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Straw Bale Picture Tour
Green Building: Wall Materials In This Hybrid Home
This is a view of the main living/dining area of the straw bale home, prior to earth platering the walls. Note the short adobe wall to the right of the window. This acts as a space divider and also absorbs the heat from sunlight that comes through the south window in the winter. The window seat below the window is the height of one straw bale. The wall to the right is a two-foot thick thermal mass adobe wall. The straw bale walls are only used for the exterior as the material is a great insulator of heat and cold.
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The Building With Awareness DVD video has some of the best earth plastering demonstrations ever put on video. Learn the receipies for weather-resistent finishes and how you can make these beautiful walls yourself.
Earth Plaster Wall Finish
Earth plasters are beautiful on adobe and straw bale walls. With the proper proportion of sand to clay, earth plasters, are very durable for both interior and exterior use. A small amount of wheat paste is put into the mixture to make the mud water-resistant. Earth and clay-based plasters can be obtained in a wide variety of colors from red/brown to yellow to white. It is nontoxic and very forgiving for the novice plasterer. Unlike gypsum plaster, which has a fast setting time, mud allows one to break for lunch and then come back and work it to any desired level of smoothness. It dries to a very hard surface. Mud can be worked directly onto the straw bale walls and adobe walls and is 1" to 2" thick.
Installing the PV panels.
This hybrid home generates 100% of it's electricity from sunlight. This is done by photovoltaic panels (PV panels) that convert sunlight into into 12, 24, or 48 volt electrical power that is then converted into 120 volt AC current (the same power that you get from the power company). The photovoltaic panels are attached to the roof with special brackets. The PV panles and the mounting system will withstand strong winds and hail. The panels are raised at least 4" off the metal roof in order to insure proper ventilation in the summer. The mounting brackets are affixed to the roof with long bolts that are screwed into the roof joists. Six PV panels, with a total rated power of around 1,200 watts, supply all of the electricity that is needed for this home.The advantage of a photovoltaic electrical system is that you are generating pollution-free electricity without the need for any moving parts.
An advantage of collecting rainwater is that it is naturally soft. This means that porcelin fixtures do not acquire mineral stains and soft water is better for the clothes washing.
A buried 1,500 gallon tank is used as a rainwater cistern. The rainwater from the roof is used for flushing the toilet, the cold water for the washing machine, and for some gardening. A backhoe was used to dig the hole, the tank was pushed into position, plumbed, and covered with dirt. A 24 volt DC pump is used (since this home is powered with photovoltaics) to pressurize the water. Even in a relatively dry area that receives less than 8" of precipitation a year (such as in Albuquerque, New Mexico), it is worth collecting rainwater to supplement the conventional drinking water supply. About 600 gallons will be collected for every inch of rain that lands on 1,000 square feet of roof area. The workshop behind the tank was completed before the home as a place to store tools.
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