We are getting geared up to start stacking the straw bales for the Buddhist nuns’ housing at The Deer Park Monastery next month. Check out this page that has lots of great info about the project & organization, as well as ways to support this work: Click Here
You can get this nifty organic t-shirt featuring James Hubbell’s concept watercolor of the buildings for a $75 donation.
Thanks to everyone who visited our straw bale home during the San Diego US Green Building Council’s annual Green Home Tour.
Simple Construct was honored to be included in the San Diego USGBC’s popular annual Green Homes Tour on Nov 9, 2014. Our most recently completed straw bale home, the Schaffroth Residence in El Cajon, was included as one of the nine green sites on the Tour.
This home’s features include:
1. Super-insulated walls (R-30) made of natural materials (straw bales) which is a form of up-cycling: using an agricultural by-product of local food production by using straw bales to replace conventional insulation and wall board
2. Natural clay plasters which moderate indoor humidity and are locally produced with minimal embodied energy and zero VOCs
3. Photo Voltaic system
4. Efficient hybrid electric heat pump water heater
5. Structural concrete slab stained and used as finish flooring
6. Low VOC cabinetry made with sustainably sourced plywood rather than chipboard
7. Grading and drains divert rainwater to mature trees rather than to the storm drains
8. The disturbed area of the building site planted with native, water wise plants
9. Zero VOC paints and finishes used throughout interior to maintain indoor air quality
10. A simple laundry-to-landscape greywater system
This modest 3 bedroom, 2 bath straw bale home completed in 2014 is 1800 sq ft (interior) and features super-insulated straw bale walls, natural clay plasters, stained concrete floors, photovoltaics, hybrid heat pump water heater, solar tubes for daylighting, efficient lighting, and an age-in-place layout. Straw bale building is the most resource-efficient way to build a super-insulated home and results in superior indoor air quality and sound quality. Clay plasters use significantly less energy resources than conventional plasters and are VOC free and completely nontoxic.
What makes this project exceptional is the priority placed on using natural, non-toxic and low-embodied-energy materials wherever possible. With good solar orientation, exceptional insulation and good air sealing details, this home performs well passively. Add to that a photo voltaic system and efficient heating and appliances, and the result is a healthy, efficient home that uses very little energy to keep its owners comfortable. By using low and zero VOC products and finishes, fewer toxins were built into the building, contributing to better indoor air quality. This home’s relatively simple design and modest furnishing are also unusual for new construction and demonstrate the owners’ commitment to living lightly on the planet.
An integrated design/build approach was used involving a collaborative dialogue between the owners and the builders. Simple Construct, a design/build company specializing in straw bale building, worked with general contractor Paul Turner to fine-tune the building for natural materials and optimum energy efficiency. Simple Construct was a prime contractor (providing the installation of the straw bales, lath, and clay plasters, as well as finishing the stained concrete floors) and held an educational “Open House in Process” where guests could view the bale walls in the process of being stacked to see how the parts all go together in this unique, cutting edge building system.
We are looking to partner with the owners of public spaces (stores, galleries, spas, etc) to put clay plaster where people can see and touch it. The unique beauty of clay plaster is hard to capture in photographs or text, people need to be able to see and touch it to fully appreciate it.
If you own or run a space that is open to the public and would like to have clay plaster in your venue, we’d like to hear from you. We may be able to create a mutually beneficial opportunity: significantly discounted beautiful clay plaster for you, advertising for us.
Email us at info@simpleconstruct.net or call 619-342-6709. Thank you.
Do you want a home that is healthier and more comfortable for you and the environment?
It is possible to build a comfortable, healthy, efficient home from materials that have a lighter impact on the environment without sacrificing amenities or style?
In fact, a well-designed home can offer additional convenience, such as day-lit rooms that need no extra lighting during the day, or appliances that work faster and better. They can offer simple advantages such as physical comfort due to fewer drafts, more even humidity, and more stable temperatures. They also offer less tangible results such as greater peacefulness, due to better sound insulation and quieter mechanical systems, and a deeper sense of well-being knowing that your immediate environment is less toxic and that your surrounding environment is less impacted.
No single technology or material can do all of this. Homes are living systems and need to be designed comprehensively, with all of the parts in mind.
We have put together a team of builders, designers, and specialists who address the entire process of designing and building a naturally healthier home. Using an integrated design/build process creates a better building: we see the forest and the trees. But let’s zoom in and take a closer look at one of those trees for a moment…
Straw Bale Walls
One part of a house system is the wall. We have found that the plastered straw bale wall system creates a fantastic wall. It is great insulation, fire safe, durable, good sound insulation, and safe in an earthquake. It also provides unlimited aesthetic possibilities, such as deep window seats and graceful arches.
Keeping in mind that the walls are just one part of the system, let’s look more closely at straw bales.
• Great insulation: Straw bale walls provide at least R30 insulation, which can greatly reduce energy used for heating and cooling. A typical 2×6 stud wall with maximum fiberglass insulation is rated R19.
• Good for the environment: Straw is an agricultural waste product leftover from the production of grain. Straw bale building is not only an example of recycling, is a great example of upcycling.
• Good fire resistance: Straw bale walls have a very good fire rating: 1 hour for earth plastered walls, 2 hours for cement-lime plastered walls. A typical stick-built, drywalled wall has a 30 minute rating.
• Less materials: A plastered bale wall replaces the insulation, the drywall and the paint usually used in a conventional wall, and can reduce the wood needed for framing.
• Better sound quality: Straw bale walls provide excellent sound insulation and have a positive effect on interior acoustics
• Better air quality: Straw is a natural, non-toxic building material, lending itself to zero VOC finishes (such as clay plaster) which can lead to a healthier indoor environment.
• User-friendly: Building with bales can create opportunities to involve your friends and community through bale raisings and work parties.
• Beautiful: Straw bale walls are aesthetically versatile. They can be straight and flat or can be shaped to have sinuous, organic lines and accommodate built-in furniture or niches. Straw bale homes can be almost any style: from straight and Modern to handmade and cottage-like; from organic and ‘Hobbitty’ to clean and Contemporary.
Want more in-depth info? Here’s more.
We love to hear from people interested in straw bale, natural plasters, and natural building in general. If you have a question, give us a call at 619-342-6709, send us an email or if you’d just like to hear about upcoming news and events, join our email list.
Most of our news and events are now posted on Simple Construct’s FaceBook page. Visit us there for day to day news and links.
A straw bale house has won Fine Homebuilding Magazine’s Best New House award! Congrats to our colleagues Arkin & Tilt!
We are very excited that the Colorado Straw Bale Association will be hosting the 2012 International Straw Builders’ Conference in September. The deadline for early registration is July 16 so go check it out http://www.strawbaleconference.com/
Interesting article about cement, its impacts and possible alternatives: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Building-a-Better-World-With-Green-Cement.html
Here’s a nice article one of the local papers wrote about one of our recent projects: http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/7715
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