House of bales (straw mud and stone)
The idea: build an environmentally friendly, passive solar house in the hills, with a small ecological footprint that will keep us warm in winter, cool in summer.
The solution: Strawbale, mudbrick, stone house in the Adelaide hills.
The challenge: Keeping on budget, getting trades people to take us seriously, build it in less than 18 months.
The outcome: Slightly over budget. In Summer 24c inside when 40c outside. In Winter 18c inside when 4c outside. Halved our energy bills.
Main Eco-Features
Passive solar with true north facing windows to bring in winter sun*
Mudbrick walls inside for thermal mass
Solar Hot water on north facing roof
Solar electricity cells on north facing roof
90000 litre water tank supplying year round water
Strawbale walls on exterior to provide high insulation (and low footprint)
Main Eco-Features
Stone wall in middle to absorb heat and keep temperature constant
Double glazing on windows for insulation
Eves that keep out summer sun
Clerestory windows to allow light into rooms and hot air out in summer
Marmoleum flooring – low allergy and natural material
Biolytix septic system that waters our orchard underground
OUR STORY
Our vision was to build an ecofriendly house within our budget and close enough to the CBD (Adelaide) to keep our jobs.
Sound familiar? We took 5 years looking for a property only to find land prices sky rocketed while we did so. Eventually we landed a 10 acre block 20 minutes from the city and our dreams began to meet reality.