straw bale home
in Chattanooga, Tennessee
straw bale home
in Sewanee, Tennessee
straw bale workshop
in Kentucky
straw meeting house
in Ashland City, Tennessee
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straw bale house plans benefits of straw bale construction building a straw bale house more about Ecoville ArchiTechs contact us |
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learn how to build a straw bale house Interested in straw bale construction? Ecoville ArchiTechs has been consulting with, designing and training people to build with straw bales since 1994. We offer a multi- media presentation on straw bale construction and natural building. Learn the history of natural building as well as current options for beautiful, healthy, energy efficient homes that are a joy to live in and a pleasure to own. ecoville architechs offers a full range of planning and design services, including new homes, remodels, historic restoration and interior design. Also consulting services for your energy efficient home, permaculture site and alternative energy options. Straw bale construction is a 100 year old building method first employed in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Since wood was limited and the bales stacked easily it was a practical use of their resource. Most of the early homes were built as load-bearing structures, where the roof bears on the straw walls. This method is still used extensively in areas such as the U.S. southwest. Here in the southeast we use the straw bales as infill after building a post and beam structure to hold the roof. The roof protects the straw during the installation. Once installed the straw is covered with a lime &/or earth plaster inside and out. Straw bales are a wonderful insulator. When plastered the walls have an insulation rating of R30-35. And plastered straw bales are a Class A fire resistive material offering a 2+ hour fire wall. So a straw bale house is easy to heat and cool, non-toxic and is safer in terms of fire protection than many conventional building materials. And, naturally, they are beautiful. Homes have been made from a variety of materials over the centuries, among them stone, mud and straw. Still to this day nearly half of homes around the planet are made from these materials. Here in the U.S. it has become common practice to make homes with materials such as plastics, foams and OSB. These materials can be bad for our health, bad for the environment or both. Natural building uses materials that are less harmful to our health and the environment, - that have been created using little energy, - that are available locally and - that will return to the earth naturally, if the building is abandoned, without emitting PCBs, dioxins and other carcinogens into the environment. Ecoville ArchiTects offers presentations on natural building and straw bale construction. Our multi-media presentation is fun, inspirational and looks at the many ways which people have built through the ages, exploring beautiful, healthy options for creating a comfortable, safe, energy efficient home that will last for generations. We'd love to talk with your group, class or family.
Howard M. Switzer, Architect |
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straw bale home in Chattanooga, Tennessee
straw bale home in Sewanee, Tennessee
straw bale workshop in Kentucky
straw meeting house in Ashland City, Tennessee |