The Best Information I've Found for Straw Bale House Construction
It's not an easy matter to build a straw bale house -- or any house, for that matter. How to deal with situations where your bale course is higher than the sill of your window? How to prevent your walls from leaning away from plumb? How to build so that your straw bales will be protected from all moisture once construction is complete?
I've seen people struggle with straw bale houses where they began with too little information. An unfinished straw bale house up the street from us was eventually torn down. You need good information, before you begin and for reference during construction.
The straw bale DVD shown here describes a step by step system describing exactly how to build a straw bale house -- from foundation to plaster. It's done by Andrew Morrison of Jacksonville, Oregon, and it is crammed with a lot of information.
Now, I'm picky about how-to DVDs. I've had my hand in helping to produce over a dozen programs myself, helping my husband with ones that our business, Hartworks, created, on a variety of topics including natural building. I know how challenging it can be to get shots where the viewer can really see and understand exactly what you want them to.
I'm really impressed with how much information is packed into this program.
Click on the link below to read Andrew's sales page, which tells you all about the program. While you're there, you can listen to a short message from him and sign up for an email series called "7 Essential Steps to Straw Bale Success."
Here's the Link I Just Mentioned
For Andrew Morrison's Straw Bale DVDs
- How-to Guide to Building with Straw Bales
- If you are at all serious about doing straw bale construction, this DVD will pay for itself many times over... and if the video convinces you that straw bale building isn't your cup of tea, hey, give the DVD to your local public library!
What about you?
Why I recommend DVDs for Learning to Build Straw Bale Houses
Books can only take you so far, though of course they are good to have around for inspiration and reference.
Attending a straw bale workshop is time consuming and expensive. It can be worth doing once you are sure that strawbale construction is in the cards for you.
But to my mind, the best way to learn about straw bale building is to get one or more informative straw bale DVDs, which you can watch more than once, share with family and friends, etc.
For a really useful series of how-to straw bale DVDs, I recommend the ones created by Andrew Morrison of StrawBale Innovations in Oregon. Andrew knows both how to build with straw bale (having created a 15-house complex must have helped!) and how to teach clearly, in a way that is understandable.
A No-Cost E-Course on Straw Bale House Construction
- Free Mini-Course on Building Your Straw Bale House
- Here you can sign up for an email course called "7 Essential Steps to Straw Bale Success." They send out one email a day for a week, and you can unsubscribe completely at any time.
Amazon Straw Bale Plexo: What Do You Think of These Books?
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A Couple of Straw Bale Links I Like
Admittedly, I am not objective about these two!
- Green Home Building: Natural Building techniques: Strawbale
- Describes the use of stawbales for creating natural, sustainable buildings, with pictures and related resources of books, videos and links.
It's from my husband's website. - Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building Home Page
- Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building promotes natural building, and sustainable design and development through research, training, education and consulting services.
This is the website of our good friend Owen Geiger. While it isn't just about straw bale building, Owen is a real expert on this topic.
Which of these YouTube Straw Bale House Videos do you like best?
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Andrew Morrison's Straw Bale DVD on Foundations
Second in the Series
You certainly want to start a straw bale house (or any house) with a good foundation!Also Visit My Newer Lens on Load Bearing Straw Bale Construction!
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Load Bearing Straw Bale Houses
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What sustainability advantage do load-bearing straw bale houses have over the post and beam (aka infill) kind? Simply put, they can use less wood since the bales themselves carry more of the weight. They are also easier for beginners to build... Unt...
