available) and I would fit a lister generator that also heats the hot water.

This is my dream house which I hope I can afford to build one day.
Laters

[vegplot]

We're in the process of building a straw bale house on Anglesey. Planning permission has just been given. The build will not use any concrete or other cement based materials, instead utilising the physical properties of strawbale and lime render to provide a self regulating environment in terms of thermal insulation and moisture control. The house was designed by us in conjunction with Amazon Nails and we hope to have it completed by 2010.

[martin]

excellent - that's a TRUE grand design - do keep us up to date on your progress!

[Richard Owen]

We're in the process of building a straw bale house on Anglesey. Planning permission has just been given. The build will not use any concrete or other cement based materials, instead utilising the physical properties of strawbale and lime render to provide a self regulating environment in terms of thermal insulation and moisture control. The house was designed by us in conjunction with Amazon Nails and we hope to have it completed by 2010.

Fantastic. There's a show us yours section on this forum.

Post some pics!

[Brandon]

vegplot, nice to see you here, you have found my main hideout...

enjoy

brandon

[Amy]

Get yer pix out fer the lads and lasses 

Im interested to hear what the planners stipulate though

[billi]

Excellent .....

Have you considered clay plaster/render ? even better CO2 performance

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Straw_Bale_Construction/Techniques/Finishes

And mixed with straw shavings available in 1 ton bags

http://conluto.de/fileadmin/uploads/englisch/conluto_technical-information.pdf

nice with a wall heating idea

Just a thought

Keep on posting please cause i received planning yesterday as well  

Billi

[vegplot]

vegplot, nice to see you here, you have found my main hideout...

enjoy

brandon

Hi Brandon, how are things? I should have been here a long time ago and I've not yet had a look around but there seems to be  a huge amount of info here.

[vegplot]

We're in the process of building a straw bale house on Anglesey. Planning permission has just been given. The build will not use any concrete or other cement based materials, instead utilising the physical properties of strawbale and lime render to provide a self regulating environment in terms of thermal insulation and moisture control. The house was designed by us in conjunction with Amazon Nails and we hope to have it completed by 2010.

Fantastic. There's a show us yours section on this forum.

Post some pics!

I will do as soon as we have some. We've done a l;ot of planning but aside from a few course not much in the way of action. I'll find the section and post the plans we have. We couldn't decide on the house layout and spent ages trying to come up with the design abut couldn't get our minds around spatial elements. We approached Amazon Nails and their first design was spot on what we wanted.