Strawbale House

As you can see from the photos the roof is going on at a rapid rate due to the powerhouse known as Andrew (the roofer). On Wednesday, March 10, 2010 the straw bales will arrive from Nanango. On Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 of March, we will have a wall raising working bee. So any that are interested please leave a comment and contact details and we will get back to you with the details. We are providing food and beverages. Camping is available on site for the working bee weekend. There is a camp shower and toilet availble as well. Roger and Nick will be supervising, keeping both us and the walls in line. Great opportunity to get some hands-on experience, get the feel of a straw bale house and have questions answered. Hope to see you there. Rosalba

Nick and Roger are amazing. In the last 4 weeks they have managed to do the deck, have the roof completed so the roofer can start and all internal walls are up as well. If you are ever considering building a straw bale house these are the guys to get it done. No fuss, happy to use recycled timber (deck is all recycled hardwood we sourced from eBay and local salvage yards), reasonably priced and so easy to deal with. They make building fun. Their website is www.strawbalehouse.com.au . The next bit for them is to make the window boxes and put in the sills (also recycled)

Our neighbour has recommended her roofer, Andrew. He had her octagonal house roof up in a week and he says ours should be the same. So once the roof is on the strawbales can be delivered and the fun really starts.

Just before Christmas, a wild storm swept through Conondale. I arrived just after it had ended. I hadn’t seen the carpenters’ progress for over a week so I went around marvelling at the progress they had made. En-suite, walk-in-robe and the rafters though half the house. It was amazing what they had achieved in only two weeks. All this Yang energy had progressed us so well. Then as I went down the hallway I noticed some rubble on the ground. I looked up and realised the back Timbercrete wall where the back door and toilet window were, were now horizontal. A freak wind had pushed the wall over. All other walls were intact. Fortunately we have building insurance, so were able to recoup the majority of the cost to rebuild the wall. The bricklayer called the Timbercrete guy in Brisbane, who said he remembered us but strangely sent the wrong sized blocks. Our bricklayer is now puzzled as how to proceed but says he’ll come up with something. Fortunately for the trees we have had lots of rain here but it has meant that Mike cannot fix this wall until it is fine for a few days. Meanwhile Nick and Roger steam on ahead with the framing and the rafters.

Cooee wood oil and cleaner

I found an Australian certified organic paint that doesn’t cost the earth. The straw bale walls will be rendered up to the pitching beams (far left). So Roger suggested I oil/paint them now as it would be easier than later. So at the Green Paint shop in West End, I found Cooee wood stains. Since the new window (couldn’t find a second hand one that size)  in the lounge is made of cedar, I decided to go cedar all the way. Really easy to apply with a sponge and all washes up in soapy water. I’ll need to re-apply it ever 1 -2 years depending on how much sun it gets, but no sanding involved. Just clean off the dust and reapply – easy.

Sustainable Cleaning Products

I just joined www.1millionwomen.com.au for action on climate change. In the “stories” section was a women promoting Enjo. I’ve seen this product (attended 2 parties) and I’m not saying they don’t work (large cleaning surface area is the principle), it’s just that they are made from petrochemicals, do not biodegrade, made in Austria (Europe) (think of the fuel miles, folks) and they cost a fortune! Last time I attended they wanted $40 AU for a washing mitt, $40 for a jar of chalk and $28.50 for a bottle of diluted citric acid. Hey, I understand people want to make a profit but wow talk about being taken to the cleaners! And of course they had a mitt for every room in the house. It’s sold by party plan so the pressure is on to buy something cause you friend who invited you wants the $150 mop! Fortunately I have resisted and have come up with my own solution that costs very little, works splendidly and you can do it yourself:

I recycle old towels for dish/cleaning cloths. I cut out double hand size squares/rectangles and sew up two sides and bingo a cleaning mitten!  I get around 10 out of a towel – you know around the edge where the towel gets worn the least. Also because of the pile they have a greater surface area and are better cleaners than cloths with no pile. You can throw them in the wash to clean them and when they end their productive life they’ll biodegrade in the worm farm or as a small weed matt around seedlings. Brown vinegar in the toilet cleans all stains and if left overnight even gets rid of the nastiest stains. Citric acid derived from citrus (around $1.50 at the supermarket) sprinkled lightly around taps gets rid of soap build up and makes them shiny. Also good on mould. I have found a tissue (sticks better than  a rag) soaked in lemon juice on those difficult corners in the shower, left overnight will lift mould and bleach the grout white again. Ground chalk (calcium carbonate) mixed with a bit of soap does as good a job as those creme cleaners and safe to use on stainless steel. I made a dusting mitten from leftover fake fur I had used to make toys when the kids were little – works a treat. Mirrors – squirt bottle with vinegar and water, wipe with a shamie followed by crumpled up newspaper or handtowel – shiny!

So you can see the cleaning aisle in the supermarket is somewhere I just don’t go.

Dear Kevin / Penny

Following the very disappointing outcome of the Conference in Copenhagen I feel disillusioned and let down by our political leaders. It seems that no binding agreement has been reached. The fluffy accord that emerged feels woefully inadequate to address the immense challenge of climate change.

Following Copenhagen it feels like many leaders have been pointing fingers at other nations arguing that nation X is not doing enough and therefore we won’t be taking bold action either. This is shameful and shows no leader ship whatsoever. A real leader would be by example, providing binding and bold action to lower green house gas emissions.

I am well aware that one nation alone, no matter what size it is, cannot avert climate change and catastrophic events induced by it. Someone has to start though, and hopefully other nations will follow.

