Someone mocks straw-bale constructions? Oh my, my, my...
Do we want to be really sustainable?
Do we want to be low-tech and affordable?
Do we want to be rebellious? In times when a house is both a refuge and a fiscal burden, a change of mindset is necessary!
Do we want to be really sustainable?
Do we want to be low-tech and affordable?
Do we want to be rebellious? In times when a house is both a refuge and a fiscal burden, a change of mindset is necessary!
When you talk about destiny! Polemicarc comes back from a seminar on straw-bale construction, in great company, and without anyone saying a word to anybody… this happens:
A little time passes by, and with the usual delay, the comment post comes. (...and a bit of respect, please! That flag there in the back is the original peace flag, the one we waved against the second invasion of Iraq, not the one some 'niche' activist, let's say so, has appropriated. So respect, bro).
Now, my friends, I love you all—especially those of you who follow the Twitter account—but if you're following these pages and still thinking these things, it means there's still a ton of stuff we need to talk about. To survive the ongoing destruction of the middle class, you’ve got to become the A-Team, Robinson Crusoe, MacGyver, and the Godfather all rolled into one. But let's take it step by step. The thing is, straw-bale building is a whole world of similar but distinct construction techniques that most people know absolutely nothing about. So today, I'm going to talk a bit about building with straw as the first stop on a long journey into low-tech territories. The goal is to give some useful tools to anyone who wants to push back against the current state of things we're living in. I'm not writing a technical post here—that would be way too long, and that's for another time. For now, let's just shed some light on a couple of key points and, from the cockpit of our little biplane, take a bird's-eye view of the whole straw topic, which in my opinion is seriously fascinating and offers inspiration to regain some liberty.
And since we're talking straw-bale houses, here's a quick visual flyover of some modern, beautiful examples (nothing hippie-shack about these!)
As often happens, let's take it slow and first read this article from September 7, 2020 (translate it yourself in-browser because the autotranslation doesn't understand the format!)
Anyway, the tile reads «smart workers leave the metropolis, hamlets reborn with (optic!!) fiber and subsidies (!)»
Anyway, the tile reads «smart workers leave the metropolis, hamlets reborn with (optic!!) fiber and subsidies (!)»
Some people are finally waking up. I've been repeating these things for a while, but with the whole Corona story, all the ongoing processes sped up a lot. And yeah, like I was saying, some folks are starting to wake up. When stuff starts showing up in the newspapers, it's already too late. You've bought some land in the countryside, right? Woods? Fields? Ponds? Do we have any? No?? That's bad!
And that's a meme via @FartFromAmerika, which gives the vibe:
So, that's why I'm going to start telling a story, titled «The Three Luddite Little Pigs».
The Mason Pig, grandson of the one who built the famous wolf-proof house, lived in the city in an apartment block. He was constantly getting hammered by energy efficiency upgrades and certifications, skyrocketing condo fees, ever-rising utility bills, property taxes, traffic restricted zones… basically, he could barely afford to keep his place, let alone cover major maintenance because of sick building syndrome…
And so, poor Mason Pig ended up bankrupt: between burdensome subsidies traps, subprime mortgages, various lockdowns, Minister Gualtieri, assorted bureaucracy, etc., he lost his job and couldn't keep up with the mortgage payments. So the Big Bad Wolf's bank swooped in, took the house as a dirt cheap non-performing loan, and meanwhile — the Wolf himself, disguised as a little girl with braids who scares the rich and powerful (pictured here) — kept imposing stricter and stricter energy and "eco" standards to harass his piggy subjects. The by now totally demoralized and proletarianized, the rosy mason pig got the idea to move to the countryside — after all, there's remote work and life costs way less — and join the rebellious pigs Thatcher and Carpenter who had long been following a plan to build a self-sufficient home. From there they could tell the Big Bad Wolf to fuck off whenever he tried to impose some random freedom-crushing lockdown, plus get away from the infernal smart-metropolis being rolled out. The mason pig even learned from Thatcher how to tend a little vegetable garden, and from Carpenter how to build all kinds of structures. That constant headache he had from office work? Gone…
…but that's already another episode in the story of the three Luddite little pigs! Let's not rush things, shall we…
Anyway, it's not like these pigs were living some Neolithic fantasy out in the fields with a straw hut and a flint stone. No way, sir.
They'd simply chosen the level of technology that felt most natural and fitting for them in every aspect of life. And they had real power back in their own hands: the power to build their own environment, ensuring maximum health, durability, and comfort tailored to their needs. They organized life differently—independent and resilient—outside the oppressive regime of the evil wolf, stepping completely out of the system that was designed to turn them into sausages. So, look—I'm not here to push straw-bale construction on everyone (after all, there are infinite solutions for infinite contexts)… but yeah, at the end of the day: this cultural issue that's popped up on Twitter needs fixing. And at the same time, the big rush to escape to the countryside is hitting hard. I keep saying it: we need to hurry up and grasp the key concepts, because once everyone starts moving it'll already be too late. So let's seize the moment, kill two birds with one stone, and take a non-specialist little tour through building with straw.
