Peter and Natasha

1. Thar She Blows.
(Comments)

...t Bacchus Marsh is worse It makes the new fixed roofing go Next door - it's such a curse. The straw bales tumble to the floor The ladder can't be used And Peter grumbles more and more It's not...

2. brief comments
(Comments)

The walls look fantastic, the bales are beautiful, great work Tarsh & Nicole! I LOVE seeing the progress online every day, yours has become my favourite blog by far. The roof is going to be amazing

3. Boxing, Bales and Gales
(Comments)

We've inherited your gales over here in Lower Hutt so hope they've left you in peace now. Wish we could be with you this weekend to lend a hand, but our own building is at a critical stage and we can'

4. straw
(Comments)

forecast is good for the weekend, can't wait to see the strawbales!

5. How we built/compressed our external staw bale walls
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

...ill insulation, and put a lid on it, hence the term 'box'. This bottom boxing is what the bales were laid straight onto, just like bricks, in running bond. Straw has a fluffy side and...

6. At last, a tidy up!
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ime had come to do something about the unholy mess in front of our house - timber off-cuts, scrap metal, bales of straw, polythene, and all kinds of other stuff. So a trip to the tip was in order, a w...

7. Questions
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...he build progresses. For a while the questions were usually something like "have you done the straw bales yet". Now the most common question is absolutely "when do you expect to be in?&...

8. Good mud
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...ompromise fire safety or insulation.  More about that later. Today I managed to sell our surplus of bales to the local farm supplies shop and clear some space in the house. At last! We had a few ...

9. Unfinished business
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...ncy but it seems that we already have some tenants - a large family of mice that I disturbed when moving bales today. They looked unimpressed with being disturbed, but I think that they'll really be a...

10. Long Way There
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... over a bit), building new ones, and compressing some of the other walls (intermediate compression, more bales to go on top, then top boxing and additional compression to finish it off). So it's comin...

11. Suppliers & Contractors we recommend
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

... Rendering: (strapping, tensioning tool, clips) Brad Hodge - email bradhodge@dodo.com.au Straw Bales: Bickley Farms - email bickleyfarm@activ8.net.au ...

12. The Love of Straw
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

When I first saw the truck arrive with our straw bales on Thursday, I felt a flood of emotion - I wanted to burst into tears of joy! There is something very special about working with straw to build o

13. Straw Bales
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...ruction. We expect about 10 people today to help us out although it won't be a purists "nothing but bales" day. There is a lot of timber cutting and measuring that will go on at the same tim...

14. Wind. Cheese. Time.
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

.... Although it will be a bit harder to carry timber around the site after today when we'll have our straw bales delivered. We had between 5-10mm of rain yesterday, the timing isn't great either. Hopefu...

15. Boxing match
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...nce. You may remember him from a previous blog long ago.In order to take delivery of our straw bales this week we needed some extra room for a semi trailer to get in. There are so many piles...

16. Tour de France
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... are getting some of our piles of earth and rock shifted out of the way so that the truck with the straw bales can do it's delivery. They arrive on Thursday and if that's not exciting, what is?  ...

17. Many things at a time
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... can't put up the walls if it's pelting with rain, plus we will need to cover all of our walls and extra bales with plastic. A small price to pay for building with integrity and transparency. ...

18. Date set for bale walls
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...nspection. The next job is very exciting.Roof on! I'm very excited about this. And then we get our straw bales delivered! In order to do this we'll need to clear some room for the truck to get close t...

19. Patience
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... do atthe moment. This, however, is about to change! Next week the roof willstart going on, and then our bales will arrive and we will be puttingup our walls. So, whilst I have been resting and having...

20. Tradesman tan
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...ea cut / planed down 25mm to allow for a drainage slope in the wet areas.  Standing water and straw bales do not make a happy pair!  So tomorrow will be a planefest.  The question is: w...

21. Reality Check
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

..., as we attach the joists which show the outline of the walls - where we will be laying down the straw bales. So we are bracing ourselves for a cold winter in the Convent - not too bad on...

22. Frequently Asked Questions
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

...ouse - these are just some of the big pluses of straw bale building. * low embodied energy in the bales (ie not a great deal of energy has gone into making them) * very forgiving building mat...

23. Straw Bale House
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale Homepage)

...lding a conventional brick or weatherboard house, we have built our home with the external walls made of bales of straw, like the small bales fed to horses or cattle. The bales are around 350mm high, ...

24. Welcome
(Homepage/Homepage)

...we bult our internal Kram® walls', 'Getting Planning/Building Approval' and 'Mice/vermon and straw bales'. @font-face { font-family: "ＭＳ 明朝"; }@fo...