Hanging Cabinets on Straw Bale Walls
Bale walls are not known for their flatness. In fact, they are somewhat treasured for their natural undulations. That said, the cabinet and counter sub-contractors will want to install against a flat, straight, and square surface. This ensures a solid and secure fit and allows them to feel confident in warrantying their work.
Without a flat and straight wall to install against, you run the risk of water infiltration between the wall and counter, which, of course, is a risk for the longevity of the bales. A gap between the wall and counter doesn’t look very good either, and it isn’t easy to cover with a standard backsplash.Â
It’s worth mentioning that in addition to improving the quality of the job, creating a flat, straight, and square wall also makes the installation faster and, thus, less expensive.Â
So feel free to leave your walls wavy throughout the house as long as you spend extra attention on making sure they are flat behind the counters and cabinets.
Thinking Outside the Bale
Perhaps the easiest way to deal with cabinetry in a straw bale home is to exclude upper cabinets from the design. By utilizing a pantry for the majority of your kitchen storage needs, you can simplify the construction process.Â
Alternatively, when placing a full set of cabinets flush with the face of the bales, you may be better off using a framed wall section behind the cabinets with standard insulation.Â
See the photo to the right and above, where a stem wall was used up against the bale wall the length of the cabinet run. Then the cabinets are mounted to that stem wall. This also created a bonus shelf above the counter, which was finished to match the countertop, and simplified the installation.
Thinking Inside the Bale
The good news is that if you cannot design the kitchen to avoid using upper cabinets, their inclusion is not as hard as it once was. All you will have to do is provide nailing backers in the bales on which to hang the cabinets.Â
We also use horizontal sections of either 2×4 or 2×6, let into the bales, as our backing; we place backing at the top of the base cabinets and the top and bottom of the upper cabinets. This provides for a very strong cabinet installation.
In the photo to the left, you can see an example of the horizontal backers, each covered with roofing felt installed to separate the future plaster from the wood of the backer and secured before plaster application.
A great advantage of straw bale construction is the thickness of the walls. When it comes to cabinetry, it’s actually possible to recess the cabinets or shelves into the bales walls to create extra storage space without sticking the cabinets further out into the room, as shown in the image to the right. This creates a clean finish to cabinets or shelves.Â
You can set the cabinets back even further into the bales such that the face frames end up flush with the plane of the wall. This works well in Japanese-style architecture and creates a clean line for cabinets or shelves. Be careful to retain enough insulation behind the cabinets so that you don’t ruin the thermal envelope of the structure.Â
Once plastered, you won’t be able to tell the difference, and the installation will be much simpler. Because the vast majority of the bales will be removed in this area anyway (to insert the cabinets), it’s easiest to frame it out.
It is also a good idea to recess refrigerators into the bales because they are often deeper than the cabinets around them. By recessing it into the wall, you can line the face of the refrigerator with the face of the cabinets, once again, for a cleaner look.