They'd simply chosen the level of technology that felt most natural and fitting for them in every aspect of life. And they had real power back in their own hands: the power to build their own environment, ensuring maximum health, durability, and comfort tailored to their needs. They organized life differently—independent and resilient—outside the oppressive regime of the evil wolf, stepping completely out of the system that was designed to turn them into sausages. So, look—I'm not here to push straw-bale construction on everyone (after all, there are infinite solutions for infinite contexts)… but yeah, at the end of the day: this cultural issue that's popped up on Twitter needs fixing. And at the same time, the big rush to escape to the countryside is hitting hard. I keep saying it: we need to hurry up and grasp the key concepts, because once everyone starts moving it'll already be too late. So let's seize the moment, kill two birds with one stone, and take a non-specialist little tour through building with straw.
Why straw?
Because it’s a highly efficient, inexpensive, easy-to-handle, eco-friendly, and healthy material. It’s a very forgiving material that even the most inexperienced hands can work with.With straw, we can choose either industrial prefabricated techniques or self-build approaches: in both cases, it’s simple, quick, communal, and sociable. You can build entire buildings from scratch or retrofit existing ones.
You have no idea how toxic most synthetic insulation materials are. And when they’re not outright toxic, they’re still irritating. In any case, they’re all polluting and very difficult to recycle.
So… straw! (and yes, there are plenty of other possible solutions too, but right now we’re talking about straw).But careful: like everything else, there is knowledge to be respected and followed so that the building actually performs properly and outperforms today’s conventional buildings (brick/concrete and/or synthetic insulation panels) both in performance and in cost.
As I already mentioned, we might talk about that another time. There are experts in Italy and abroad who have developed the various construction techniques, and I have personally been in contact with some of them; they will be mentioned on these pages.
However — and I repeat — the goal right now is not to explain the construction techniques in detail, but to show you what building with straw really means, and to debunk the misconceptions that came up in the previous thread.
You have no idea how toxic most synthetic insulation materials are. And when they’re not outright toxic, they’re still irritating. In any case, they’re all polluting and very difficult to recycle.
So… straw! (and yes, there are plenty of other possible solutions too, but right now we’re talking about straw).But careful: like everything else, there is knowledge to be respected and followed so that the building actually performs properly and outperforms today’s conventional buildings (brick/concrete and/or synthetic insulation panels) both in performance and in cost.
As I already mentioned, we might talk about that another time. There are experts in Italy and abroad who have developed the various construction techniques, and I have personally been in contact with some of them; they will be mentioned on these pages.
However — and I repeat — the goal right now is not to explain the construction techniques in detail, but to show you what building with straw really means, and to debunk the misconceptions that came up in the previous thread.
This is exactly what you all pictured in your heads, isn't it? Because tales are powerful:
I'm instead thinking about something like... (thanks Stefano for the pictures)
...this...
Prefab straw panels for a house ready in 3 days.
...this...
Bales infill in a light timber frame.
...or this.
Test for a self bearing strawbale wall.
Three different techniques for three different aesthetic results:
...this...
Extension in straw + timber frame.
...this...
Passive house in prefabricated panels.
...or this.
Structtural straw infill in a haybarn conversion.
Straw allows an organic finishing which, coupled with earthen plasters, can give birth to very interesting combinations which are really artistic:
Interior finishing with earthen vaults.
Organic yet straight lines.
Double earthen plaster with sgraffito decoration.
Next time we’ll look at why raw earth (clay plaster) and not regular plaster. Happy now?
Well, I’ll whet your appetite a little with a
map of straw-bale buildings in Italy (I’m not sure how up-to-date it is…)
Well, I’ll whet your appetite a little with a
map of straw-bale buildings in Italy (I’m not sure how up-to-date it is…)
For the lovers of real science (not the branded “Science™”), I’m also leaving you some data on the insulating properties of straw, and I’m comparing it with other popular insulation materials.
Your difficult task will be to compare the local prices for purchase, installation, maintenance, and disposal.
Straw is always unbeatable, trust me!
Your difficult task will be to compare the local prices for purchase, installation, maintenance, and disposal.
Straw is always unbeatable, trust me!
And here we are at the end of the post.
Thank you for making it all the way to the bottom, and remember: this was just a short reconnaissance flight — together with our co-pilot
Launchpad MacQuack— as a warm up for much more substantial journeys that, in the future, will provide far more concrete information on how to actually build using straw (or anyway materials in line with the Polemicapproach). Low tech and sustainability as a means to independence.
Posted: 11/01/2025 10:28 — Author(s): Polemicarc
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