by Steve Byrne | Feb 9, 2018 | buildings, natural building
One of the hardest things about producing your own food isn’t growing it, it is storing it afterwards. It really wants to break down as fast as possible, and all manner of creatures want to eat it first. Until now we’ve stored food all over the place – hanging up in the living room; in cupboards. In short, not ideal. Another issue that we had was that our 4000 litre rainwater tanks and pump were not terribly pretty and very exposed to cold temperatures. The pump especially has been badly damaged by freezing twice now. The problem, as they say in permaculture, is the solution, and in this case takes the form of a strawbale barn, which incorporates the water tanks as its back wall.
by Steve Byrne | Oct 27, 2014 | buildings
Stage one of our earth plastering is now complete,and all the bales have a coat of clay slip. Some of the holes have been filled with clay slip mixed with a generous amount of finely chopped straw, and it is looking a little less undulating around the edges...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 26, 2014 | buildings
Yesterday we began the process of rendering the strawbale walls by applying a coat of clay slip (just a runny clay and water mix) to the surface of the bales. Messy work, as transferring it from bucket to wall involves about half ending up on the floor, but it will...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 24, 2014 | buildings
Now that the floor is fixed down, we’ve been able to get on and get the strawbales in. First, wooden spikes made of willow are driven into holes in the floor – Then the first layer of bales is placed onto the spikes which prevent them from moving...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 22, 2011 | buildings
Our first attempts at a slate wall, using a cob mix as mortar, have turned out rather well. This will act as a damp proof course for the strawbale wall above. Evie has laid out the lower course for the next section – below – and with any luck we’ll...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 7, 2011 | buildings
We are in the throes of designing our dream hovel, to be created somewhere in deepest Wales, from timber and strawbale. It’s really hard when faced with a blank canvas and a tiny budget, but here is our creation, which will be a timber framed affair with...
