Friday, June 4, 2010

The roof is on and the walls are going up

As the title says - we have a roof!  It actually went on really quickly and no sooner was it done then the builders were ripping into the walls.  At this stage you might be scratching your head as to why we'd have a roof on before the walls and if this were a conventional house you'd be entitled to that confusion. However unlike a conventional house, this house's structure is all in the heavy poles that surround the foundation.  This allows us to complete the roof before starting on building the straw walls underneath.  As you can imagine, straw is not a building material that likes to be wet or even damp.  If we were to build this house in the conventional sequence, we'd end up exposing the straw walls to the elements to disastrous effect. In fact a straw house in the area started rotting before the roof was on for precisely this reason.  Building the house top down has allowed us a dry and sheltered area to work and has eliminated the risk of us having a composting house before we even move in. Now the builders can work in a protected and stable environment, unconcerned by whatever nature throws at them.  Because of that the walls have started to go up really quickly.

From Roof and walls
Here's the view from the kitchen.  You can see the magnificent Tararua Range in the distance.  These walls are 150mm timber frame to allow for extra thick insulation.

From Roof and walls
 The view through the front door is pretty imposing too.  I love the way it's framed by the massive poles.

From Roof and wallsFrom Roof and walls
  Here's a view of the inside. There are a lot more walls going in soon so it won't look so open and airy.

You're probably wondering where all the straw is going as I've only shown you the timber framed stuff.  We've gone for timber framed walls on the exposed sides of the house and kept the straw well sheltered under our huge overhangs.  This is what the base of the straw walls look like:
From Roof and wallsFrom Roof and walls
What you can see is a 150mm x 50mm outer floor plate and a 100mm x 50mm inner floor plate. The gap in the middle is painted with Mulseal to stop moisture from penetrating the wall from the slab.  The gap between the plates will be filled with pea gravel to support the bales and keep them dry if the floor gets flooded (e.g. washing machine overflows).  


From Roof and walls
I've placed a bale on the floor plates to show you how they'll sit.  I'll save the description of how the wall holds together for a future post. Until then you can ponder where the rebar stakes are...

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