Straw Bale Construction and Earth Friendly Materials
The use of inexpensive and quickly replaceable materials as well as recycled and salvaged materials helps create sustainable structures that have much lower negative environmental impact than conventional construction. The CDC uses these kinds of materials where possible and when appropriate for the neighborhood setting and when non-conventional construction techniques can be made cost effective through self-help and/or volunteer labor projects.
The Kunga home incorporates straw bale wall construction, post and beam framing, conventional platform framing and recycled materials. Salvaged trestle wood was used for beams, posts and trusses. An existing driveway slab was cut into blocks for use as walkways, porches and patios.
Straw Bale Construction
While construction with straw bales is not a new technology it has seen renewed interest. Straw bale walls provide super insulation up to R-38 and above. Straw is easily available, much less expensive than wood and is grown to maturity multiple times in a year where wood takes many years to re-grow. Earthen plasters and lime plasters can be used on exterior and interior walls that provide a very soft, quiet and natural feel to any space. Natural plasters breathe much better than synthetic materials reducing problems of internal wall rot and the growth of molds and fungi.
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