Beginning winter with Straw: Part 2

I guess I should explain a bit about what putting straw in the walls means.  The bales have to be re-strung, tied, and notched to fit around the studs in the wall.  Each bale is fitted into the wall around the stud, and then loose straw is stuffed into the gaps created by the stud.  Every two levels of bales also get strapping on top to compress it tight together.  Then the entire wall will be covered with chicken wire and "sewn" with bailing twine to pull it all tight together.

A bale re-strung and tied, then notched with a chainsaw ready for the wall

Inside South/East corner.  Notice the strapping along the East wall to the right of the window.  Those will be the supports that our kitchen shelves will be attached to.  The straw bales have to be cut to fit around them

Zander and Chris fitting the last few bales into the top of the South wall

Here you can see how the bales fit around the studs.  When the walls are done, the studs will all be inside the bales and not visible from the inside or outside

Chris on his makeshift scaffold.  A board hanging from the roof because the regular scaffolding can't sit on the ground on the East wall with all the rocks!

My 2 men working on the top of the South East corner

Beginning 2019 with straw: Part 1

The last few months have been filled with straw.  Chris has been working hard to get all the straw in the walls in preparation for plastering once the weather is warm enough.

The "hallway" created by the hanging plastic hoarding covering the entire house. This plastic protects the straw from moisture until it can be plastered this spring, and it gives Chris a safe place to work out of the weather. On the left is the North wall, already filled with straw.

Chris on top of the straw in the West wall of the girls' bedroom

West wall of the second level, the girls' bedroom

Laundry/mud room West entrance

My dad Steve, Zander, and Chris working on lining up the bales

Zander loves working on the scaffold!

Break time!

Chris working on the two level South wall, above the main entrance

Looking down on the South wall from the second story

The hoarding doing its job, South wall

The hoarding, South West corner

The view down the hill to our house from my parent's house where we are still living