Building Houses Out of Straw
October 28, 2008 · Print This Article
Did you know that safe and warm houses can be built out of straw? As the weather gets colder, many families on Indian reservations across America struggle to keep themselves warm. That’s why Red Feather Development Group is working to provide straw bale housing for some of the poorest citizens in our country.
From their website:
Why Straw Bale Construction?
At the foundation of the American Indian Sustainable Housing Initiative is a belief that affordability and sustainability do not have to exist independently. Thus, we chose straw-bale construction as a logical fit for several reasons.• Straw—an agricultural waste product of wheat production—is an environmentally sustainable and readily available option for Southwest and Northern Plains reservations where wheat grows on thousands of acres.
• Straw bale construction is builder-friendly: Indian families, volunteers and community members can quickly become skilled participants in the construction of their own homes.
• Our approach results in a relative cost savings of up to 60% in light of volunteer labor and donated materials as compared with a traditionally contracted starter home.
• Structures built with straw have an extremely high insulation value, which, when coupled with lower energy consumption, results in savings that can then strengthen the tribal economic base.
Learn more about straw bale construction here and check out volunteer opportunities here. Also, if you don’t have time to volunteer but you would like to help these communities, consider donating to help poor families in South Dakota heat their homes this winter. Even if you can only give 10 or 20 dollars, every 100 dollars raised helps a family heat their home for a month.
- Volunteer in an Indian Reservation
- Architect / Construction Engineer / or Builder
- Sabougnouman Group : Mali
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I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll…actually, it looks like it’s still intact. Well, good!
Haha, yeah I totally had to hold myself back from any Big Bad Wolf references…
Not sure about straw, due to possible pest harboring, but it might still be comparable to other solutions. I personally like adobe with mud+straw. Nothing I’ve seen has that kind of insulative properties.
From what I understand, most straw bale construction involves sealing the bales with a mud. This is supposed to help alleviate pest problems; I’d have a bigger concern with water problems.
My big concern is really the moisture problems…repair could be total reconstruction of walls or the entire house if water got into the walls.
Need to see what Andrew Morrison has to say (contractor specializing in Straw Bale Construction).