We decided to build a straw bale house because we liked the concept; it seemed a very environmentally sound way of building, as well as not requiring a high level of expertise to build it. Our aim was to design and build a house that would have minimal costs in energy and water consumption. The insulation properties of straw bale walls are second to none, and this type of building can look very “Santa Fe”, which appealed to us greatly 
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Just over 10 years ago we attended a straw bale weekend workshop at the "Food Forest" at Gawler to gain some hands on experience, attended the Solar Festival at Hanging Rock in Victoria and read "The Straw Bale House" by the Steens. We bought a hectare of land in the lovely township of Watervale in the Clare Valley and proceeded to draw up plans and submit them to council. While building the house, we lived on the block in an enormous converted Greyhound bus which belongs to my brother-in-law. From building approval to moving in took approximately 9 months with wet weather holding us up a little 
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We were able to do most of the work ourselves as my husband is an electrician and builder. We had help with the slab and framing, and subbied out the tiling and plumbing. It took another year before the house was fully completed inside. The structure is supported by steel frames and is on a concrete slab. The walls are non load-bearing and the strawbales sit 50mm above the foundation on gravel supported by recycled plastic boards. The roof and window frames are Colorbond. The windows and doors are set in recycled Oregon. A full width verandah protects the exterior walls. Three coats of lime putty render were applied over the straw to allow the walls to "breathe". The outside render was finished with Porters Lime-wash. We used Bio Products paint and oil for all internal walls and woodwork. It is 100% natural, non toxic and has a fresh lemon scent 
. Internal walls are from Ortech, compressed straw panels, double thickness in a cavity wall. This gives the interior walls a denser look and more in keeping with the exterior width of the straw bales. Tontine was used for ceiling insulation.
We designed the layout of the house for our lifestyle – “OFNK’s” – Old Farts No Kids. Our home faces north for passive heating and cooling. There are no west facing windows. We have no need for an air conditioner, only ceiling fans. We have a Nectre Baker's Oven and use no more than 2 tonnes of wood for heating in winter. As long as we have used the heater the night before, the next morning it might be minus 2 and frosty outside, but inside it's still a comfy 17 degrees 
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16 solar panels on our roof provide 3 Kws per hour, connected to the grid. 18,000 litre rain water tanks supply all our water requirements even though we have access to town water. A reed bed waste water system recycles all our grey and black water and sub irrigates our garden beds. A built in pizza oven in our patio area provides adequate nourishment along with the fine local wine made around the corner 
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The only problem we now have is that when we stay elsewhere, we miss the comfort of our straw bale home 
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(August 2011) (
