Straw Bale Homes

interesting article from pajaconstruction.com



Straw Bale Construction

Maybe you’ve read about the secret of straw bale construction. Or you’ve found a newspaper article about this way of building that is efficient and sustainable, beautiful and strong. Possibly you’ve gone by one of my houses as it’s being constructed.

And if you’re thinking “Isn’t this too good to be true?”, or “Prove to me this is true!”, I think you’ll enjoy the article ahead.

If you’ve already settled on a project, call (or e-mail) me. I’ll give you a free consultation and would like to learn more about your project.

Because after 23 years of building with this material, I have a lot to say about the sober truth of this material.

In 1991 I founded a straw bale construction company in Albuquerque New Mexico. Building with straw was a very unknown building method at the time, so I had to invent a lot of the techniques as I went.

Straw Bale As A Science

Along the way, I realized I had to stop idealizing straw bale as a building material and start looking at it critically, analytically—like a scientist, if you will.

The purpose of this post is to give a brief overview of the advantages and challenges of building with straw. Some of this you may already know, some of this may be new. So whether you’re thinking about starting a project, or whether you’re in the midst of your own, I hope you find something you enjoy.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I offer a free initial consultation, and would enjoy hearing about your project in the comments below.

Eight Advantages of Straw Bale Construction

1. Straw bale construction is affordable

Straw bale homes cost almost exactly the same amount of money to build as traditional stick-frame homes. If you’re interested in calculating and comparing the specific costs of building a straw bale home vs a stick frame home, feel free to contact me.

2. Straw bale walls are very well insulated, when built correctly can have an R-value between 40 and 60, depending on the thickness of the wall

There are many great resources out there that discuss the insulation characteristics of straw bale. The quality of insulation that a straw bale wall provides depends on a number of factors including the way the bales are stacked, the way the bales mesh with the roof’s insulation, the type of post-and-beam structure or if loadbearing the type of top plate, the type of plaster used, the quality of the plaster work, and the design of the house itself, among many others.

3 .Straw bale homes are more fire retardant than traditional stick-framed homes. *

This can be a topic of much debate. There are a numerous studies testing the flammability of straw bale, and even more articles talking about their results, including this Mother Earth News Article. The idea behind the material’s resistance to fire comes from the concept that the bales are so tightly packed that oxygen cannot enter in between the straws and fuel a fire. It is true there are tests that prove their inherent resistance to fire. However, there are still numerous factors that will allow a straw bale house to burn, especially during construction. This is not to discount the material’s flame retardant nature, but to remark that they are not impossible to burn, especially in certain circumstances.

4. Straw bales are an agricultural by-product (wheat, oats, rye, barley, and rice),

If you’re looking to build with a small carbon-footprint, this is a note to consider in your green conscience. Straw is an annually-renewable resource, not at all like lumber which can take decades to produce trees capable of yielding 2×4’s. It takes almost no extra energy to harvest bales, as opposed to the transportation-and-milling costs of lumber prior to producing the 2×4’s. The straw harvests are in flat and previously-cultivated fields, not wrestled from forests, and therefore no environmental harm is done during the harvesting process. Compared with other building products like wood, concrete or steel, bales are extremely light and easy to transport from the field to the construction site. And unlike lumber, concrete and steel, straw is produced in almost every state of the union, thus saving fuel costs and less travel time to a work site.

5. Within the lower 48 states of the US, straw bales are almost always locally available.

If you’re looking for bales in the southwest, and are having trouble finding any suppliers, feel free to send me an email and I’ll do what I can to help you find some good quality bales to build a house.

6. Stacking bales can be incredibly fast and easy.

You will be amazed how fast an entire room can come to life when you’ve got several people working together stacking bales. Over the years, I’ve developed a couple trade-secrets that can improve the process dramatically. Contact me for some exclusive tips. Or attend one of my workshops.

7. Straw bale walls are gorgeous.

Most people love the look of the deep windows, niches, and bookcases that are made possible by straw bale construction. One caveat, though: if you’re very concerned with perfectly straight lines, bales might be rather frustrating for you.