With the elections coming up sometime in 2010 I would like hear from you:

• What binding and measurable action you will put in place to meaningfully address climate change
• What does “Think Globally, Act Locally” mean to you.
• What additional support will you provide to developing nations in their quest out of poverty

I look forward to your response

Kind Regards
Mark

Nick and Roger are making great progress with the framing (left). Lovely straight posts adorn our slab and define where our straw bale walls will be. The Kurilpa bridge (right) is a pedestrian bridge in Brisbane that looks like a steel spider web with twigs in it. Interesting engineering!

It’s incredibly hot and dry. Over 39 degrees celcius in the middle of the day and these guys just keep on working – absolutely amazing! Yours truly (Rosalba) had great difficulty keeping up with them in the middle of the day and had to sit in the shade for a bit and soak my hat in water. Even the normally delightful afternoon breeze was just hot wind. The guys had to construct a shaded area for the generator as it was overheating in the sun! Even with these super guys working for us, we won’t have a roof on before Christmas so you’ll have to wait until after New Year for the straw bale episode. Happy holidays!

Looking from dining to bedroom

ensuite

In the wet areas and as thermal mass, it was decided to use timbercrete: waste sawdust, cement and sand which is formed into blocks/bricks and air dried. The beauty of this product is that it can be nailed into and cut  like wood, it is lighter weight than similar sized masonary. I went for the larger block as I have lived with brick feature walls in our last house for 13 years and was over it. The other option was mudbrick. I feel the benefit of mudbrick is if you make it yourself and thereby save money and fuel miles not having it delivered, but if I have to have them delivered from afar then I can’t see the point! We wanted the house finished in our lifetime so we chose the timbercrete. As you can see the hexagonal windows did prove to be a bit of a challenge to the bricklayer, Mike Pascoe but nothing he can’t handle – awesome bloke! The local carpenter, Johan, was finding the framing for the straw bales very challenging. He kept muttering the word – difficult. So as a sign of mercy and peace of mind for myself, I let him go. Instead we now have “it’s not a train crash” Nick and Roger of www.strawbalehouse.com.au who specialise in straw bale building.  Nick and Roger believe that they can get the timber frame up before Christmas. We’re hoping to do a wall raising one weekend soon so stay tuned! I’ll try to remember the video camera for that one. Rosalba

We now have a slab with rods sticking our where the bales will go.  Next week (from 9/11/09) we are going to start putting the frame up with the assistance of a  local carpenter, Johan.

Timbercrete blocks (for wet areas and feature walls) have arrived and need a little longer to dry out before being laid. Timbercrete is waste timber shavings mixed with cement to create building blocks. You can saw them and you can nail into them! To get the full details of these amazing blocks check out www.timbercrete.com.au . Why didn’t we do the whole house with them?- price!

Timber should arrive this week from Cypress supplies in Caboolture. It seems we were lucky to get the cypress pine that we did get second hand – it is very rare and not that much cheaper than new. This cypress is farmed sustainably and grows in Queensland. Roofing iron arrived today from North Coast Demolitions. It is new roofing iron, just left overs and job lot returns. Mark and I spent last Saturday morning sorting out which bits we wanted. Local transport guy, Rick was able to deliver it all today.

Stay tuned, it’s only getting more exciting!

We are trying to keep our impact on the environment as low as possible, so we are constantly on the lookout for second hand items. Ebay has been great for the doors, windows, pavers (heaps) and some timber.

Some items I thought we were stuck with buying new i.e. the spa. Fortunately for us, one of my acupuncture clients turned out to be the owner of the Reno Barn in Tarragindi. So Mark and I, plans in hand, investigated the place one Monday afternoon.

Wow, what a treasure house! Beautiful stained glass from old pubs and demolished government buildings, kitchens, lighting, fireplaces, furniture, windows and  doors (sizes on them), timber (already denailed) plus some really cute memorabilia is on display, all neatly stacked and catalogued. Nuccia was awesome in helping us find what we needed: recycled cypress pine (didn’t know you could get it), hardwood posts, spa with working motor, laundry tubs, toilet suites, and best of all windows with stained glass for the servery.

e’d been looking for months for the servery windows on Ebay and they were always the wrong size or they were sold before we could put a bid in. So we were delighted with the find. Plus they delivered – hooray! Nuccia is still keeping an eye out for any more recycled cypress for us.

So I can highly recommend the Reno Barn – www.therenobarn.com at 526 Tarragindi Road, Salisbury QLD 4107 (Evans Road End)
Phone Number: (07) 3274 5663 (Yep, shameless plug but they deserve it, just check out the pics)

Up until now I have left publishing on the blog to Mark, and I am sure you will agree that he has done an awesome job. I have had a nagging question/quandary regarding alternatives to PVC and Mark suggested I put it up on the blog to see what suggestions people may have. Poly vinyl chloride (PVC) is a very useful substance but virtually unrecyclable, despite its labelling, (please correct me if I’m wrong) and its manufacture is a health hazard for the environment as well as the people who have to work with it. For more info on this see www.bluevinyl.org , it’s a real eye-opener!

So naturally I started looking at alternatives. ABS plastic which is recyclable and as easy to work with as PVC, does not have all the required fittings here in Australia. It is used mainly in the US. HDPE is recyclable but triple the cost of PVC and adds 60% to the labour cost as it is harder to install. It is also not approved for use where it is exposed to sunlight. For the rainwater collection we’re using zinc-allum/colorbond so that is not an issue. It’s just the waste water. Should any of you have a suggestion or solution that is cost-effective, I’d love to hear. Thanks.