This little off grid home is getting the finish work treatment this year
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any updates about the off the grid straw bale home we’ve been helping our friends build here outside Berea, Kentucky. Here’s a look at how the octagonal straw bale house is shaping up these days. It now has most of the base coat clay plaster complete, and more recently the window trim has been installed.
This is the year for finish work with the goal of moving in for the winter!
Think about the transition between your straw bales and foundation early in the design process
In one of my recent posts, I talked about details at the top of the straw bale wall where it meets the roof. Now I’d like to talk about some considerations where the wall meets the foundation. This is another critical point in the straw bale wall design, and planning from the beginning of the process is essential for a clean and durable finish surface at the bottom of the wall. Here are some tips to think about regarding the plaster and details between the bales and foundation.
Note the tar paper “air fin”, a secondary barrier to air infiltration at the top of the bale wall
When we look at a building, we tend to focus on the finish details: the curve of a wall, the color and texture of the plaster, the tidy trim around a window or door, decorative mosaics, the feel of the floor underneath our feet. However, finish work is just one aspect of a good building. Often, little construction details go entirely unnoticed and unappreciated, yet it’s the details that can really enhance the actual performance of a good building. For example, unless windows and doors are sealed well, they may be an entry point for cold air or driving rain. And that’s a “feature” that no one really wants. Good window detailing is more or less invisible in the finished product, however, and it takes a lot of time to do well.
The top of a straw bale wall is another one of these areas that poses a great design challenge and a good opportunity to improve the overall performance of the house. This is true wherever two different materials meet. You need to consider the fact that the plaster will likely pull away from where it meets the roof surface as it dries and inevitably shrinks. This is a problem, because air will have a convenient point to infiltrate the wall, and that means decreased thermal efficiency. So what do you do? Ignore the problem, or address this issue from early on?
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This website is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. In 2012, we started offering Natural Building Workshops, so you can learn essential hands-on skills to build your own natural home.