We didn't get much done on Wednesday as it took longer than expected to get the temporary roof up but we made a start - 7 and a half bales in the late afternoon. Two good days on Thursday and Friday though, with 7 or 8 pairs of hands, saw more than half the walls get to four bales high (out of seven for the full wall).
Sam has been busy preparing the base of the cottage ready for the straw bale courses scheduled to start tomorrow. The weather has been glorious - hope it stays that way!
We had a tremendous thunderstorm last night so the holes were full of water this morning and the field is very boggy. Oh well, an old ice cream tub, a couple of buckets and a sponge to finish with were all that was needed to clear them out (and a few hours of course!). The completed ones are now backfilled with soil so shouldn't be a problem again. Might be a bit stiff tomorrow though, after a full day scooping out water & shovelling soil!
Sam has taken over from the brickies to finish the job - only 3 and a half piers to go now.
The ground at Village Farm is solid clay so we will be able to save that which we dug out for the pads to use for the first coat of clay plaster.
It's good to be started!
After lengthy discussion with Ted, the structural engineer, we finally settled on 15 concrete pads as foundations for the Straw Bale Cottage. This is 35% less concrete than if we had a continuous strip foundation and over 80% less than a concrete raft. The next stage is brick piers off these foundations.
The open day at the Cabin went well, with a constant stream of over 80 visitors curious to see the benefits of a straw bale building.
Our open day will be Friday 11th April from 10am until 7pm. Lots of photos, books and advice on hand. We are charging £1 for entry and will be giving 50% to Eastrington Village Hall and 50% to Howden School Rock Challenge Fund. I might even try to sell you a cup of tea and a bun for 50p!
Courses on straw bale building are scheduled to start on 7th May. Please ring or e-mail for information.
Sam has been mending some cracks in the bedroom ceiling in readiness for open day. Soon after we plastered the bedroom, I realised that we should have taped the joints at the apex and gables. We did in the lounge and they haven't cracked. We had some left over clay in sealed buckets (15 months old - still as good as the day it was sealed up) and have used that in combination with bandages and old T shirts. Seems to be doing the trick. Good job we have some paint left too.
January was totally consumed with completing my thesis entitled "Energy Assessment of a straw bale building", based of course on the Cabin. The results of the thermal testing are very encouraging. As soon as I get the thesis converted to pdf format, it will be available on the website.
This is a photo from the recent cold spell. On one night, the temperature fell to -7 oC but the temperature inside was still 10 oC without any heating or occupants. January and February have been very quiet but bookings are starting to come in now.
In January we featured as a top 10 eco break in the BBC's Countryfile magazine and last week I went to talk about the Cabin at the Ecobuild exhibition in Earls Court. We will be holding another open day in April at the Cabin and hope to start building the family size straw bale holiday cottage very soon - more to follow!
Most waking hours have been spent writing my thesis at the moment (and many a sleeping hour too!) but we did manage an hour at the Cabin to plant a cherry tree, a walnut tree and a weeping willow at the other side of the pond. We have still been having a good few visitors to the cabin - keeping lovely and warm within those well insulated walls!
The map below is taken from the natural homes website and shows various eco houses around the world. These range from straw, timber, earth, hempcrete, earthship, straw-clay, cordwood, off-grid.
You may like the idea of eco houses, but which one would you invest your money into. Below you can vote and tell us which one you would invest in.
We have had a steady stream of visitors to enjoy the sunshine these last few weeks. The best thing about building a holiday cottage with straw is the lovley people you meet along the way!
The blackberries are ripening in the hedgerows around the cabin now. A handy snack for holiday makers!
Thankfully, we had 2 weeks of glorious sunshine and we managed to bale up some lovely dry wheat straw ready for the next project!
