“How do you deal with electrical and plumbing change from frame to straw bale homes?

-Andrew

Andrew,

Thanks for the great question. Here is food for thought: Ceilings, frame walls, and stem walls are always an option for plumbing and electrical locations. When you do have to run these systems through a bale wall, here is how you do it.

Plumbing in a straw bale home.

Plumbing leaks are more critical within straw bale walls than within stick frame walls for obvious reasons: straw rots pretty quickly if it gets wet and stays wet - a lot quicker than 2×4s would rot. As a precaution, it is best to keep most of the plumbing within interior walls and run the water into the house through a stem wall. The highest standards of fitting can help minimize the risk of leaks. Careful planning eliminates unsightly messes at this point. Before beginning construction, you should plan for water to enter where pipes will not be seen in plain view, such as under a sink or in a mechanical closet. Use of the stem wall is appropriate for running water into your structure.

Electrical wiring in a straw bale home.

The electrical system in a bale home is the same as in a stick frame home from the circuit breaker to the switches and fixtures. However, electrical wiring has different installation methods in a straw bale wall. UF (Underground Feeder) cable is recommended for its durability and moisture resistance. A metal “needle” is used to thread the wire from the exterior to the interior where necessary. A chainsaw is used to cut a 1.5 inch channel in the straw bale walls. The wire is stuffed into the channel or in the seam between bales and run to switch and fixture locations. Plug and switch boxes are screwed to a wooden stake which is driven into the bale to keep the box in place.

Excellent: people are catching onto the benefits of investing in radiant heating systems. This video gives us a good idea of how radiant floors are installed. They cost more than your standard forced air system, but in the long run, your home will be more comfortable (warm floors heat interiors more evenly and are nice to walk on without slippers or socks) and will not have dust, mold, mites and other allergens that forced air systems send through the air in your house. This greatly benefits people with respiratory ailments such as asthma or emphysema as well as allergy sufferers.

Cleaner air, more comfortable temperatures throughout your home. So why does anyone bother with any other system? Cost is usually the inhibitor here. I found this info on radiantheat.net:

“ A typical force-air furnace system for a 2,000 sq. ft. home will cost you between $3,800.00-$4,500.00 versus a hydronic boiler system costing about $4,000.00-$5,000.00. The average life expectancy of a forced-air furnace may be between 10-25 years where the average boiler system can last between 30-45 years. The cost of filters and other maintenance including, bearings, belts, fans and motors for forced-air systems can dramatically increase the amount of your investment from a service standpoint. Radiant heating systems are less maintenance and more efficient which means less cost to operate.”

When you take into the account that with a radiant system your energy bills will be reduced, the value of your home is increased, and your indoor air quality is improved, the upfront costs should no longer an inhibitor; it should be seen as a worthy investment that will pay back the cost difference plus in the long run.

JTucker53 asks: I’ve worked hard to get my lawn green year after year. I take alot of pride in it. I think it just looks nice. Can you give examples of yards with out grass that look good, too? Thanks.

Hi Tuck. Thanks for the great topic. Aesthetically pleasing (aka beautiful) yards that do not have a blanket of lawn, or have only a small little blanket of lawn are everywhere. Eartheasy.com has a great explanation of what xeriscapes are. I’ll sum it up.

“Xeriscaping refers to the conservation of water through creative landscaping,” and, “Xeriscapes do not have a single look - almost any landscaping style can be achieved. The principles can be applied to all or part of a yard, in any geographic region of North America.”

Toucan Landscaping’s Desert Xeriscape has minimal lawn area, just enough to allow you to let your toes squish in the green. Think about how much lawn you really need to get what you want from it.

A company called Toucan Landscaping has done a great job in areas with extreme drought. But you don’t need to be a desert dweller to have a yard that conserves water (or more exactly, avoids excess watering). Choosing plants that are native to your region is the best way to be sure they will thrive. Afterall, it is their natural environment! You shouldn’t have to water plants that are native species. You can find species that are native to your area at the link to the Native Plant Database mentioned in my post “5 Ways to Go Green in Your Garden“. At your local USDA Cooperative Extension System Office you can also find more useful information on xeriscaping and other responsible landscaping practices.

Happy Gardening!

Beautiful Xeriscape: landscaping that needs little, usually no additional watering. Just the good ol' rain'll do.

Q: What Are SIPs and Are They Environmentally Friendly? The original question was more simple, but I felt the need to elaborate. Matt asked, “Who makes the compressed straw panel?” that I had made a comment about in response to a reader’s comment about styrofoam homes… anyway… long story cut short.

