Maple sills and cherry window trim |
Cherry and glass interior doors |
Urban harvested silver maple dinning floor |
Master bedroom sandstone hearth/mantel |
Diana, Robyn, Caryn apply low-VOC tung oil and clear finish |
Ohio sandstone window seats, fireplace hearth and mantels |
2nd floor sleepers, radiant heat tubing, reflective aluminum and maple hardwood |
Peak windows east BDR |
Red pine walls East BDR |
Walt carves custom mantels |
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Cherry T&G walls in MBR |
Truth window one step closer to completion |
Finished interior plaster curves...what straw bale is all about |
Finish plaster crew with master plasterer, Chris Fox |
Radiant floor heat and gypcrete thermal mass |
Whole house toilet composting and grey water treatment |
Traditional stud interior walls, electric and plumbing |
Ecofriendly stain |
Roughsawn red pine vented rainshield (siding) and windows |
Fireplace with local sandstone facing |
Rough plaster over lath curves and around electric outlets |
Rough plaster applied inside and out to completely encase bales |
Hand trowel rough plaster coat to create flats and curves |
Custom stucco pump applies earthen plaster to bales |
Slip coat of clay over bales to improve plaster adhesion |
Mix 15 tons of earthen plaster |
Hang up the tools on the hitching post...time to plaster |
Cover wood with coconut netting to make plaster stick |
Diana and Paul put in the last of 350+ bales |
More bale crew volunteers |
Hedge trimmers make walls flat and curves consistent |
Stuff straw clay into forms and gaps between bales |
Toss loose straw and hydrated clay for stuffing lath forms |
Use form and lath to create custom curves |
Hydrate clay to milkshake consistency |
Harvest clay for straw clay and finished plaster mixtures |
Truth window from original cabin to show straw walls |
Threat of rain? Work under tarps. |
East wall with bales in place |
Some of the bale crew |
Bale needles used to tie both bale strings to bamboo |
Stack bales like bricks against bamboo |
Narrow or angled bales custom cut on bandsaw mill |
Bales retied to create "short bales" |
Bales are squared with knife to fit more like bricks |
H'ya lil doggy and get those bales to that crazy house |
Recruit over 60 family, friends and like-minded volunteers to help |
Twas the night before bales and all through the house... |
Window curves created with forms and lath |
Exterior wall wiring goes in and "experts" prepare for bale work |
Bamboo reinforcing for tying-off straw bale walls |
Horizontal nailers for roughsawn vertical siding |
Red pine subfloor (exposed as first floor ceiling) |
Locally manufactured steel roof |
R35, soybean-based, no VOC, BioFoam insulation |
Locally milled red pine roof deck (exposed as ceilings) |
Saltbox and vaulted roof lines |
Second floor timber frame |
First floor timber frame |
First floor deck on timber joists |
4-6" sand stone facing applied above grade |
Pressure wash local sandstones for foundation facing |
12" block foundation with reinforced cores |
Demolition of last original cabin...argh! |
400 bales from Miller farm stored in barn |
Dry cut timbers |
Use off cuts for exterior vertical siding |
Use portable band mill to saw timbers and dimensional lumber |
Air dry logs before sawing |
Cut non-native red pine logs from our property |
