Two coats of render

In the last weeks, we have been busy with rendering the walls. The bales will be coated with three coats of earthen render - a mix of sand and clay (the top coats also have some lime for weather protection). We now have the first two coats on, with the last one to follow after the windows and doors are in.

Unfortunately the weather was quite hot when we rendered for the second time (just before Christmas!) and some cracks have appeared. We will now focus on finalising the detail and fixing some of the most damaged areas, although the final coat will provide a beautiful smooth finish in any case (we hope!).

We have a roof!

It has been a long and painful wait to get the roof on! While we were waiting for the roof to come on, we had stormy weather with high winds and rain, and were worried for our beautiful bale walls. Luckily no harm done and we are now able to work even in bad weather.

We are now getting the render on, with the first coat of render sprayed on this weekend. Peter is working harder than ever with many nights stretching past mid-night. We never realised the amount of work involved in owner-building. If it had not been for the kind help from locals and neighbours here, we simply could not have managed.

Strawbale walls go up!

It has been an exciting week building the strawbale walls. What a fun and tremendously rewarding experience as in just two days the whole house was done - thanks to the good weather and our great helpers!

We look forward to having a 'roof over our heads' next.

Frame is up

After weeks of nailing and hammering (Peter has been hand-nailing in thousands of nails so far), the house is finally starting to take shape and we have the frame pretty much in place. We can now walk around the rooms through doorways and see how it all fits together.

It has been a steep learning curve for Peter but the progress to date would not have been possible without the help of friends, neighbours and many others (including our first permanent guest - Harry the Huntsman spider). Building can be a very sociable thing!

Still lots of hard work ahead though - the strawbale walls will go up next!

Floor and shed finished

Still some rainy days but generally we have made good progress. The floor in now finished, as well as the shed. Peter has learned some valuable carpenter skills and is well adjusted to his daily routine - on site at 6.30-7.00am most days, working till dark as well as at weekends.

We are still running a couple of weeks behind the original schedule - partly because of the weather but also due to overly optimistic planning at the start. While in the last weeks we have not had any major issues, we really could not do without 'Grand Designs' (a UK home improvement documentary currently running on the Australian TV) - it is of great comfort to know that our experience of building with its delays and other problems is shared by many, if not most builders.

We will now move to the next exciting phase of the project: building the frame. We cannot wait to see the house starting to take shape.

Stumps and slab in place!

In the last weeks, we have battled the typical winter weather in this part of the world - rain, wind and some more rain. Not the ideal weather to work on the foundations but against all odds, we have now managed to put in the stumps for the house and the slab for the garage. We are using concrete stumps (not the most environmentally sound solution) as the land can get really wet and there is also a creek and a dam nearby that could overflow in really bad weather.

There have been other hiccups as well (as expected with building). The first load of concrete mix we received was not of the highest quality and set really quickly, making it hard to adjust the stumps correctly. We also had problems with some broken stumps, so the whole of last week Peter has been pulling, digging and jack-hammering some of them out (not an easy job even in good weather).

Despite the problems and delays, we are really enjoying the project and look forward to starting the next phase - building the floor!

At Last We Begin!

We are building a small strawbale house, designed to be environmentally sensitive where possible.

Why build with straw? The construction itself uses a timber frame to provide structural support, with strawbales as infill in external (and in some cases internal) walls. The strawbales will be coated with an earthen render (clay, sand and lime). Straw is a natural material that has excellent insulation, fire resistant (when rendered) and sound proofing properties. We also like the look of strawbale houses with their natural curves and often warm earthy colours.

Strawbale construction is becoming increasingly popular in Australia, having had a significant history in the United States (strawbale houses were first constructed in Nebraska in the late 1800s). There are active communities of strawbale builders in many other countries.

After two years in planning, we have now started our exciting and challenging journey as owner builders. In the last six days our empty field has been transformed into a building site. Here are a few photos of our first days.

8am Friday 25th July 2008 - an empty field.



3pm Friday 25th July 2008 - driveway complete, garage site excavated and house site in progress.



Tuesday 29th July 2008 - set out almost complete.