A: SIP stands for Structural Insulated Panel. The most common SIP is made by sandwiching expanded polystyrene board (styrofoam) with OSB (oriented strand board) into which openings are cut for doors and windows. The panels are assembled together to form the walls/roof of a home. This is a good, short video of standard SIP construction. There are a few things that set off alarms here: phenol formaldehyde resin used to bond the wood chips and (the more obvious) styrofoam. Off-gassing formaldehyde is no good for indoor air quality and styrofoam is not biodegradable, although expanded polystyrene SIPs have good insulating qualities. There are several reasons that buildings are made with SIPs instead of wood/stick frame these days. There is a big push to find other methods of building homes than wood, simply because deforestation devastates huge areas of the earth, annihilating fragile ecosystems and species of plants and animals. SIPs provide increased insulation, reducing the amount of fuel/energy a home takes to keep heating and cooling year round. SIPs are manufactured in a facility before they reach the site, making on-site construction incredibly quick (think a couple of weeks instead of a several months).

Agriboard Compressed Straw SIPs

The ecofriendly award for the SIP that has the least impact on the environment from production to disposal goes to a compressed straw SIP manufactured by Agriboard. This product has excellent insulating and fire prevention qualities. Check out Agriboard’s video to see how it is made by compressing straw with fifteen thousand pounds of pressure and how it stands up to various structural and fire tests (hint: it stands up very well to these tests). Agriboard is also sandwiched between OSB, so sadly formaldehyde is still present in this product. The major benefit is avoiding the use of styrofoam which is notorious for cluttering landfills and is estimated to take over 900 years to decompose. Straw is a biproduct of cereal grain production and will decompose very quickly- it comes from the earth and goes back into it without any trouble. Man-made chemical styrofoam is just not so nice.

Q: I have looked into installing solar panels on my house but the price is not within my current budget. Is there an alternative to the common big name companies I have contacted that offers solar panels at an affordable price?  LynneMarie

affordable energypeak solar system

A: While at the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Convention 2008, I visited a vendor that represented EnergyPeak Solar Systems for standing seam roofs. This product is a solar energy collector that is manufactured as a dark woven material that can be easily installed between seams on standing seam roofs. The rep told me that the product is 80-90% as efficient as traditional glass solar panels but can be purchased at 50% of the price. This product is my suggestion for an affordable solar solution. I like that the product adheres to a surface, eliminating the awkward look that solar panels can give to a home’s roof. These solar mats are durable enough be walked on, so if you have a deck that receives a lot of direct sunlight, that may be a good location to install. Of course, the angle of the sun is a huge factor when installing traditional solar panels, and I’m not exactly sure what how this effects the return rate for EnergyPeak’s system. It’s worth checking them out! You can do so at EnergyPeak.com .

You can certainly make your garden green and less toxic with a little effort. In fact, the most green landscaping choice is one that requires little or no maintenance - that means no watering and no chemical fertilizing. Here are 5 tips for growing a beautiful garden that is self-sustaining and productive.

1. minimize the percentage of your yard that is covered by lawn: Lawns require a lot of upkeep, water, and fertilizer to stay healthy and look good. Not only does this cut into the precious amount of potable water, it pollutes oceans, streams and water tables with high levels of nutrients that destroy ecosystems and available drinking water. *Only 1% of earth’s water is potable (drinkable). In place of lawn, try more regional ground coverings. In drier climates, stone is a good option. In seaside locations, crushed shell is popular. If you still want to keep your lawn or grow a smaller area of lawn, go with a species that is native so it requires less water. If you have sprinklers, have a sensor installed that can gauge when your lawn actually needs watering and when a sprinkling session can be skipped when it rains.
2. grow your own food: By farming your own land, even if it is merely one tomato plant and one cucumber vine, you are helping to reduce your energy consumption. Rather than having those cucumbers and tomatoes shipped from Mexico to your local grocer, they skipped the trip and went straight from your yard to your table. Fruit trees require little attention and will produce large amounts of food for years, while vegetables, berries and herbs require slightly more attention and watering but are well worth the effort. Choosing species of plants that are not genetically altered will almost always assure that your home grown food will taste better than the average food you find in the local grocer. Genetically modified plants (or hybrids) are created by crossing the DNA of two types of plants to produce a variety that has characteristics to either speed up production time or create larger fruit or vegetables with little or no regard for its nutritional value or flavor.
3. use more natural fertilizers: When I was younger, my father and I would go fishing and if we had luck, we ate fish for dinner. The fish head always went in the garden. Sure, it stunk for a few days over by the zucchinis, but those zucchinis were huge and the plant produced plenty to supply the neighborhood with zucchini all summer. Good alternatives to MiracleGro are: natural compost (which you can make yourself); seaweed ; and grass clippings/leaves . All of these things took nutrients to grow, decompose relatively quickly, and put nutrients back into the soil for plants to eat. Your local dump will probably have a compost pile that you can shovel into a barrel and take home for free.
4. plant native species: Plants that originated in your climate have adapted to the temperatures, seasons, sun, rain, soils, etc. of the region. For this reason, they require little to no maintenance and will be stronger and less likely to croak or be eaten by wildlife like squirrels, rabbits or deer. Seasoned gardeners know all too well how expensive their experiments with the foreign plants can be- that spectacular group of flowering bushes that died when transplanted and cost over $7,000- ouch. You can find native species of plants with this nifty tool: Native Plant Database
5. install a rain/grey water collection system: This will enable you to recycle grey water and rain you have collected to water your garden and lawn. If it rains periodically in your region, there is a good chance that you can use recycled water to irrigate a good portion of your landscaping. This will save you money and save your community’s water supply.

