WHY BUILD WITH STRAW BALES?

Strawbale building makes sense. It offers us a radical way to solve many of the issues facing construction with respect to thermal efficiency, carbon footprint and cost. It's far more than just a wall-building technique; it's a completely different approach to the process of building itself. Like all innovative ideas, it has been pioneered by the passionate and practised experimentally by those with the vision to see its potential. Its background is grassroots self-build: it is firmly based in that sustainable, 'green building' culture that has brought to the construction industry many new and useful ideas about energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.

A typical plastered straw wall has a U-value of 0.13, more than twice the insulation that Building Regulations require.

This method of building is now entering mainstream construction, used by firms who see its value in terms of cost-effectiveness, sustainability, ease of installation and energy efficiency. The building method itself is based on a block system, making the designs very easy to adapt from one project to another, and giving great flexibility in its use.

Working with straw is unlike working with any other material. It is simple, flexible, imprecise and organic. It will challenge your preconceptions about the nature of building and the correct way of doing things – and not everyone will be able to meet this challenge. The simplicity of straw can be disarming, or alarming. If you need complexity for security, then this may not be for you. Don't be put off by nursery tales about the big bad wolf – we should be wise enough to realise that the wolf probably worked for the cement manufacturers! And there are plenty of examples of professionally finished, durable strawbale buildings, as illustrated in the colour pages in this book – so read on, and make up your own mind.

Straw as a building material excels in the areas of ease of installation, affordability and energy efficiency. Council houses of almost PassivHaus standard are currently being built for £110,000 for a three-bed semi. Of interest to the homeowner is the huge savings in heating costs, owing to the buildings' super-insulation. Potential savings are up to 75 per cent compared with a conventional modern house. A typical plastered straw wall has a U-value (see page 120) of 0.13, more than twice the insulation that Building Regulations require. Furthermore, strawbale buildings appear to store latent heat – they perform in a similar way to heavyweight materials, even though they are not masonry.

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