Saturday 21 February 2015

Straw Bale and Rammed Earth homes.

Hello Vancouver Barbara and anyone else who is interested !
Well spotted about the rammed earth wall!
This wall features heavily in my pictures now because I have no garden yet to speak of.
We just moved in a little over a year ago into what is mainly a straw bale house but it features two rammed earth walls. All the windows and glass doors are double glazed with a very tight airlock. They were worth every cent.
The temperatures here range from a rare 0 degrees but we have had temps up to 44 degrees Celsius. The thick walls are really insulating and even after 4 days of the mid 40s it was still pleasant inside - we recorded 28 inside max.
We don't have an air conditioner just overhead fans and our only heating is a single wood fire heater. The other noticeable difference between this house and others is that it is so quiet.
Apart from this it is orientated towards the north so we get the sun coming in during winter but the eaves stop the summer sun.
We didn't build this house ( we built the home we moved from and knew what hard work it was ) so paid a builder this time. He had never built a straw bale or rammed earth home but he has an excellent reputation and we trusted him and he enjoyed the challenge.
It's an incredibly comfortable home to live in and it is part of my husbands passion to reduce our carbon footprint. Anyway we love our home. All I need now is a garden .
If you can think of any questions let me know !
By the way I love Vancouver . I've been lucky enough to visit twice and my husband's  aunt married a Canadian and has lived in Vancouver for almost 50 years.

3 comments:

  1. I was just thinking about you yesterday – seeing that beautiful wall in my mind's eye. Gorgeous colours.Thank you for the information. I am also very interested in straw bale construction so it's a delight to hear that you have been able to combine the two. I think it's a real blessing to be able to live without air conditioning. I don't have it here in Vancouver though occasionally we have three weeks of hot summer weather and hope for sea breezes to cool us down.
    I have done quite a lot of research on both types of building – my dream is to have a straw bale home. I think rammed earth might be too cold and clammy for this rainforest climate but I can see that it would be fabulous in your climate and geography.
    Vancouver Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your house sounds lovely. Will have to show us some pics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ditto that.
      Vancouver Barbara

      Delete

Thankyou for visiting. Please feel free to leave a comment . I am open to any constructive criticism and comments because I love learning and trying to grow in any way possible and enjoy discussions.