8. Straw houses will save you money, year after year.

The walls are thick and will give you a cool house in the summer, a warm house in the winter. It has a natural “trombe” effect, in other words it soaks up the coolness or the heat of the inside and stores it/releases it like a giant heater or an efficient refrigerator. Places that confound stick-frame construction’s ability to properly insulate, like around windows and doors, behind electrical fixtures, or near the ceilings, they cease being places where heat can escape out of the house and are part of a seamless high-quality insulation that will astonish you with low monthly utility bills. And because the inside of the walls are almost always stuccoed rather than having thin sheetrock nailed to 2×4’s every couple of feet, those interior walls are much stronger and will need much less repair during normal household activities, especially when children or teenagers are around!

eight Challenges of Straw Bale Construction

1. Building with straw is not fully-accepted as method of construction in many parts of the country. **

Plenty of building officials, inspectors, structural engineers and local authorities have been known to laugh in your face if you bring up the idea of building (or retrofitting) your home with straw. The nursery rhyme of the three little piggies will invariably come up, along with some understandable concerns regarding insects, mold, and longevity.

2. Talking of insects and mold…

Straw bales will harbor both of those things if they are consistently wet or relentlessly exposed to high-humidity areas such a showers and sinks without adequate protection. Of course, a conventional house will also easily host insects and is susceptible to mold, too, if not built right. But straw is more sensitive to such things than wood-constructed and fiberglass-insulated structures.

3. It may take more time to acquire a building permit for a straw bale structure than it would a conventional one.

This is more to do with the social conception of the material, rather than the material itself. In some areas of the country, especially the Southwest, straw bale building is a well-accepted method; in other areas where there is more moisture, cities and counties may look askance at the use of bales and might require additional assurances—such as paying a local structural engineer or requiring unnecessary moisture testing—before releasing the building permit.

4. Because of the thickness of the bales, you will lose square-footage inside a home.
•A stick frame wall is around 6 inches thick
•A straw bale wall is around 18 inches thick.

So that extra-thick wall will indeed eat up some of your interior space. Most people simply make the exterior footprint of the house a bit bigger to make up for that lost space, or they live with a little less space inside. But designing the house a bit bigger will add some costs to the construction of the house: you’ll need some extra concrete in your foundations, for example, and you’ll need to make your roof trusses a bit longer.

5. If the bales aren’t stacked properly, there can be small gaps in the walls that create thermal break-points in the otherwise well insulated walls.

Unless you’ve done a lot of work with straw, as you put up the bales you’ll tend to ignore those little spaces between the bales, or places where the bales abut the post-and-beam, or the areas next to the ceiling where the bales don’t quite fit, etc. Those places in the wall where solid straw bales stack firmly on top of one another are going to provide the greatest insulation. But the areas around the doors and windows are can be hard places to do the firm stacking, and sometimes loose straw gets stuffed into a corner without being securely packed – and then settles over time. This becomes a spot for thermal leakage. So when you’re stacking your bales, pay attention to the ‘hard-to-reach’ places. It really does make a difference, and really is easy to overlook.

6. Plaster is the crucial point of the construction process, and is often done poorly.

I have experienced so many different problems with plaster throughout my 23 years of straw bale construction. Both stucco and adobe have their pros and cons. Either way, the plaster job needs to be done right, and a poor plaster job is going to prevent the material from performing like it should. Check out my Adobe vs. Stucco article for more information on this one. And if you are going to do the plastering yourself, get ready for a lot of fun –and even more hard hard work.

7. There are no studs at regular intervals

Alternate ‘hanging’ methods must be utilized to hang heavier pictures, mirrors, and cabinets on, and putting up shelves in closets where one of the walls is next to the bales needs to be done differently. This may be a bit frustrating at first, but there are some cool alternative ways I’ve developed over the years.

8. Working with Straw is fun, but often becomes a skin irritant.

This can mean nothing much more than itchy skin, but working with bales for days on end will make you want to have an air compressor or a hose nearby at all times. Breathing straw dust, especially as you cut the bales with a chain saw, will set you coughing. Or straw flakes will get in your eyes as you put up the top row of bales. Just a thought.

5 Ways A Hot Market Hurts Sellers

more advice to consider from trulia.com

When homes are selling like hotcakes, there can still be some sticky real estate situations to wade through. A hot real estate market can seem like the answer to your prayers if you’re ready to sell. And in many parts of the country, homes are selling at a faster rate in 2016 than in 2015, says Ralph McLaughlin, Trulia’s Housing Economist. To prepare your home for sale in a competitive market, it’s important to understand the definition of a “hot market.” “We define a ‘hot market’ as one where most homes sell faster than two months,” says McLaughlin. Inventory is a major factor in creating hot markets: Where there are fewer homes on the market, the demand rises, and homes typically stay on the market for a shorter amount of time. For example, Colorado Springs, CO, has experienced a large drop in available homes for sale in 2016, coupled with a faster turnaround in homes for sale, making the market extremely competitive. Yes, it’s great to own a home in a seller’s market, but don’t jump for joy just yet. There are also some potential downsides you’ll need to consider before listing your home for sale. Here are five scenarios in which a seller’s market can actually be problematic for sellers.

