A Chapel of Straw

.

Bale Delivery

The bales arrived the afternoon before the workshop

---

The workshop begins

…getting started in the morning of the workshop.!

The simple instructions from Amanda & Myles, workshop leaders (www.muddyhands.org)

Showing how to use a bale needle…

Fitting notched bales between posts…

Trimming the bales around the posts…

Deeper into the Straw

Teaching class in the evening…

Letting the bales settle….

Wrestling a bale into place…

Some students lending a hand….

Amanda Fisher having a teaching moment….

Myles carves out a niche for statues..

The bales were coated with a clay slip after they were trimmed…

---

…and now a movie!

Many thanks to everyone who helped out, to Amanda Fisher and Myles Danforth who led the workshop (find them at www.muddyhands.org), and to the wonderful Verbum Dei community, who carried the straw, swept the floors, and kept our bodies and souls well fed!

This workshop was sponsored by CASBA, the California Straw Building Association (www.strawbuilding.org)

A House with Straw Panels

Panel construction at ModCel in England

This house was designed to be built with straw panels, frames stuffed with straw. The panels can be constructed off-site with a small crew under controlled conditions. Windows and doors can be installed in the panels from the beginning, resulting in higher quality walls at a lower cost.

The panels can be pre-fabricated while the foundation is being built, ready to be erected at the earliest possible moment in the building schedule. Door and window openings can be framed and flashed before the panels are erected at the site.

Empty panels stacked and ready for stuffing on the job site.

Panels’ greatest efficiency comes in projects with paid labor, where construction scheduling is crucial and small crews can work efficiently and at a steady pace. The owner-builder on our project originally intended to build with a small paid crew but then participated in a bale workshop at a nearby house, and in his excitement decided to have a baleraising and plastering workshop for his own house!

The panels were built at the last minute before the workshop, ready for the workshop participants to stuff the first panel. The panels hadn’t been test-run and the original design had been weakened, so the participants ran head-on into difficulties. The panel sides bent when stuffed tight, and panels warped and bent when lifted.

Fussing with panels on a crowded pad.

Raising the first panel.

The workshop and construction had a very tight schedule; crews and machinery were scheduled to erect the panels and an appointment had been made with the building inspector before plastering would begin. By the end of the first day there were concerns that the workshop schedule couldn’t be met, and so the workshop leader decided to put up the panels empty and stuff them in place. Although this was more work, participants remarked that the panel sections made the bale stacking easier, and the structural integrity of the panels was not compromised.

Panels are designed to eliminate hanging on ladders and bashing, a somewhat dangerous and certainly tiring operation—but at this workshop the joys of bale-bashing prevailed.

In the end, the stuffed panels were completed and the crew went on to the plastering…..

---

…more pictures from the workshop

Straw in Mainstream Construction

In Europe and Australia, companies are manufacturing straw panels off-site and assembling them on the job. Here is a slide show presented at the West Coast Natural Building Conference.

Articles on Strawbale--Architectural Digest & Craftsmanship Quarterly

Here are a couple of excellent articles on strawbale, the environment, and fire!!

Craftsmanship Journal:The Ultra-Ecological House
Architectural Digest:  This Building Material May Hold the Key to Surviving Environmental Disasters

Strawbale 7-Day Workshop

Our project in Temecula, California, will be host to a week-long workshop on strawbale construction. This project will use prefabricated strawbale panels that shorten construction time and save on costs. The panels will be built on site.

The house is based on a previous project, and the plans are detailed for owner-builders. We’ve found that construction personnel who are unaccustomed to custom details and thick, 3D walls, can sometimes make errors in carrying out important details, so we’ve built a library of colored 3D bale details that are clear and easy to understand.

Here is a note from the owner:

This unique straw bale LOAD BEARING workshop will be held in beautiful Temecula, California. The area is known for its grape and wine production (30+ wineries), hot air ballooning, outdoor activities, sunny weather, historic old town, and tranquil pace.  

Temecula is only 1 hour from San Diego, 45 minutes from the beach, 1 hour away from the desert, 1.5 hours from the Big Bear mountains and Los Angeles, and many other interesting places in between.

Our property is a large 20 acre lot with  mountains on both sides of us and lots of room for camping and relaxation.  The project is a LOAD BEARING 1,500 sq ft straw bale house as well as a large garage workshop (also load bearing).

