Houses of straw - the rediscovery of strawbale building

The DVD "HOUSES OF STRAW" is available at www.ecofilm.de (in PAL format)
DIRECT LINK: http://www.oekofilm.de/index.php?id=20,33,0,0,1,0

For USA and other NTSC-countries: DVD available at greenplanetfilms.org
(DIRECT LINK: http://greenplanetfilms.org/product_info.php?products_id=660)

Description of the DVD:
Strawbales are a new, interesting building material: it is a sustainable, ocologically sound resource, available in abundance. Strawbale walls achieve highest insulation values and offer a healthy, beautiful living environment.
This film is a trailer for a DVD called "Houses of straw", shot in Germany. It shows the recent developments, many examples show the different possibilities of building with straw. In interviews with owner-builders, architects and experts we hear a lot of importants aspects. And: an exciting fire test shows: strawbale walls don´t burn!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Strawbale
• building
• Houses
• of
• straw
• Natural
• Building
• strawbale
• house
• homes
• with
• strawbales

[JRBURNETTSMARKETING]

This is a cool video but if you build a houses made out of Straw I don't think you could stand the smell ! It would be to strong !

Great Idea Though !

[ecofilm]

@JRBURNETTSMARKETING

WRONG! It doesn´t smell at all. I slept in many strawbale houses and the smell inside was wonderful, the room atmosphere is great especially if it was plastered with clay (it equalizes humidity in the air)

[wlwak]

Bricks are made of mud, cavemen lived in stone houses and straw is warm in winter cool in summer great sound insulation and despite what you might think it's easy to fireproof.

[crankygoldfish]

@needparalegal Straw bale houses are cheaper in that they're more efficient when it comes to energy required to heat and cool them. The bare minimum rating of a straw bale house is R40. The bales themselves are cheaper than standard construction materials.  The higher cost tends to be labor and specialists such as electricians and plumbers if they're built to code standards.

As to your comment about piling on the dirt: go ahead. Enjoy the garden in your living room afterwards.

[needparalegal]

Humans are so stupid. Straw bale construction has no logic unless you live somewhere where straw bales are a lot cheaper than plywood, but that condition hasn't existed in the US since Texas of the 1800s. If you want heavy insulation just pile dirt up against the outer walls of the house. If you want true cheap efficient housing use cobb or adobe construction methods as they still make sense if you have lots of free labor/time on your hands.

[needparalegal]

Straw bails cost more than plywood. A straw bail house costs more than a wood house. If you want heavy insulation just pile dirt up the outer walls.

[brokenarrowez]

the egyptians used straw in their brick

[CustomCarpentryUK]

Inspiring, thank you! One day when I build my house it will be mostly strawbales! I love the way everyone can get involved, you don't need to rely on trades, you can do it yourself, feel empowered, feel engaged with nature, get the full satisfaction of knowing you have built your home in a totally natural material

How refreshing that is in a world where we are mostly disempowered from everything, we feel like we cannot do things ourselves. I can picture staking the bales!

Tristan Titeux

[johnr7717]

5:21 where can i find plans for that house.??

[hitokage4]

Doesn't the home begin to rot, though?

[scott97]

@yaahme As long as you don't keep pigs in your house, you won't attract wolves in the first place.