1. From “For Sale” to “Sold” In a hot market, it’s possible for your house to sell superfast — even while you’re still hunting for your new house. Unless you plan to become an RV enthusiast and roam the country, you’ll probably need to buy another house. Sure, some savvy sellers find the house they want before they list their current house for sale. But if you’re buying in a seller’s market, you’ll be competing with all those other buys when you’re hunting for your next home. “I always advise my sellers-turned-buyers to have a backup plan, such as temporary housing,” says Christine Lutz, a Chicago, IL, real estate broker. “It’s better to move twice than to feel rushed into a purchase.” Another option is to consider a lease-back, says Gary Wheeler, a California real estate agent with Willis Allen. Your buyers will need to agree to this plan, but if they do, you can rent your house back from the new owners during the lease-back period while you continue to look for another home.

2. The appraisal falls short

Your hot market is so blazing hot that people are offering more than asking price. Ka-ching? Perhaps. But brace yourself: If the house appraises low, “The buyer may walk away,” says Kelly Hager, a Missouri real estate agent. In this case, you can try renegotiating the deal or pay for a second appraisal

3. Bad offers all around

During a buying frenzy, some buyers make promises they can’t keep. “By not vetting offers, sellers may sit in a contract just to have it terminate three weeks later,” says Sarah Bowles, a Denver, CO, real estate agent. Then, when buyers see that your house has been sitting for several weeks in a hot market, they wonder what’s wrong with the house. Avoid this problem by ignoring all offers that don’t come with a mortgage preapproval.

4. Trying to beat the 1031 clock

Section 1031 of the U.S. tax code lets you sell one investment property and buy another investment property without paying tax on the sale. The catch? The clock is ticking. You need to identify a property to buy within 45 days.

In a seller’s market, “Sellers can find themselves in tough competition to buy a replacement property in the time needed to qualify the exchange to defer taxes,” says Crystal Stranger, author of The Small Business Tax Guide. But you can relax a little — you just have to identify the property in 45 days; you have 180 days to close.

5. Your big ego

Selling your home in a competitive market doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get offers for more than your asking price. “The biggest problem I see with sellers in a seller’s market is being overly optimistic about price,” says Bruce Ailion, an Atlanta, GA, real estate agent. When a reasonable offer from a strong buyer comes in, the sellers who expect extravagant offers often turn it down. What happens then? “The property remains on the market, becomes stale, and ultimately sells for less than the first strong offer,” says Ailion. Whether or not you’re selling your home in a hot real estate market, it’s important to recall the basic tips of selling — and not get carried away with how many buyers should be interested in your home. Ralph McLaughlin suggests remembering the following tips when selling in a hot market: Inexpensive homes sell fastest. The market picks up in the spring and dies down between August and October, extending through the winter. (The exception is vacation homes in hot climates, such as Arizona and Florida, where the market stays strong during winter.) FHA loans, although expensive, allow people to buy a home with a down payment of as little as 3.5%.

Just Because It's a Seller's Market Doesn't Mean Your Home Will Sell Itself

good advice for selling your home in seller's market from realtor.com

It’s a seller’s market in the high season, as everyone knows by now. So if your home is listed, you’re already halfway to the bank, right?

Slow your roll, O Zealous Seller! It’s still perfectly possible to scotch your own sale. There are plenty of things you should do, and avoid, to make sure you actually make it to closing day, your way.

"When properties are moving quickly, if your home doesn’t sell within the first couple of weeks, buyers will start to perceive your home as market-worn," says Dave Fry of The Fry Group, a Keller Williams premier realty in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. "They’ll assume there is an issue with it and consider themselves in a stronger bargaining position or reject the home altogether."

So if you’re selling your home, don’t just phone it in. We talked to local experts in some of the nation’s hottest markets right now for tips on how you can ride the wave—as opposed to getting swept up in it.

1. Price to sell

So many factors can feed in to your initial list price: market inventory, perceived vs. actual value, and others. Sellers often fall victim to the lure of a gigantic payday, thinking the higher the price, the higher their take-home. That is almost never true, says Alison Sternfels, a 17-year Realtor® with Re/Max in Atlanta.

"In this market," she said, "buyers don’t think sellers are negotiating very much. If you overprice it, you’ll lose the sweet spot of the first 45 days on the market. Even if you price it $20K over, instead of making an offer, they’ll move on." Your house will take longer to sell, and you’ll likely end up having to cut the price anyway.

