Home Grown House: Straw Bale Building Course

Straw Bale Building Course

Rippledown Education Centre, Ringwould, Kent CT14 8HE

I have just participated in a 2 day strawbale construction course, led by Mark Saich, of Green Building Solutions.

Day one:

We went through a thorough grounding in the History and techniques of straw bale building, case studies and the basic dos and don'ts.

Meet and Greet - Small group of us from various backgrounds. Farmer, Scientist, Homeowner, Carpenter, Environmentalist.

Followed by a small presentation of the History of Straw Bale Construction, then the Uses and various creditable case studies.

Construction started by cutting fixing and bolting the base plate (which would sit on top of the plinth wall.)

constructed using lengths of 2x4

10mm holes were drilled into each step of the ladder to hold the base spikes.

The most important factor for the start was for the base ladder to be completely straight and plumb. This we did by wedging up the timber frame.

After lunch (amazing lunch!). we had a group discussion on our methods and work situations, as well as the role of straw bale construction in the modern construction methods.

By the end of day one we had 3 courses of straw bales built up with axe sharpened stakes driven through the 3rd layer, straight downward to stabilize the bales.

There was great skill required in splitting bales using new twine and hybrid knitting needles.

Day two

This started with the introduction to the new classroom build in straw bale - non load bearing - to see the plaster work and the options of framework and finishes.

We formed a sub frame for a window from 2x4 timber with chipboard pieces for diagonal bracing. The window frame had to be made to size to relate to the amount of compression that would occur in the bales.

As we continued to build up the bale courses (6 in all) it was surprising how sturdy the stack felt, with just timber stakes hammered into them to hold their position.

The top ladder was cut and bolted together with holes drilled through the steps just as the base ladder, with small stakes driven through into the top bale for fixing.

The walls were compressed initially using lorry straps and then permanently fixed with wires. overall the wall compressed down 50mm, whilst being constantly measured with a spirit level to stay plumb on all surfaces.