Awesome community-minded people turned up to do the workshop. The picture below shows the Saturday group. Some of these also came for Sunday's session and some new people turned up on Sunday as well. Nick gave a great teaching session about clay and the formulas required for the different coats …
Our house will have a lime render outside and a clay render inside. We have been busy filling the gaps between bales and between the window frames and the bales with cob. The process is a slurry coat which is just clay and water like a thick shake applied to …
The straw bale wall raising weekend was an unqualified success. All the bales, except for the last row, were in place at the end of the weekend. Our bedroom wall was one exception with the determined Andy smacking in the last row on Saturday afternoon (video to come). Perry and …
Nick and Roger are amazing. In the last 4 weeks they have managed to do the deck, have the roof completed so the roofer can start and all internal walls are up as well. If you are ever considering building a straw bale house these are the guys to get …
I found an Australian certified organic paint that doesn't cost the earth. The straw bale walls will be rendered up to the pitching beams (far left). So Roger suggested I oil/paint them now as it would be easier than later. So at the Green Paint shop in West End …
In the wet areas and as thermal mass, it was decided to use timbercrete: waste sawdust, cement and sand which is formed into blocks/bricks and air dried. The beauty of this product is that it can be nailed into and cut like wood, it is lighter weight than similar …
We now have a slab with rods sticking our where the bales will go. Next week (from 9/11/09) we are going to start putting the frame up with the assistance of a local carpenter, Johan.
Timbercrete blocks (for wet areas and feature walls) have arrived and need a …
As most of you are probably aware our current economy is driven by constant growth and that the success of any commercial venture is always measured by continued growth of sales, earnings, and market share. Since I have realised this myself quite a few years back I have always wondered …
Rosalba and I have met with Andrew form W D Architects yesterday afternoon.
Andrew was great and listened to all our dreams and wishes for our house and gave some great feedback on some of our ideas. For example we though we'd build the house using a steel frame but …