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A house made of straw
Two years into their effort to build a straw bale house, Susan Leopold and Jonathan Trumpetto of Linden have become well-versed in the benefits of this centuries-old, yet new-to-many technique. Though there are several examples of well-aged straw bale houses in the United States, the technique is uncommon and, in fact, the couple’s home will be the first straw bale house constructed in Fauquier County.
Currently under construction off Fiery Run Road, the house is a dream come true for the couple. Like most dreams, however, its fruition is the result of lots of research and hard work.
“We’ve always known that if we would build a house, it would be with straw bales,” Leopold said, noting that her husband participated in an intensive week-long course in straw bale construction at Vermont’s Yestermorrow Design/Build School in 2000 and she was exposed to straw bale construction at the Conway School of Landscape Design in Massachusetts.
“You can get really creative with it. It’s affordable and you can do it yourself,” she said, noting that straw bales are easy to form into soft curves. The deep window and door opening are also appealing.
“We figure we’ll need about 450 bales and at about $3 a bale, we’re looking at about $1,000,” Trumpetto said. Though the bales are cost effective, the project will likely end up costing about the same amount as a traditionally built house. What they will save on the home’s straw bale in-fill, they are spending on major upgrades for energy efficiency.
Bringing together the couple’s ambitious goals for an efficient dream home in which to raise their three children was a challenge.
“We were a difficult client. We wanted everything,” said Leopold.
“And, we didn’t know what we wanted,” Trumpetto added.
Eventually, the couple found Fauquier County architect Ralph Crafts.
“Ralph took the ideas we had and what we were trying to accomplish and modified the design to be more simple, streamlined, and buildable,” Leopold said. “There are a lot of people out there who know about building with straw bales, but they were in California, Tennessee, Vermont. We were really committed to finding somebody around here that we could meet with.”
With Crafts on board, they were able to begin bringing their vision to life.
After being hired by the couple, Crafts delivered permit-ready plans in December, which were approved by the county a few weeks later. And, while he turned the project plans around fast, Crafts was quick to point out that a lot of learning went into the design.
“This is the first straw bale house I've designed. Basically, in August, I could spell straw bale, but that was about it,” he said. “To say that I immersed myself in straw bale research would be a gross understatement ? I made extensive use of the Fauquier Library resources, as well as many informative sites on the Internet.”
In his research, Crafts discovered why the straw bale concept was so appealing to Leopold and Trumpetto.
“I discovered, for example, that there are load-bearing straw bale houses in Nebraska that have been up for more than 200 years. I also learned that the building codes have been changed in places like California, New Mexico, Arizona, parts of Colorado and Texas, to address and accommodate straw bale construction,” Crafts said, adding that straw bale construction is recommended for earthquake-prone areas, with impressive engineering data to support that claim. “There are two straw bale projects that I was able to find in the mid-Atlantic area ? the Friends Community School in College Park, Md., a 27,000-square-foot building for more than 200 school children, and a company in Hampton Roads that built several straw bale homes for their workers.”
Efforts to be green and thoughtful started from the ground up at the Linden project. Situated on 220 acres of the family farm, the home site was selected not only for its beautiful views, but because the house could be nestled into a hillside.
“We wanted to try and fit it in with the surroundings,” Leopold said of the 3,000-square-foot house.
“We’re using the hill as a constant for keeping the house heated or cooled,” Trumpetto added, noting that every room in the house will enjoy tremendous views.
High efficiency windows on the home’s southern exposure will collect heat and Trumpetto plans to install a passive solar system.
“To minimize the need for air conditioning, we designed the large cupola in the middle of the house with operable windows, to enable a natural cooling effect,” Crafts said. “The orientation of the house was planned to take advantage of natural air flow to keep the house comfortable in the warm months.”
Crafts added that the couple will be using a Tulikivi European-style heater, which is “superbly efficient and effective.” The system uses large blocks of soapstone to capture heat from a small wood fire and then radiate the heat for 12-24 hours to provide a high-degree of comfort with no energy consumption at all.
The house’s foundation, constructed of Superior Walls, was installed in only a few hours and is also environmentally friendly, Crafts said.
“I've been specifying them for years and they're terrific,” he said, noting that the precast concrete is manufactured in a factory in a controlled environment, which means their construction is not subject to the vagaries of weather, variations in concrete forms, or varying degrees of skilled labor in the field.
