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Green Building Basics
Straw Bale House Costruction
Thermal Mass and Natural Materials In Green Building
Even without the energy-efficient advantages of sustainable and green building materials—mud, straw bale, adobe, and recycled wood have much to offer aesthetically. There is a visual warmth that would be difficult to obtain from traditional wood frame and painted wallboard construction. The natural materials both insulate (straw bale exterior walls) and absorb heat (interior adobe thermal mass walls). By taking advantage of the local climate conditions, the same green materials that give beauty to the home also help to heat and cool it. This part of New Mexico has very hot summer days and cool nights. At night, the windows are opened to cool down the thermal mass walls. During the day, when the windows are closed, the interior temperature stays comfortable due to the straw bale and thermal mass walls working in harmony.
Even without the energy-efficient advantages of sustainable and green building materials—mud, straw bale, adobe, and recycled wood have much to offer aesthetically. There is a visual warmth that would be difficult to obtain from traditional wood frame and painted wallboard construction. The natural materials both insulate (straw bale exterior walls) and absorb heat (interior adobe thermal mass walls). By taking advantage of the local climate conditions, the same green materials that give beauty to the home also help to heat and cool it. This part of New Mexico has very hot summer days and cool nights. At night, the windows are opened to cool down the thermal mass walls. During the day, when the windows are closed, the interior temperature stays comfortable due to the straw bale and thermal mass walls working in harmony.
Maximum Outside Temp:
98 degrees F
Minimum Night Outside Temp:
60 degrees F
Maximum Inside Temp:
71.2 degrees F
This is the kitchen before the application of gypsum plaster. The base coat is the same brown earth plaster that was used throughout the home.
The kitchen is very compact, yet easy to work in. The straw bale walls are unpainted gypsum plaster on top of earth plaster. This makes the walls waterproof and easy to clean. The large kitchen sink was purchased for $25.00 from a salvage yard. The tiles were leftovers from another construction project. The counters are cast-in-place concrete. They were stained black with concrete acid-stain after the counters had cured. The surface to the right receives some direct sunlight from the south-facing windows in the winter for additional heating. When the time comes, these counters could be reused in another building project. Note the inexpensive open shelves. The money saved with the low-cost do-it-yourself counters and shelves paid for the entire photovoltaic electrical system.
Two different colors of gypsum plaster were used in this room for the wall finishes. The colors were achieved by mixing dry, powered pigments (oxides, etc.) directly into the freshly mixed plaster before it was applied to the walls. The wall to the right is of wood-frame construction since it contains plumbing. A skim coat of plaster was applied directly to the sheetrock.
The straw bale wall contains a "truth window" showing the straw bale and mud construction. This wall uses a cement stucco base coat since it is located in the splash zone of the shower. Care must be taken to protect the straw bale wall from moisture. The sink was made from a $10.00 stainless steel salad bowl that was outfitted with a drain. The towel bar is a discarded broom handle.
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This 11 foot by 15 foot workshop was built before the house. It permitted us to try out many the of green building techniques that would ultimately be used in the home. The structure has a ruand the walls are made of adobe and cob (a mixture of mud and straw). The doors are made out of recycled tongue-and-groove pine from a salvage yard. Once completed, we had a place to store our tools. In addition, the photovoltaic electrical system was installed in this structure while we built the home. This ran all of the power tools for building the house, including power saws, cement mixers, drills, and lights. Small, utilitarian structures such as this can be a great way to get started in green building.
Our Building With Awareness DVD video and Guidebook shows the entire construction process of this house. Click the link below to learn more.
Syncronos Design Inc. Publisher of the Building With Awareness DVD and Guidebook Copyright © 2008, Ted Owens. All rights reserved. Building With Awareness is a registered trademark of Ted Owens.