"The strategy we hear a lot—‘We can always come down in price'—can be a very costly one," says Fry. "I understand that nobody wants to leave money on the table, but unfortunately this strategy does exactly that."

2. Don't get booed off the stage

Even the nicest, newest cribs need TLC, says JD Esajian of FortuneBuilders.TV, a real estate investing website.

"People don’t buy empty, nice, renovated houses," he says. "People buy homes. And staging makes a house a home." As awesome as your house may be, it’s your home. Strategic staging offers prospective buyers visual cues to help them picture your house as their home—which can translate to a sale.

"Some buyers are capable of visualizing, but most are not," says Sternfels, who estimates that 60% to 70% of prospective buyers need a little help to imagine themselves in your home. "Stagers have the expertise to make the most out of certain spaces in the home."

3. Nab them at the curb

The outside of your home is at least as important as the inside. Brown grass, sketchy shrubs, wilting flowers, peeling paint—all those and more can disqualify a home before your prospect walks through the door, says Jay O'Brien, managing partner and Realtor with Re/Max Prestige in the hot region of Anaheim Hills/Costa Mesa, CA.

"You don’t need to redo your entire house, but there are cost-effective improvements you can make that will dramatically enhance the appeal to your property, like a freshly landscaped yard, clean windows, and a tidy house," O'Brien says.

Fry adds that we sometimes forsake the exterior to declutter and streamline the inside—but both remain important.

"The first impression is everything," he says. "Most of us open the garage door, park the car, and enter our house from the garage and rarely enter through the front door. Take the time to act like a buyer and enter your home from there, remembering that they will be spending time waiting for the Realtor to unlock the door so they will get a real good look there. Touch up paint, clean off cobwebs, shine your door handle, freshen up landscaping, and scan for brown spots in the lawn if you have a pet. This all matters."

4. Choose your agent wisely

For all of the above, your best counselor is a good agent—even if you've got the nicest digs on the block.

"It's paramount to hire a Realtor that you like, trust, and respect," says O'Brien, adding that even in a lively market, if you don't match well with your listing agent, your sale could be adversely affected.

"The feeling must be mutual, or no working relationship should ever take place," he says.

Use the list above, do your homework and due diligence, and remember: Stay humble. These markets and others may be going gangbusters with activity, but selling your home is never a given. You and your Realtor will still need to hustle to land the right buyer.

What Is a Bridge Loan? A Way to Buy a New Home Before You Sell the Old One

interesting concept that is helping some buyers that have a home to sell, make sure they have a home to buy and move into, before selling their current home in this red hot seller's market...from realtor.com

Home loans come in all shapes and sizes to suit the needs of home buyers, and one type that's definitely worth knowing if you're trying to buy and sell a home at the same time is a bridge loan. So what is a bridge loan? As the name suggests, it's a "bridge" that allows you to purchase new property by using the home you currently own as collateral.

Also called a "wrap" or "gap financing," bridge loans are a lifeline for home owners who are eager to purchase new digs before they've sold the home they're currently in. In such scenarios, unless you've got wads of cash, it can be hard to qualify for a loan on that new home while you are still saddled with the mortgage on your first—for many people, that means stretching their finances awfully thin.

While some lenders may be reluctant to grant you a new loan for that second home, they also know that the odds are good that you'll sell your first home soon enough—and then be flush. So, a bridge loan helps span that gap.


Related Articles
• How Much Are Closing Costs? What Home Buyers and Sellers Can Expect
• How to Shop for a Mortgage: A Bargain Hunter's Guide to Home Loans
• Is a Bridge Loan an Option for Repeat Home Buyers?

How bridge loans work

Typically, for a bridge loan, you can finance up to 80% of the combined value of both homes. So, if you’re selling a home for $200,000 and buying another one for $300,000, you can borrow $400,000, max. As for the rest (in this case, $100,000), you'll need that handy either in home equity, savings for a down payment, or some combination of the two. Once your home sells, you pay off the bridge loan and then apply for a new mortgage to finance just your new home.

Bridge loans typically take a shorter time to process than conventional loans (a couple of weeks versus a few months) and are meant to last only a short time (often three months to a year). However, since lenders can’t make much money in interest in such a short time, they typically charge higher rates and fees than they would on a standard home loan. In the current market, bridge loan interest rates can range from 6% to 16%, says Jordan Roth, vice president of GuardHill Financial Corp. in New York, NY.