We’ll be using a unique and code compliant load bearing system comprised of compressed bale panels which are lifted into place. This technique allows for a faster and less expensive installation compared to post and beam systems. My goal is to build a beautiful green home while keeping my costs down and showing others an affordable alternative to home ownership. 

If you’ve been wanting to learn how to build an affordable straw bale home and/or how to use a unique load bearing technique, this is absolutely the workshop for you!

Our bales will be sourced from Williams, CA and will be made of rice. The roof will be metal with a wide overhang, allowing the bales and plaster below to be protected from inclement weather.

After attending a nearby workshop I was so impressed with the great food provided by our host Pavlina that I asked her to take care of the cooking for our event. I wanted to be sure that you’ll have a great experience on this workshop and that you’ll  be properly fed…you’ll be in for a real treat with her in charge of food! 

We look forward to hosting you at our project and we hope you sign up for this workshop today!

Link to Workshop Registration

Rendering of Strawbale House in Temecula

West Coast Natural Building Conference

WEST COAST NATURAL BUILDING CONFERENCE – APRIL 13-15, 2018

Join CASBA at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria this Spring (near San Luis Obispo and Hearst Castle) for CASBA's West Coast Natural Building Conference, with a particular focus on fire safe construction and celebrating the women of natural building. Camp Ocean Pines is a seaside retreat featuring strawbale cabins!

Register Here for Early Bird Rates or click on the link in ‘Upcoming Events’ or the calendar on CASBA’s home page.

Keynote Speaker: Art Ludwig

Art is an ecological systems designer with 35 years full-time experience in water, wastewater systems, energy, shelter and human powered transport. His specialty is complex, integrated "systems of systems." He has consulted for the states of New York, California, and New Mexico on water reuse policy and building codes, and given dozens of lectures and workshops. Art has authored numerous articles as well as the books "Water Storage" "Principles of Ecological Design," and "Create an Oasis with Greywater." Several structures he was involved with survived recent wildfires in Santa Barbara and Ojai, and he has much to share on this in particular.

Natural Building Topics: In addition to the themes and panels on affordable strawbale and code updates, this year CASBA will feature greater discussion of cob, clay plasters, natural building schools, energy efficiency, outreach and more!

5x5s and 20x20s: All conference participants may bring digital images to share during the popular Saturday evening slide shows. Limits are 5 images in 5 minutes, or 20 images at 20 seconds each (average).

Conference Planning Ongoing: Their planning committee is working on the final schedule and lining up other workshops and hands-on sessions. If you have an idea for one or would like to volunteer, please contact darles.eaton@gmail.com

Free House Plans--again!

A couple of years ago, fires swept through Lake County and the Gold Country, where we had projects under construction. We witnessed the  beautiful forest burnt as far as the eye can see, and our heart was saddened to see all the families who lost their homes in that fast moving, relentless fire. At that time we offered architectural house plans to anyone who lost a home in the fire, free of charge. 

Regrettably, even more devastating fires swept through Sonoma, Napa, Butte, Mendocino and Trinity Counties, leaving even more families who now have to put their lives back together.  Skillful Means has several projects very near the fire zones--in Kenwood, Sonoma, Dry Creek, Calistoga and Trinity County, and though the fires lapped close and the areas were evacuated, none of them were damaged. 

These are homes constructed of strawbale covered with plaster, and have excellent fire and seismic resistance, besides being energy efficient. The plans were designed to meet the California Building Code and the Wildland Urban Interface fire regulations. Please take a look at the plans on our website (http://www.skillful-means.com/house-plans/) and let us know if we can help you. Feel free to contact us with any questions office@skillful-means.com.

Breaking Ground!

After a wet winter, the site of our house project in the Santa Cruz Mountains has dried enough to begin work on the foundations. Situated at the top of a knoll, the house is curved to take most advantage of a distant ocean view, and to engage with the redwood, pine and oak forest that surrounds the site.  Some adjacent buildings 

Formwork for the main perimeter walls of straw. At the far left is the stairway to the main floor.

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

A  model of the house design, showing the green-wall garage and fan-shaped roof of the patio room.

A Gate for Harrison House

We're totally delighted, and honored, that the artist Mark Bulwinkle, working with Eva Solice and others, created a gate for the Harrison House out of old Bay Bridge bones.

A journey through Bulwinkle's delightful works.

Remodeling a Home with Straw Bales

2 day workshop June 3-4 in Palo Alto, California

Join the California Straw Building Association’s upcoming workshop in one month.

