The Rural Voice, 2006-04, Page 28Martin Tamlyn and Cathy Kipp's 2900 -square -foot home is kept comfortably
warm by the insulation power of straw -bale walls.
24 THE RURAL VOICE
Inside the
straw pile
A Wellington Countg
couple set out to prove
what animals have
long known: straw
makes great
insulation. Building
their straw -bale house
is a communitg affair
By Andrew Epplett
When Martin Tamlyn and
Cathy Kipp set out to build
the home of their dreams in
Wellington County they didn't know
the first thing about house
construction. Martin is a teacher who
had never picked up a tool in his life,
and Cathy is a midwife.
Early on in the planning stages,
the couple decided to have as much
to do with building the house as they
could, not only' to save money, but to
learn new skills. They also wanted to
build a house that would be
environmentally friendly and
complimentary to the local
landscape. A straw bale house was
the natural choice.
Straw and mud buildings have a
history pre -dating European
settlement of the Americas, but it was
in the 1800s when construction
techniques using bales of hay
encased in mud were developed by
settlers in the timber -poor regions of
the American prairie. Farm
technology had advanced to create
bales suitable for building, and
people working with these materials
soon discovered their merits.
Heating and cooling is quickly
becoming the greatest cost in owning
Post and beam construction
supports the roof of the straw -bale
house (middle photo at left). There
was plenty, of help to assemble the
walls, (bottom left).