Good, clear straw/clay tutorial. Put those kids to work!
“An instructional video by Cedar Ridge Farm.
Light straw clay, also known as slip straw, is a healthy and simple material for filling interior (and exterior) walls. The process of packing the straw-clay mixture into the walls requires only simple tools and labor.
Classic German architecture: Fachwerk und Enxaimel — Timber-frame straw/clay houses with hazel stick reinforcing lasts for centuries. (None of these buildings had building permits and so maybe they should all be pulled down?)
Today’s post profiles another leading natural home builder – EcoNest Homes. They’re well known for their finely crafted timberframe and straw/clay construction. “EcoNest is… the name we have given to our holistically designed and hand-crafted natural homes. An EcoNest incorporates timber-frame, straw-clay walls, earth plasters and natural and non-toxic finishes. This combination of time-honored building … Read more
“Dirt is the original DIY material. In cultures all over the world, people have used earth to fashion everything from bowls to buildings. We know this because so many earthen homes are still around, including buildings hundreds and even thousands of years old. In recent decades, interest in earth construction has risen. What follows are some of the pros and cons of the different types of earthen building, including adobe, cob, compressed earth blocks and clay-slip straw, and some practical tips on things you may want to try as well as those you’ll want to avoid.
“Friends and guests from all over the world came to our land in late January to help us build a natural straw bale and mud house for Tit Yai, an Issan man who is partially paralyzed. We were fortunate to have teachers from baandin.org and Michel Spann from Holland along with children and teachers from the Sri Sangwan Khon Kaen School for children with disabilities and many local Issan people help us make the house.”
“This is an introduction to light clay straw construction (a.k.a. “straw-clay”). In the summer of 2010, I started construction on my first house (20 ft. x 12 ft.). It was stud framed with light clay straw infill. I had helped with other natural building projects and had some conventional experience. This article is the product of all of my mistakes (and few successes) so that you, my fellow builder, do not have to walk the road that I have. Fortunately for y’all I built a chicken coop in 2011, and that helped me to learn more about building correctly with light clay straw. (One mistake being I should have done the coop first, but at least my chickens are happy.)