Plastering a straw bale house is a skill that marries both art and construction techniques. There are so many details to keep track of when plastering your strawbale home and
These things are important to keeping your sanity while you build, but more than that, they are true in day to day life as well. Imagine if you lived your
Below is a section from my book. The focus of the section is on planning for and installing partition walls in straw bale homes. I have also included a detailed
You wouldn’t be the first person to try getting plywood onto a roof, up a ladder, by yourself. You might be the first to do it without hurting yourself! When
Here’s an obvious statement and a short article to help you avoid the obvious. Don’t eat the ceiling. Simple right? After all, nobody wants to eat the ceiling. You may
You may have heard the phrase “Build a House with a Good Hat and Good Boots.” It means pay attention to your roof and your foundation. These two areas are
They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and in the case of Branislav Prvanovic, a Serbian innovator and businessman involved in the building trades, a gigantic straw bale
Dun, dun dun…… Can you feel the excitement? I just got back from working on a project in Portugal and the plaster machine was one of the coolest I’ve seen.
Mixing plaster is as much of an art as it is a science. It’s important to keep a consistent mix from one batch to the next and this isn’t always
Have you seen a bunch of these in your house? Do you have what you thought might be termites only to discover that termite treatments don’t do much to battle
There are a lot of things to consider when buying the best straw bales for your construction project. Here’s a bullet point list of the absolute “must haves.” 1. Long
Chainsaws are an active part of straw bale construction. There are some other options for cutting bales, of course, but a quality electric or gas powered chainsaw is still my
The sad and ugly aftermath of using the wrong plaster sand! In a recent workshop we discovered that the sand that was ordered for the plaster was not acceptable. I
Why would I want to do that? You may be asking yourself that very question and rightfully so. The answer may be simple or complicated depending on the situation. It
If you’ve ever made an electrical spike for your straw bale home, you know just how dangerous the process can be. At the seven day comprehensive workshop in Hurley, NY
The most common time I’m asked how to identify moisture issues is when someone buys an existing straw bale house. Moisture is not often a problem in straw bale homes
If you plan to build with bales, you absolutely must have a straw bale moisture meter with a probe. It is so valuable that I consider it a “must have,”
I got an email the other day from a company that works with Japanese trowels. These trowels are amazing, especially for detail work. The shape and flexibility of the trowels
Concrete stakes are essential to just about any foundation project. In fact, they are used on almost all concrete projects that a home owner is likely to encounter. If you
Ever wonder how to get plywood to the roof when you are working by yourself? How about making sure your concrete stakes don’t become a permanent member of your concrete
When preparing to build a house, money is always a concern. How much will it cost? Where should you focus the money you have? These are basic questions which are
Okay so it’s not poop, but it could be from a distance! These left over piles of concrete. It is so important to calculate materials well and it could be
It is important that all wood surfaces be covered with roofing felt to separate them from the plaster. If you do not do this, the plaster will adhere to the
There’s no two ways around it. If you have bales delivered to your site, it will rain. Okay, that’s a bit pessimistic; however, it almost always seems to turn out
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