Q: I’ve seen "LEED" all over the place but none of the articles I’ve found directly address what it is. Can you go into some detail about what exactly LEED is for me? Sorry- I’m a newbie. Thanks! Allison

A: Allison, no apologies needed. LEED is quickly becoming a well known word in the building industry, but for people who do not work in this industry, it is likely to be unfamiliar. Good for you though, seeking knowledge about green building practices! This page has your answer, plus gives you great reasons why people should choose to get their home design LEED Certified, including energy savings and tax incentives. Visit the page here .

Another great reader question!

Q: This is interesting. If the goal is chemical free then why is bleach alright?      -Victoria

A: Victoria, first, thanks for the great question. The answer is this: it is technically a chemical, but it is the lesser of two evils. The greater evil being chemical biocides. Biocides are used by ‘professional mold cleaner uppers’ who were taught how to clean mold in classes funded by the very same companies that try to sell these products and mold testing services. Biocides kill bacteria for long periods of time (some for 6 months) and leave chemical residues on surfaces that are hazardous to humans. This is not what we want to do. Once we clean up mold and stop the source of water (a leak), there will no longer be a mold problem.

Bleach is registered for household use by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Be careful that any household cleaner you buy says that the product is REGISTERED for household use, and does not use any sketchy language, such as “EPA compliant”, because anything other than registered does not mean much of anything. It is not illegal to use this unclear and deceiving wording when marketing a product.

The active ingredient in bleach, sodium hypochlorite, has been heavily diluted in the form that we most commonly buy it: Clorox. It is a sanitizer and disinfectant and kills a wide range of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Sodium hypochlorite is registered for use in households as well as food processing plants, agricultural settings, animal facilities, hospitals, and drinking water supplies. Since bleach is safe to use on porous (laundry, wood) and non-porous (refrigerator door) surfaces, it is useful in many instances. Moreover, the best part about using bleach, as opposed to a chemical biocide, is that bleach DOES NOT continue to kill bacteria and other living organisms long after its applied use. When we use chemicals that continue to kill, they leave residues that are harmful to humans and kill ALL good bacteria.

This is not what we want. While we must use caution while using bleach to clean up mold (or any other time we use it), it still remains one of the best ways to do it. Make sure you follow the directions on the container: ventilate the space you are cleaning to avoid inhaling the strong-smelling bleach, and be sure to test the surface you are cleaning to avoid discoloration that commonly occurs on some surfaces.

For an abundant amount of information on chemical-free mold remediation, reference the free online course at Green-Buildings.Org .

If you need help deciding what type of product to use for your particular application, use the clorox product guide on the right side of this page: Clorox Cleaning Advisor .

Hopefully that answered your question!

-Suzy

Q: I’m in Arizona. My living room has four large windows and the sun just pours in. The place is like an oven. I’ve tried to put an AC unit in a window but it is getting expensive and looks awkward (it looks pretty ugly smack in the middle of my nice view). Any suggestions on what I might do instead of the AC unit? Thank you!

Bart L., AZ

A: Hi Bart,

Instead of trying to counteract the heat gain you are experiencing from the sun through your windows, you might want to try a few things that are more pro-active and will give you better results. Here’s what I suggest:

-External shading devices over windows (such as louvres or canvas awnings)
-Install UV-blocking film on windows: more info
-Mitsubishi Electric’s Mr. Slim ductless A/C unit : if you still require cooling, this is the way to go without having to place a unit in your window

Hope you can use this info! -Suzy

Q: I have heard that straw bale homes are far greener than wood frame. My husband and I are retiring and planning to build a home in Vermont. We are considering straw bale. Do you think that this is what we should do? What are the differences between wood and straw?

Candace, VT

A: Candace,

What a great question to kick off this Q&A session! The problem with the question is that there is no clear answer, but there is a discussion we can have about “the sustainability of wood and straw bale construction, where the materials come from, the consequences of harvesting the materials, and the benefits and restrictions associated with each.” There are a surprising number of consequences of straw bale construction that people do not consider, purely because they do not second guess that it is a green building technique.

Both types of construction can be carried out in green ways. Location is key to determining if wood or straw bale is more appropriate for your site. Please see ThinkDwell’s WOOD vs. STRAW BALE page for detailed information regarding specifics. Hopefully this will help you gain more knowledge and determine what is the best choice for your home.

Check out more Q&A posts .