Humel home, Fallbrook, CA - 2010-11

One of our projects in 2010-11 was a 2800 sq ft straw bale home in Fallbrook (norther San Diego County) for Paul & Barbara Humel. This four bedroom, two bathroom home features a central great room with kiva fireplace. It has solar thermal hot water, PV electricity, and high-efficiency windows and fixtures throughout.

All of the exterior walls (except for the garage walls) are straw bale infill. Some of the interior partition walls are “skinny straw walls”: the space between the studs is infilled with packed light-straw-clay. This takes the place of the insulation and the drywall and creates a surface that is easy to coat with the same clay plaster used on the straw bale walls.

The interior and exterior of the building are clay plastered, with a clay-lime finish coat on the exterior to help with weathering.