New Frameworks Natural Building

Common Questions

Here you’ll find frequently-asked quesions about natural building in general, and strawbale building in specific.

What does Natural Building mean?

Here at New Frameworks, we believe natural building does not only mean one thing. It can encompass many practices; but must contain within it concern for ecological materials, process, and product.

First, the materials: natural building prioritizes non-toxic materials that have been produced in ways that are less exploitative of both people and the environment. Human beings have potential capacity for great creativity and innovation- and we can use better materials for building our dwellings and other structures. “Better”, both in the sense of more environmentally ecological as well as more socially ecological. Here in the Northeastern United States, our practice of natural building includes utilizing local and regional materials such as straw, clay, sand, wood, lime, stone and tile.

Second, natural building also means prioritizing healthy building processes by supporting worker-owned building cooperatives who also strive for gender diversity, anti-racism, worker empowerment, and good communication as everyday practice during the building process.

And finally, natural building also means a durable, aesthetically pleasing, high-performing finished product for clients and their communities to use and enjoy for many years to come.

Does strawbale work in the northeast? But it’s so wet and cold!

Yes it is wet and cold, and yes it can and does work. It is a relatively newer building practice in the Northeast, but there are several reasons why natural building tradespeople and owner-builders find it to be a great wall system.
It’s highly insulative. With strawbales set flat, they create a wall that measures 18 inches wide. The plastered walls then function at R values of 26 and up. With bales on edge, the width of the wall measures 14 inches, and performs at 33 and up . This is comparable to the best insulation available, spray foam insulation, but is more ecological. And compared to fiberglass insulation, the benefits of strawbale go on and on: healthier for the installer and the structure; less resource intensive to make and produce; and a higher R-value (fiberglass is usually R-18 at the most). This means a home that’s warmer in the winter, and cooler in the summer.
It’s readily available from local farmers, usually, in the New England region. We’ve been cultivating relationships with local organic farmers to help find good sources of bales that are building-quality. A strawbale wall is partly only as good as the bales that compose it.
The material itself, straw, is a more ecological choice. Often straw, the woody non-edible part of the plant is either used for bedding for farm animals or simply burned off in fields in New England. Finding greater use for what is essentially most often a waste product in our region is what natural building is all about.
Unlike many building products today, straw and natural plaster are nontoxic substances that do not contribute to the growing problems people experience with chemical sensitivity and environmental illnesses. “Sick homes” with fire retardant chemicals, outgassing products, and lack of good ventilation are the opposite of the natural or straw home or structure. And given that in New England winters, we all spend quite a bit of time being very close with our homes and building envelopes, one that is nontoxic is clearly preferable.
Strawbales can be cumbersome, but ultimately are a very accessible building medium. Many strawbale structures are raised with parties of regular people, a ‘bale raising’, led by a few folks who know what they’re doing. In this way strawbale building, as with many natural building methods, has the potential to be more inviting and accessible to people who are not traditionally in the trades: young people, women and transgendered people, families, people of diverse sexualities and gender expressions. It can help make building a community activity, as well as an ecological one.
Strawbale building can be flexible and sculptural- you can get both a very planed, flush, clean look or a rounded, soft look and combinations of both. When combined with a clay slip, the material can be made into many shapes, so rounded walls, sculpted arches, and curves are suddenly only limited by desire and imagination (OK, and physics a bit too).

What about moisture?

Moisture is a concern for any wall system, as any builder will tell you. Many a stick-framed wall has been opened up to find rotting 2X4s if moisture has not properly been managed. Bale walls are the same; there must exist in the structure good ways for dealing with moisture that is produced inside. Especially in the northeast and in cold temperatures, the temperature differential outside to inside will create a dewpoint in the wall system where cold meets warm and moisture will condense. The first thing we do as bale builders is to make very sure the bales we install are dry, and stay dry during the construction phase. Secondly, we plaster with recipes that contain clay, which is more hydrophilic (water loving) than the straw, so any moisture that does get in is drawn into the plaster layer. Thirdly, that the plaster layer “breathes”- natural plasters, unlike cement stuccos, allow moisture and air vapor to pass through and evaporate. Fourth, we work to minimize air leaks around transitions- transitions between the timberframe and the plaster coat, the top of the bale walls, and around windows by utilizing air fins and attempting to break the plaster continuity as little as possible. As far as moisture from weather, we make sure bales have appropriate protection from the ground, from snow piling up against the wall; that overhangs are substantial enough to protect the wall from all but absolute side-driving rain; and that bales are raised up off the interior floor level enough so if water pipes burst or the toilet overflows the bales are not exposed to standing water (we call this a toe-up).

Other than that, simply managing interior moisture-producing activities: such as showering, washing dishes, human respiration, etc with appropriate ventilation is important. Green building systems, such as heat-exchange ventilation systems, can be an energy efficient and greener strategy for managing interior moisture production.

What kind of timeframe is useful for thinking about bale installations in our short Northeastern warm season?

The optimal timeframe is to install bales as soon as it is warm enough and dry enough- say May-August. Getting them installed by late summer is important to allow time for plastering before the cold sets in. Plastering is best in late summer through the fall, when temperatures are still warm enough to not freeze hands and most importantly, to not freeze on the walls while drying. Plaster can crack or break off the wall if it freezes. The best thing is not to push it, if possible, though all natural builders have ended up plastering late in the season- it causes stress around quality and should be avoided if possible.

What about load-bearing walls versus infill walls?

Most bale buildings in the Northeast are infill walls, which means the strawbales are not supporting the roof; they are simply insulation and making a wall. They are not structural. In the Northeast, unlike the Southwest, we have wood more readily available and the most common application of strawbale infill wall systems is to pair them with a timberframe, modified post and beam, or some sort of wood framing that supports the roof. Timberframe/strawbale building systems work very well and are beautiful. The timberframe is like the skeleton that supports the roof, window and door framing, floor systems, and roof; and the strawbales are like a thick coat around it. This is one type of application called a bale wrap, where the timberframe is visible inside the structure. Another possibility is burying the posts inside the bale walls, which can be a good option if the upright members are not visually pleasing or that aesthetic is not desired. The thickness of bale walls require special thinking about foundation; because unless planned for they do take up more square footage than a narrow traditionally framed wall.

Straw, or hay?

Hay is the edible, nutritive, less woody part of the plant. Straw is the woody, not-for-eating, for building part of the plant. Hay bales would rot and disintegrate faster, Straw does not.

I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down… or why the 3 little pigs are not relevant to real life strawbale building:

Strawbales are dense, heavy, and when used as infill wall systems are anchored to the frame and to each other. The plaster coats create a solid system- they become coated, quite literally, outside and in with a hardened lime/sand/clay plaster that dries the whole thing into a unit. It’s like living inside pottery; strawbales with sculptural adobe on all sides. Or as Paul Lacinski says in Serious Straw Bale, “They are plastered stone for the person of reasonable means”. These wall systems are quite sturdy and have lasted in places like Scotland, Nebraska, and New Orleans for centuries.

Is fire a concern?

Yes, but only until the walls are plastered. Clay and lime and sand are fire resistant materials. Once plastered, bale walls out-performed wood-framed walls in fire tests. So, prior to plastering, care must be taken to avoid open flame around the bales.

What about rodents or insects or fungus? Don’t they love the straw and will they live in my walls?

Rodents and insects would like the bales before they were plastered, but once plastered, the bales are blanketed with a material that is uninteresting and a deterrent to critters. Fungus will only like the straw if it stays damp. Clay and lime both are anti-fungal and not appealing to critters.