Building a house of straw out on the plains of Peyton may not seem like a good idea to some. The wind blows constantly, the winters are rough and the bright Colorado sun and the summer hailstorms are intense.However, nature’s challenges are exactly why the Shaws decided to make their dream house out of straw bales.Straw bale construction, which uses tightly packed bales encased in mortar or stucco, is gaining popularity, especially in arid climates, across the West. It is an old building method that has been revived in recent years, mostly due to energy efficiency.Straw bale houses have been found to have a higher rating than stick construction. Although the bales can be vulnerable to fire during construction, once the walls are up and coated with layers of stucco, they resist combustion because of the lack of oxygen. According to the El Paso (Texas) Solar Energy Association, a plastered straw bale wall system easily passed the two-hour fire test required for commercial construction.The bales also provide fewer spaces for pest infestation and studies show plastered bale walls hold up well with wind loads of up to 50 pounds per square inch.”I wanted to find a building technique that would be very energy efficient,” said Chuck Shaw. The bales, which are approximately 2 feet wide, give the walls of the Shaw’s house an R-54 insulation rating, while the typical wood frame wall, using 2-by-6 studs, has an R-value of around 20. By relying on straw in their construction, the Shaws were using an abundant waste product, putting it to good use.It’s a dream that began a few years ago.When he retired from the semiconductor industry, Chuck and his wife, Paula, started looking for land. In January 2001, they bought 36 and 1/2 acres off Highway 24 in Peyton, put up a large metal building in which they constructed a small apartment where they would live while they built their house.Shaw researched straw bale construction on the Internet and visited several straw bale houses in Colorado. Finding a source of bales and a contractor who was skilled at applying stucco to straw walls was a challenge. “Our bales came from the Alamosa area,” Shaw said. “The farmers down there grow a lot of barley for Coors, so after they clip the tops off for the barley, the straw is left.” The remaining straw is tightly baled, specifically for use in construction.He came up with the house design from a house-of-the-week plan in a Sunday paper. Shaw modified the design to accommodate the long, straight walls needed in a straw bale house. He decided to use a metal framework, a building process usually used in commercial buildings only. “A metal framework allowed me to have more space between column legs,” he said. The house would not need interior load-bearing walls, and the Shaws could have the open interior they wanted.”We found a company in Chattanooga, Ten., that does custom metal-framed houses,” Shaw said. “They did the engineering work for the metal framework and verified the load requirements.” All the metalwork arrived with the professional engineering stamp necessary for approval from regional building. “Regional building has observed several straw bale houses in the El Paso County area, so the idea of straw bale is not new to them,” Shaw said.As the general contractor, Shaw was responsible for the inspections.”I had to get all my own approvals through regional building,” he said. “I was responsible for the quality of service and did all the administrative stuff.”He hired a contractor from Cañon City to do the cutting and fitting of the bales and found another contractor in Pueblo who had experience doing stucco work on straw bales. Shaw was careful to hired skilled craftsmen experienced with straw-bale construction. “Both of those guys have to work pretty closely together for the outcome to be desirable,” he said.After constructing the foundation and pouring the slab, the red iron framework arrived on a flatbed truck and was assembled on site. Once the roof was up, it served as shelter for the straw bales when they arrived from Alamosa.Two rows of green (water resistant) 2-by-4s were then laid in a track around the outside perimeter. The first layer of bales was placed on the water-resistant track and anchored with rebar. Each layer of bales was stacked on the layer below, like bricks, with offset seams. “Once we got two rows and wanted to tie one row to the other, we drove bamboo sticks into the bales to lock them together,” said Shaw. “We used thousands of bamboo sticks to do that.”Bales were cut to fit with a chain saw and pounded into position with a sledgehammer. Although most straw bale houses only use bales to the top of the first-level walls, the Shaws used bales all the way to the roof. Once the bales were in place, the subcontractor lined the walls with chicken wire and applied the first coat of stucco. “The first layer goes right into the straw and helps grip it,” said Shaw. Two more layers of stucco were applied, with the last layer in the desired exterior color.”We broke ground in August 2002, and we got into the house in August 2004,” Shaw said. “We had some weather delays, and we had crews that were driving up from Cañon City every day. The stacking of the bales was the slow part of the process.”The Shaws did most of the interior framing, including installing the kitchen cabinets and porcelain floor.The house has radiant floor heating, a more efficient heating system than conventional forced air. The design of the first floor is free flowing, with high ceilings, large windows and French doors leading to a front porch and a patio. The second floor is a large open space. “We haven’t quite decided how to use this space yet,” Paula Shaw said. But she definitely wants to install a window seat in a large window to enjoy the expansive view of the prairie.Looking back, the Shaws can’t recall any major difficulties. “It was kind of hard to find the right group of people to help,” Chuck Shaw said. The search for a subcontractor was tough because using metal framework construction for a residential building was unconventional, he said. And in spite of having 35 and 1/2 acres in which to maneuver, a concrete truck ran into the side of the metal building that housed the Shaw’s temporary home.The process took more than two years and a lot of physical labor. But Chuck and Paula Shaw are now living in a home they helped build with their own hands, a house of straw set solidly on the plains.
