Last weekend Rosalba and I attended a Strawbale Building Workshop in Yandina. This workshop was part sponsored by our Architect WD Architects. Other supporters included Rockcote, Wildlife Warriors, and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
Our tutors where Lance Kairl, and Chris and Colin Newton.
Lance is South Australia’s most experienced straw bale builder with 11 years of experience building strawbale homes.
Chris’ experience is in all sorts of earthen clay and lime renders to finish of a strawbale home. Chris’ husband Colin is a structural engineer.
The workshop was held over a long weekend from Saturday to Monday and was packed full with information and great hands on experience.
During the workshop we built a load bearing strawbale wall of a tea house for the Yandina Community Permaculture Gardens.
We had quite a bit of fun stacking the bales on the first day and found out pretty quick that it is a bit harder than stacking Lego blocks as you can see in the picture in the right. We ended up disassembling and re-building this corner 2 times until we were happy with the result.
The main lesson to be learned on this corner was that you should not try and cut corners by trying to kick and shove bales into a tight spot if the bale is to big. You should actually make the bale smaller by the appropriate amount.
On the second day we made cob out of “waste” straw and clay. We used this cob to patch any gaps or holes in the strawbale walls before we applied any of the render.
When making cob it is important not to make the mixture to wet and heavy as otherwise the cob just falls of the wall instead of sticking to the wall. Also, for larger patches, cob should be applied in thinner layers and let dry a bit before applying further layers.
On the third and last day we applied the first coat of render onto the strawbale wall. The render on a strawbale wall is normally applied in three coats with a finished thickness of between 35mm to 50mm.
Unfortunately three days was not long enough to finish the wall and apply the second and third coat of render as each coat needs to dry and cure for a few days before applying the next coat.
The result of our three day workshop can be seen in the picture on the right.
Both Rosalba and I have had a really good time during this workshop. The tutors were very knowledgeable and open and all participants in the workshop were a pleasure to work with. Rosalba and I have made some great connections during the workshop and we are both keen and eager to get some more experience.
For people in the south-east corner of QLD, Chris and Colin Newton intend to have a workshop at the beginning of January 2009 to finish their own home built with straw bales. So if you are interested in the process of building a strawbale home contact Chris to confirm dates and availability.
A side benefit for us of attending this workshop is that we have met many people that are interested in building homes as a community and many are willing to help each other out building each others strawbale structures.
I changed a desk lamp I already had to use LEDs instead of the CFL tube. I mainly did that because I wanted to do something “crafty” and because I like LEDs and how their light comes with almost no heat.
, if not, enjoy 
Mark and Rosalba are building a strawbale house!