Things You'll Need:
- Bales of straw
- Bamboo
- Earth-moving equipment
- Wall plaster
- Insulation
- Rocks, rubble or gravel
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Step 1
Sketch out some design plans for your straw home. Work with an architect or experienced green homebuilder to design rooms, doors, and windows. As with a normal home's construction, you'll need to designate certain walls as "load bearing," meaning they'll be used to support the structure's weight.
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Step 2
Prepare a foundation on which you plan to build your home. Excavate trenches beneath areas where you plan to build walls. Fill these trenches with stone, rubble, tires or sandbags to ensure that your walls won't be built over ground that can shift or give way over time.
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Step 3
Create a short "stem wall" upon which you can stack bales of hay. Pin bales of hay to the stem wall by using pieces of bamboo concealed within the hay.
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Step 4
Build your home's walls by stacking bales of hay. Design the stacks so that the hay bales' joints overlap. Borders of hay bales should not line up, as this can make your home much less sturdy.
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Step 5
Provide extra insulation to your straw home by adding cellulose fiber insulation to the walls. This all-natural, environmentally friendly form of insulation is every bit as effective as conventional fiberglass insulation and can help to reduce your energy consumption.
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Step 6
Finish your walls with a coat of plaster. This will protect your straw bale construction from the environment. Experts recommend using adobe plaster or lime stucco, but advise against the more conventional cement stucco.
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Step 7
Create a roof for your straw home. Use metal perlins and a top plate to create the roofing structure. Finish with a corrugated-metal sheet or more conventional roofing materials.
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Step 8
Contact an electrician to help you install wiring and electricity throughout your house. There may be some creative "green" alternatives to consider, such as solar panels.
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Step 9
Explore the different building designs and construction plans. Non-profit groups, like Solar Haven, have lots of great ideas for how to build a house from bales of straw (see Resources below).
