Author Archives: Ted

Plaster those Walls!

This will be a good news post, which is why we look so happy in the pic to the left. We found an awesome plaster crew. Rusty, a 30 year plaster veteran, has never done straw bale before, so he … Continue reading

Posted in Labor, Pictures, Walls | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plumbers and Electricians

The good news is that I (Ted) still have hair. That’s because I haven’t pulled all of it out while trying to find licensed plumbers and electricians who will actually show up! After a small amount of work our first … Continue reading

Posted in Walls | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

HVAC

Straw is an extremely good insulator — our walls will end up being “true” R30, whereas most homes have “sort of” R19 due to being thinner plus less-than-perfect sealing around doors and windows. That said, we knew we needed a … Continue reading

Posted in Heating/cooling, Walls | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Windows and Doors

May we be honest with you? When you build your house … which assumes that your marriage is solid and you are a little bit insane … make sure you install your windows at the right time. Why? Well… let’s … Continue reading

Posted in Windows and Doors | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The walls are up!

Since late July, Beth and our daughter Serena have been working hard and doing a great job installing all the straw bale walls of the main house. They are true artists! Since the bales must be flush with both the … Continue reading

Posted in Pictures, Walls | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Lots of Progress!

Since our last post in March, so much has happened! First of all, we now have underground power from a pole on our neighbor’s land to a transformer just inside the treeline near our NE porch. It hums… it is … Continue reading

Posted in Pictures, Water & Power | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Slow Progress

Sometimes, when you work mostly alone, you just need a supervisor. Here’s mine. His name is Ninja and he’s the feral cat who takes care of our workshop/shed. He’s a lovey-dovey and almost always wants hugs and rubs. Except when … Continue reading

Posted in Framing, Pictures, Schedule | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

YOU can help

Some 30 years ago Beth and I began dreaming about building our own home. First, it was out of rammed earth – but that was for the desert. Then it was underground – but water leaking in was a problem. … Continue reading

Posted in Blogroll, Labor | Tagged | Leave a comment

Cross-bracing “fun”

Normal houses use plywood sheets at the corners to prevent the frame from racking in a high wind… but you can’t do that in a strawbale house, because the plywood traps moisture which will rot the straw. The answer is … Continue reading

Posted in Framing, Pictures | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Winter

As the weather got colder, it was clear that we would need to wait until spring to start installing the strawbale walls. Our more immediate need was to get the final roof on… which became it’s own challenge. From Nov. … Continue reading

Posted in Kitchen, Roof, Schedule, Water & Power | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Sept. & Oct.

We’ve been working hard since the last post — and been too busy to update this site, unfortunately. We’ve made progress, though there have been ups and downs. The weather has been dry and helpful, and we’ve tried our best … Continue reading

Posted in Framing, Pictures, Water & Power, Windows and Doors | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mid to Late August

The “update list of links” idea is working well for timeliness, so this page will take Chenoweth East thru the end of August. Join us on the journey! We love visitors, so if you are in the area (see Maps, … Continue reading

Posted in Framing, Pictures, Roof | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Update in Pictures – June to Early August

Now that we are in the thick of actually building, there doesn’t seem to be much time to do the posts! So, for a picture overview of progress, here are links to different folders that progressively bring us up to … Continue reading

Posted in Driveway, Foundation, Framing, Pictures | Tagged | Leave a comment

High Lift and Hoe Ram

Here is the hoe ram in action, breaking up the rock which is in the way of the footer for the annex foundation… It is a Bobcat lift with a special attachment on the front. In case you’re wondering, the … Continue reading

Posted in Foundation, Pictures | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rock & basement

In the last few days we have been buying lots of #3 rock, plus something called “crusher run” by the dump truck load. Because of the rain, it has been going on the road and … sinking :-O Obviously, this … Continue reading

Posted in Driveway, Pictures | Tagged , | Leave a comment