Post and beam infill straw bales are becoming more commonplace however local building officials had refused to recognize the straw bale and plaster walls when dealing with seismic codes. This meant that structures needed to use expensive hardware and steel cross bracing to meet seismic codes in the area. The Ecological Building Network Straw Bale Structural Testing Program allowed them to use a government grant to hire Tipping Mar to design structural testing and led to new developments with governmentally recognized tested building methods which eliminated internal bale pinning and the need for structural cross bracing. This affords many advantages to the straw bale and the elimination of much of the steel hardware saves costs. Consultation with Bruce King and David Mar and access to the publicly available testing results made this project possible. This building method is now being used in Jacksonville’s Straw Bale Village development.

The house was built to be small, compact and affordable to the owners. The second floor joists act as ties across the building helping to hold the roof in place. The large overhangs were calculated to provide shading to the glass areas and walls in Summer while allowing the sun to warm those same surfaces in the winter. An open second floor serves two functions allowing the rising warm air to be vented through the second story dormer windows as well as allowing the masonry heater to heat the entire house.

The contrast of the Cement Plaster over the straw bale walls, the metal roof and the wood siding on the dormers adds character to the exterior of a simple, small and affordable farmhouse.

Instant hot water eliminating the need for the traditional hot water tank and a spiral stair were used as space saving methods. Instant hot water also eliminates the largest energy consumer in the house – the hot water tank.

A reversible direction ceiling fan over the living area helps to provide air flow during warm and cold months. Either pushing warm air down or pulling it up and out.

In addition to the passive solar design the only source of heating in this strawbale house is the Tulikivi soapstone masonry fireplace. When a fire isn’t burned in the fireplace a thermostat runs two electric heat coils embedded on either side of the masonry.