At our last meeting we had a fascinating presentation by Pippa and Rob Evans on the building of their straw house here in Chard.

Pippa had for a long time wanted to build a house and her first thought was to make it from wattle and daub, but she decided making the wattle and daub would be too messy and so decided that straw would be less messy.

When she met Rob, it was at their second meeting that she told him she wanted to do this, but it did not put him off, and as husband and wife they started building in 2021, after reading books by Barbara Jones on how this could be done. Then getting plans etc passed. They had no problem getting them passed and so they started with their foundations. Then the wooden frame for the straw. Insulation was very important right from the start including under the floor.

A local farmer gave them a place to keep the bales of straw, and many bales had to be restrung and made the right size. Building with the straw took three weeks. The walls were six bales high, but to fit they had to be strapped with lorry straps to compress them, so the last layer could be fitted tight within the framing. To keep the straw dry they had a six foot overhang on the front and back roof and 3 feet on the side roof.

The roof was covered in cedar shingles. Doors and windows were triple glazed in a wooden frame. The bales were sprayed with lime plaster both inside and out. Building was complete in 2022. They were very pleased with the insulation. Passive houses are rated ‘O’ Modern houses are rated as ‘10’. Their house is ‘2.5’.

Best wishes, Heather Elphick, Branch Leader