Participants will learn how to wrap an existing stud framed house with straw bales. Participate in stacking bales and apply the base layer of earth plaster to the exterior of a house that is mid-renovation. There will be a balance of instruction time and hands-on experience. 

Learn from contractor, Rebecca Tasker, from Simple Construct and architect, David Arkin, from Arkin Tilt Architects will be the lead educators. The natural building world is constantly evolving and this is a new method of building with straw bales and earth plaster.

For more information visit http://www.strawbuilding.org/event-2506580

Concrete in the Water

During this rainiest of seasons, working between storms, our crew completed the foundation of a small, round chapel, and restrooms, near Tracy.

Dragon's Nest

In the oaken hills of ranch country, where bears roam and horses gently graze the grassy slopes, a sweet farming couple builds their house out of windows and strawbales.  

Skillful Means worked with the owners to design this house over the past year. An open house layout is quartered off to create a bedroom, kitchen, pantry and living room with a sweeping view of Grandpoint Mountain.  

At the heart of the house is a large hearth that supports an array of radial, exposed beams, and also provides long-term thermal storage. Outside, a breezeway connects a small guest cottage and gym to the house for visiting family.  This house features a green roof, radiant heating in the floors, and photovoltaic solar energy.

Curved Hilltop Abode

We are excited to see this house designed last year go up in 2017!  Located at the top of a mountain and overlooking a garden and dance studio, with a distant view of the ocean.  

This home will feature curved strawbale walls and clay plaster with a green roof. A clearstory admits the sun's heat in winter and shines sunlight onto the gently curved interior wall.  

Three bedrooms open into a wide south-facing great room.  On one end of the house, a vestibule entrance brings guests up the hillside and into the house and also offers a quiet greenhouse space for meditation. On the other end, a sunroom and workshop open onto a patio nestled into the hillside.   

This “Hilltop Abode” will run on solar energy. Radiant floor heating will be fed by solar thermal panels. Coming soon!

Groundbreaking for a Chapel.

Sunday we enjoyed a blessing and groundbreaking ceremony for a round strawbale chapel we are building near Tracy, California., for the Verbum Dei Seeds of Life Spirituality Center.

We were blessed by cool, sunny weather for an outdoor mass.  Members of the community, and our crew, then wrote short prayers on leaves, which were then tossed into the footings to rest under the concrete foundation.

 

The final bit of water as a blessing...

Members of the community gathered around the round foundations.

The Father blessed the footings and ground.

Police Station of Straw

This summer we completed the strawbale and plaster portion of an addition to the City of Union City Police Station.

Since the addition was located in the parking lot of the station, we were treated to a wide variety of comments about the Police Station of Straw from the policemen as they walked to and from their squad cars... Many were baffled at first, but as the work progressed and the walls took shape they became more and more interested, and even enthusiastic.

View fullsize

One of the policemen offered his target for display :)

View fullsize

Parking lot at the police station

View fullsize

South face under as the bales are in place and lathing is beginning.

View fullsize

Looking down the side wall to the main building.

View fullsize

The completed straw police building.

The addition was designed by Indigo Architects of Davis, California, and Argo Construction of San Francisco was the General Contractor.

Free Strawbale House Plans

Today we drove through Lake County on our way to a house project and witnessed the devastation first hand. It’s hard to look out on the vast mountain-scape and see that beautiful forest burnt as far as the eye can see. My heart goes out to all those families who lost their homes in that fast moving, relentless fire, and to those who now have to put their lives back together. We would like to offer architectural house plans to anyone who lost a home in the fire, free of charge. 

These are homes constructed of strawbale covered with plaster, and have excellent fire and seismic resistance, besides being energy efficient. The plans were designed to meet the California Building Code and the Wildland Urban Interface fire regulations. Please take a look at the plans on our website (http://www.skillful-means.com/house-plans/) and let us know if we can help you. Feel free to contact us with any questions office@skillful-means.com.

Strawbale Work Party!!

Skillful Means is building a house in the country, and we held a work party for friends and family of the owners.  Here's a video slide show!

 Brief explanation: It's a load-bearing house, and so it's important that the bales are set tight together in the wall, so we've used a light mud 'butter' between the bales to fill any gaps or spaces.  We mixed a lot of mud--much to the delight of kids and adults alike! 

(designed by Darrel DeBoer, engineered by Darcy Donovan)

join our mailing list!... browse the archives

While our new blog is being created,
please visit us at our old site, and check out the archives,
and sign up for our new blog--don't miss any postings!

Sign up for our new blog!!

View fullsize