Two inches thick, the walls have integrated concrete studs that are pre-drilled to provide for electrical wiring and plumbing and they have either wood or metal strips embedded in them so that drywall can be installed for finished basements, Crafts explained. Installation is also simpler and does not require the use of concrete footings.
With the foundation in place, Leopold and Trumpetto recently completed work on the radiant tubing for the in-floor heating system and are also working on constructing the post and beam frame. Trumpetto will do much of the framing himself, he said, explaining that once the frame and metal roofing system are in place, straw bales will be used to fill in between the posts.
The couple has been scouting the area for bales, which they hope to purchase locally. These, as you might guess, are not just any straw bales. The bales must meet specific guidelines in terms of moisture content, as one of the critical aspects of the project is that the bales cannot be allowed to get wet. Once in place, they will be covered with a plaster-stucco mix, inside and out. The mixture allows the walls to breathe. The house is designed, Trumpetto pointed out, with long overhangs to further protect the bales.
“Straw bales provide an insulating value of about R-42, which is about triple the value of even the best-insulated 2x6 walls,” Crafts said. “One of the aspects of standard framing techniques that is not well-known is that wood is a lousy insulator. With standard framing, you have a wood stud every 16 inches in all your exterior walls, which mean you have a ‘thermal bridge,’ an easy pathway for hot air in the summer and cold air in the winter, every 16 inches all around the house.
“With straw bale construction, you can use either a post and beam technique, which Susan and Jonathan are using, or you can use the straw bales themselves as load-bearing walls. With post and beam construction, you have posts spaced every eight feet or so, and they're on the outside of the bales, so you eliminate the thermal bridges in the exterior walls.”
From a safety perspective, straw bales have a two-hour fire rating, which is significantly higher than standard gypsum drywall, Crafts said. “Basically, the bales are too dense to support combustion, so they simply won't burn.”
Though the couple’s straw bale project is Fauquier’s first, Leopold said the county has been helpful and “really good” to work with. “They were always open to it,” she said, adding that because the county had done a lot of research in preparation for their application, it only took a couple of months to get it approved.
Fauquier County Building Official David Cooper acknowledged that some extra research went into approving this project, but said that the county was able to look to the state, which has regulations for building with straw bales, as well as other jurisdictions for input and information.
“It’s not a common construction method. We have to educate ourselves on different construction methods. We may see more of these,” he said, noting interest in building with straw bales may be piqued by this project, depending how readily available the required bales are and how the finished product looks.
Whether its straw bales or other forms of construction, Cooper said that the county’s building office expects increased interest in green building and is regularly learning about new techniques.
According to Leopold and Trumpetto, the people they meet and talk with about the house are extremely excited about the project.
“Everybody who hears about it is really into the house. Dominion Tress wants to come out and help build the house. Everyone is open to the idea and wants to be part of the project,” Leopold said.
“The slowdown in building has helped us because people are bidding and they’re bidding low and the work is turned around in no time,” Trumpetto added.
Piedmont Roofing will install a metal roof and Henselstone Windows gave the couple a good deal on windows that were leftover from another project, they said. Imported from Germany, the windows are super energy efficiency.
“It took a long time to find an architect, that’s where we got held up,” Leopold said of the project’s progress.
“But, it worked out alright. That gave us time to salvage architectural parts. We’ve picked up a lot of used supplies,” Trumpetto added, noting that the couple will put used doors, windows, and fixtures to good use in the house.
And, as Crafts points out, the home’s main ingredient is a waste product since straw bales are left over after the harvest of grains.
While Crafts helped bring the project to fruition, Trumpetto and Leopold received advice and suggestions from straw bale experts from across the country. Experts from EcoVille Architects in Tennessee plan to help with the straw bale construction component of the project. They'll conduct a workshop at the Linden job site May 30 and 31. Experts will present an introduction to straw bale design, and hands-on experience building with straw bales Saturday and Sunday. A slide show on the process is set for Saturday evening and a demonstration on applying the plaster mixture will be held Sunday, Leopold said.
The event is open to the public and for $75 participants will receive two-days of instruction in straw bale construction. Attendance is limited to 30. For information on the workshop, email Leopold at Leopold@igc.org.
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