Straw Bale Reciprocal Roof

Inside curves and color create a feminine ambiance.

Straw bale reciprocal roof.

Nestled into a northern california knoll the elegant arch of a wavy roofline graces an artful straw bale cottage. When we built our two story timber frame straw bale house in 2012 13 we incorporated a green roof into the design. Straw bales well protected with post and beam or else cob on its own are good options. It would provide a better form of insulation than bats as they are completely sealed and you only have to look at the results of bush fires.

It took charlie a little over a year to build his home with a reciprocal roof and lime plastered straw bale walls. Firstly you would not use a full bale in the roof and secondly i have previously seen a completed straw bale roof insulation. I am becoming more and more enamored with the idea of a reciprocal roof for my own round cob straw bale home. But i am also hungry to learn more about the physics strengths and weaknesses of these beautiful elegant yet simple roofs.

An art studio shimmers with mica containing clay paint. Charlie s home is designed from the natural resources available on the land using stone roundwood straw bales clay turf and lime. All in all it cost charlie about 15 000 23 000. If you use posts they should go on top of something that won t let water seep up through it.

It was a hell of a task to pull it off especially since we loaded all the soil onto the surface of the roof one bucket at a time sadly we never stuck around long enough before moving to kentucky to see the roof flourish with plant life. Granted it was smaller bale sections and they had rough rendering covering them. For the stemwall between ground and 50cm above ground i suggest you try tyres filled with rocks. Like a tyre or two full of rocks.

The straw bale roof constructed by dr zhang and blue mountains straw bale builder jason dash only took one day to erect. A bountiful garden blesses this earthen plastered retreat with flowers and organic food.