October 30, 2006

• Another Place and Time: Our Straw bale House

  
  

  It is strange now looking back; I knew we were leaving AZ for Maine for over two years and tried my best to absorb it all.  Every day I focused on the winds and the grasses and the sky and yet it fades in my memory already.

  
  

  But these pictures bring it back.

  
  

  This is the house we built (in 1994-95)

  
  

  

  
  

  Trevor and I lived in Tucson in 1993 and were exploring Arizona looking for our perfect place; we wanted land and solitude on which to build our house.  We found our spot in northeast Az about 3 miles south of the Navajo Reservation in an unincorporated “township” nicknamed “Alpine Ranches”.  We drew up the blueprints while living in Tucson and sent them up to Flagstaff for inspection as we wanted to build to code. Once we had approval, we moved up and camped out while we began to build.

  
  

  It was the perfect place, peaceful and private

  
  

  (no-one for 2-3 miles and on a dirt road). 

  
  

  

  
  

  We chose our spot on an ancient lava flow and began to dig.

  
  

  my husband, a mean digger

  
  

  

  
  

  (trenches for our footer/slab)

  
  

  

  
  

  after the foundation set, we began to build the framing

  
  

  

  
  

  friends helped us get the roof trusses on

  
  

  

  
  

  then we laid the foundation for the bale walls

  
  

  (the bales were pushed down onto the rebar for stability)

  
  

  

  
  

  it was monsoon season so we put blue tarps on the outside of the house and stored the straw inside to keep it dry

  
  

  

  
  

  the bales were notched with a saw to fit around the posts

  
  

  

  
  

  and we finished the walls

  
  

  (it took us 3-4 weeks)

  
  

  

  
  

  and lay netting all over the straw bales and made giant needles for sewing it all together

  
  

  

  
  

  and then we put on the first of three layers of stucco, the scratch coat

  
  

  

  
  

  and the finish coat

  
  

  

  
  

  and then began to work on the interior, all of the walls inside were standard 2×4 construction and so went up rather quickly.  I plastered all of the walls so that they blended with the bale walls and kept the organic texture of the interior.

  
  

  Our front door

  
  

  

  
  

  we hauled a trailer-load of Saltillo tile up from Mexico and laid it in every room in the house

  
  

  the sunroom

  
  

  

  
  

  living room and kitchen

  
  

  

  
  

  kitchen

  
  

  

  
  

  bathroom

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

   we installed 4 -75 watt solar panels and a 2500 watt inverter for our electricity

  
  

  and it was enough.

  
  

  

  
  

  I built a small cold frame for winter greens

  
  

  

  
  

  we put in a cistern and collected rainwater off the roof for our water supply,

  
  

  (a challenge where 7-9 inches of rain a year is common)

  
  

  

  
  

  it was a wonderful life and I miss it but living there made my soul feel weak; I missed the connection of family and old, deep friendships.  So we left the house we built and sometimes I still long for the winds that blow there.

  
  

  But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, I really would.

  
  

  

  
  

  (this is at the end of our driveway, you can almost see the house far behind me to the right.)

  
  

   

  • 2:44 pm
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