Building a Straw House
This is the VOA Special English Development Report. Today we bring you a new take on an old tale. It’s the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf that blew down one house made of straw and one made of sticks. The only house left standing was the one made of bricks. Now there is new evidence to suggest that houses built with bales of straw can be very strong. They are also environmentally friendly. Pete Walker is a professor at the University of Bath in Britain. He and a team of researchers there have built a house made out of straw bale and hemp material.
During the next twelve months the team will study the effectiveness of these materials in home building. Professor Walker says there are many good reasons for using straw. He says it is a renewable material that is readily available and does not cost much money. Professor Walker says straw takes in carbon dioxide as it grows. So it has no harmful effects on the environment. He says straw helps the environment in other ways.
StrawBale.com: Introduction to Straw Bale Building
This is the video to watch if you are unsure what straw bale building and straw bale construction are all about. I cover the 7 reasons why you should be building with straw bale and show you some beautiful footage of the homes I have built. Enjoy!
Building with Straw
Some design principles in building a straw bale house
Houses of straw – the rediscovery of strawbale building
Strawbales are a new, interesting building material: it is a sustainable, ocologically sound resource, available in abundance. Strawbale walls achieve highest insulation values and offer a healthy, beautiful living environment. This film is a trailer for a DVD called “Houses of straw”, shot in Germany. It shows the recent developments, many examples show the different possibilities of building with straw. In interviews with owner-builders, architects and experts we hear a lot of importants aspects. And: an exciting fire test shows: strawbale walls don´t burn!
The DVD “HOUSES OF STRAW” is available at www.ecofilm.de (in PAL format) DIRECT LINK: www.oekofilm.de For USA and other NTSC-countries: DVD available at greenplanetfilms.org (DIRECT LINK: greenplanetfilms.org Description of the DVD
Straw Bale Home Construction Instructional Video
Straw bale house conctruction is shown in this movie trailer for the “Building With Awareness” DVD video. Straw bale walls, thermal mass walls, earth plaster techniques, and passive solar design are all explained in this how-to DVD on building with natural materials.
Video Rating: 4 / 5