Sunday, September 23, 2012

Photos of the wall weekend




The straw walls going up

Frames at the bottom of the walls were filled with rocks to stop the moisture and the mice from getting to the bales.


We put up a trial wall in preparation for working bees. After many errors with stacking tie downs and difference of opinions the final small wall was up and secured. This was to form the strategy for future walls.


The bale needles made from an antenna worked well – You have to reduce bale size to make brick like work in the walls. Tying off the smaller bales is the hard part. Thanks to a sailor it was made to look easy. It was beneficial to use paint spray to document the size (in mm) on the remanding bales.


Mr I want to build a straw bale house had around 16 people over the weekend to impart his skills on. Nearly electrocuting himself while trimming a bale, the cook (me) lost all power for the cutting of the extension lead tripped the fuse box. Nobody was hurt but lunch was very late and the water was luke warm for a cuppa.


Once again friends come up and put in hard so that our house walls and concept of the straw was started.

The Windows - Are they see through?

After purchasing windows the past few years, measuring and getting them into the plans there was a lot of work ahead of us to strip, replace glass and paint.
One of our friends who worked on fixing one of the windows suggested that he was not going to work on any windows that did not fit the frame.




After measuring all the windows and the frame only 1 out of 13 windows were going to fit. You may ask how did that happen well…… it turns out that Mr I want to build a Straw Bale House went from measuring in mm to cm. For example where a window measured to the plan and therefore frame was designed and erected was 1506 x 1202 the actual measurement of the window is 1560 x 1220mm. Bit of difference. This was consistent with all the windows. There were a couple of saving graces – the toilet window and another non structural frame could be adjusted.



After getting over embarrassment, Mr I want to build a Straw Bale House sort two quotes for windows. I am very pleased to say that we are the winners for double glazing cedar windows were very affordable and add value to our home.


Mr I want to build a Straw Bale House stated “100% of the windows did not fit” – at least there is consistency.