Straw House Build

littlecbear

Hi

My partner and I are going to build a house with straw bales and hempcrete.
Can anyone tell me of an insurance company which provides home insurance for a straw house?

(sorry if this should be posted in insurance section)

Any advice from anyone who has built with straw/hempcrete would be much appreciated...

Thanks

Claire

muffler

Moved from Construction & Planning

muffler

Sorry Victor, maybe this should have been moved to the Banking & Insurance & Pensions forum.

jetski

you probably should have left it where it was.

muffler

And spoil Victor's fun?

Vexorg

Hi Littlecbear

Try here http://ardnashee.com/about/ these people have built and are living in a Strawbale House. Im sure they can answer some of your insurance questions.

V.

littlecbear

Just contacted them through their site. Thanks a lot

Vexorg

Great:)

Do let us know how you get on.

Couple of questions for you, have you attended any courses or have any experience building with Strawbale and Limecrete?

.

littlecbear

Nope. My partner is a carpenter and plans to do a lot of the build work himself but he has no experience with working specifically with straw.

southofdub

Straw bales are pretty cheap, If you stuffed your attic with straw bales would it be a good insulator?
If you could treat them with some form of fire retardant it would be a great Green home grown industry.:D

littlecbear

For anyone who is interested:


Got a book online called Building with Straw Bales by Barbara Jones. It is specifically written for UK and Irish builders and looks like a really useful guide to anyone who wants to go for a straw build.

Contrary to logical perceptions straw bales are not a fire hazard when used in a build. Quite the contrary in fact.

Would love to hear from any straw builders out there...... echo...

El Stuntman

what will you do when the Big Bad Wolf is outside and is going to huff and puff and blow your house down? :pac:

(sorry mods, couldn't resist)

loyatemu

El Stuntman wrote: »

what will you do when the Big Bad Wolf is outside and is going to huff and puff and blow your house down? :pac:

(sorry mods, couldn't resist)

run up the road to your brother's timber-frame gaff...

Macha

http://greenbuild.ie/links.htm

This site has quite a few links but it's a bit of a mess. There's a group of straw links further down. Best bet is to press "Ctl+F" for "straw" and you'll find it quickly.

littlecbear

taconnol wrote: »

http://greenbuild.ie/links.htm

This site has quite a few links but it's a bit of a mess. There's a group of straw links further down. Best bet is to press "Ctl+F" for "straw" and you'll find it quickly.

Looks like theres lots of useful links here

Cheers

dragonslayer

Did you find anyone to insure your house? I having the same trouble myself now. All insurance companies are afraid to branch out a bit

littlecbear

Hello

We are a still a few months away from insurance (sigh) but I know that Lloyds insurers were mentioned in an article about getting insurance for a bale house. I made a few calls over a year ago and did find a company who were willing to insure, it was one of the major insurance sites that search the market - I know I made a note of them but right now I cant seem to locate it.

If you dont have any success get back to me in a day or two, there are more bale houses popping up now so I can try to found out who they have used for you.

Congrats on the house by the way. Where in the country are you?

C

dragonslayer

We're in Wexford and just got the planning through so we're only in early stages yet either. I have a while to get it sorted. I tried a company in Donegal which are tied in with Lloyds but no joy.
My search continues . . .

littlecbear

Plenty of time so! Il pm you the insurance company we go with it once we move in. If you want any other info or advice then feel free to get in touch. We are in Wicklow. Good luck!

LK_Dave

Littlecbear, how far along are you in the build? I'ed be very interested to hear how the hempcrete worked out -where did you source it?. Have you kept a online record of the build? Thanks & good luck. Dave

littlecbear

We are just over two years building, but its been my partner singlehanded so the timeframe is deceptive.

In the end we went with a post and beam construction carrying all the weight of the house, straw bale in-fill for external walls with a lime render on the exterior and clay plaster on the interior.

We planned to use hemp shuttering for internal walls but in the end it seemed too time consuming. We did use a mix of hemp and lime to fill in small gaps under the bales though. Our hemp came from the traditional lime company and you can buy ready mixed hempcrete from hempire. hempire supplied our clay which again is a ready mixed product and was lovely to use.

As regards documenting the build, we have a heck of a lot of photos!!, I had planned to do a blog but I just never got around to it.

dragonslayer

littlecbear wrote: »

Plenty of time so! Il pm you the insurance company we go with it once we move in. If you want any other info or advice then feel free to get in touch. We are in Wicklow. Good luck!

I'll certinly be picking your brains over the coming year or so then. Thanks a mil