The Straw Bale House: Paul Lacinski

Paul Lacinski, co-author of Serious Straw Bale, details how buildings made with straw bales are extraordinarily energy efficient, comfortable to live in and fun to build. A partner in Green Space Collaborative, and environmental consulting firm in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Licinski tells of his involvement in constructing houses using straw bales throughout the United States as well as in Mongolia and China. ECU#557

Category:

Education

Tags:

• EnviroVideo
• Green-Sphere
• Smart-Houses
• Straw-Bale-House
• Paul-Lacinski
• Frank-Melli

[piucaprim]

Please contact the folks in the video and let post a comment on what you found... Thanks!

[FatJan]

How much did it cost to build this house? How re-saleable is it? Does it provide sufficient insulation in climates like Edmonton where it gets as cold as -40's degree celcius/farenheit.

[piucaprim]

You need to contact the people on the video they give their contact info during the video near the end... please let us know what you find out. thanks!

[MrTechnophile]

For anyone new to straw:

Hay is dried but still green grasses, usable as animal feed. Hay bales are mostly green.

Straw is dried and no longer green grasses, generally yellow or "straw" colored, not usable as animal feed.

The grass species used for hay and straw, including "pasture grass", alfalfa, etc. are different from lawn grasses. They are chosen to produce a lot of nutritious animal feed and grow quickly. Pasture grass on our property grows over 6 feet tall if uneaten.

[magua73]

It depends where you live, earth/clay has a high termic mass but very low insulation value, that's why you use strawbale in some cases where insulation is important.

[arbonac]

Building with earth (cob, rammed earth or earthbag) is better, all around.

[pekoe]

((((I love these Homes))

[guitartorch123]

Straw bale is safer, cheaper, and more efficient than standard frame construction.

[marnold78]

Yeah, straw bale housing is a great way of building a house - and in Canada - the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp has spent a lot of time on fire testing on these structures

[trollab]

There are actually quite a number of straw bale houses in southwestern Canada - from houses to commercial buildings (including a large warehouse in Calgary) .... it's very viable!

[AKATigerwhispers]

There are a lot of Straw bale houses in Canada...