Straw insulation

A sustainable building material wins favor on multiple fronts.

John Butler tells the story of how he retrofitted a bungalow to be more energy efficient. Having carried out a lot of the work himself, he also shares what he's learnt about airtightness and overheating. Interview with John Butler Although it had been John and Anna’s dream to build their own house, they found themselves muscled […]

Building with straw bales is a technique pioneered a century ago in the state of Nebraska. In recent years there has been a renaissance in the use of straw as a building material largely in the American Southwest, but also in Canada, Australia, France, Holland, Germany, Austria and China. Straw is a renewable resource with excellent insulating properties. It is a cheap and easy-to-use option for self-builders, and even large-scale structures can be erected using timber framework filled with…

When building, the question of what type of mesh to use in a straw bale build is a big one. I show the use of 14 gauge welded wire mesh in my videos...

Durra Panel – A compressed straw building panel

The south wall, complete to seven courses with infill. This is the office window, with the south guest bedroom window further away. The next job will be the windows and window detailing.

The University of Bath is testing a number of waste materials to assess their thermal performance as potential materials for insulating buildings.

Rubble trench foundation, down to earth design.