With interest rates like that, the idea is to pay the bridge loan off as quickly as possible, as soon as you sell your previous home (that said, some lenders have a prepayment penalty, and others don’t, so do make sure to read the fine print).

Bridge loans also come with substantial origination fees—consider it the price you pay for the convenience and short term of the debt.

Pros and cons of bridge loans

The advantage of a bridge loan is that you can make an offer on a new home without a financing contingency, which means that you'll only buy the home if you can secure a mortgage. Odds are, the personal selling the home you hope to buy doesn't like financing contingencies, since that would mean that your offer is not a sure thing. A bridge loan solves this problem by guaranteeing the cash needed to close the deal.

Still, bridge loans are rare—requiring an excellent credit score and a low debt-to-income ratio—and do come with substantial risks. Even if you're pretty sure you'll sell your home quickly and can pay off this high-interest loan, the real estate market is never a sure thing, and there’s always a possibility that your existing home will take far longer to sell than you imagine ... or, God forbid, never sell at all. Then, you’re stuck paying high rates and, if you can't pay up once the loan comes to term, you could end up losing your home to foreclosure. Granted, most lenders are willing to extend the deadline on a bridge loan, but not forever.

Is a bridge loan right for you?

Whether you should get a bridge loan or not “depends on the market you’re in,” says Steve Goldman, a real estate partner with Kurzman Eisenberg, Corbin & Lever LLP in White Plains, NY. As a general rule of thumb, it's a good gamble if your home is situated in a hot seller’s market, where you are reasonably assured that it will sell in a short time. “If you’re in a seller’s market, it's generally fine to buy a new house, then sell your old one," says Goldman.

However, if you’re in a buyer’s market, where your home might sit on the market for months or years, it’s much wiser to sell your house and rent something for a short time until you find another home you love. Yes, that means you'll have to move twice—once into your rental, then again, once you buy a home—but that hassle will pale in comparison to the stress you'll face when the clock is ticking on a bridge loan. So make sure you're a good candidate before you go out on this limb.

Ranch-Styles, and Other Homebuyer Wishes This Season

interesting trends this year from rismedia.com

Real estate season is underway, and house hunters have one goal in mind: a ranch-style home.

According to a recent survey by realtor.com®, ranches are the most in-demand style of home this year, with 42 percent of homebuyers eyeing a rambler in their search for a home. A distant 28 percent of homebuyers—the second highest share in the survey—are in the market for a contemporary.

Younger homebuyers, however, have a tendency toward a row house or townhouse—a proclivity that wanes with age, when preferences shift to a single-family home.

Type of home aside, three-quarters of homebuyers are on the hunt for a two-bathroom home, and over half are out for three bedrooms, according to the survey.

Homebuyers, especially younger ones with young children, are also prioritizing a big backyard in their search—an attribute that parlays into more privacy, one of the top motivations for home-buying. Another motivation, held primarily by millennial homebuyers and homebuyers aged 35 to 44, is changing family needs, such as having children. Homebuyers aged 45 and older are more motivated by retirement.

A remodeled kitchen is another choice feature for homebuyers, with 80 percent ranking the kitchen as one of their three favorite rooms in their home. A garage, a living room and a master bedroom are also high on homebuyers’ lists.

What are homebuyers not looking for? In the rearview are a guest house, a man cave, a mother-in-law suite and solar panels.

“The insights from our most recent consumer survey provide a glimpse into what buyers are looking at today,” says Sarah Staley, housing expert at realtor.com. “While we often think of dream homes as being big and bold, that’s not what we’re hearing from potential buyers today. These insights can help guide potential sellers in deciding which rooms or features to invest in before listing their homes.”

Denver housing market: 'Incredibly limited selection,' fewer homes for sale

seeing allot of the same that is shared in this bizjournals.com article...

If you're looking to buy a home in the Denver market these days, you know that pickings are slim right now.

How slim? The number of Denver-area homes for sale is down to its lowest level in over 30 years, according to Seattle online real estate company Redfin, adding there are 30 percent fewer homes for sale now than there were a year ago.

That means buyers are frustrated. “The Denver metro is seeing incredibly limited selection," said one Redfin broker, who added that it's "rare" for a house priced under $300,000 not to be purchased with all cash.

"You have a lot of pressure on the market, with multiple offers basically an expectation, particularly for those single-family homes in price ranges below $500,000. ... Homes in higher price points are also seeing strong competition, and even some $1 million and $2 million dollar homes in Boulder are seeing multiple offers. Competition at that price point used to be rare here, which shows just how hot the market is," said broker Corey Keach, in a statement.

How hot is the market? Yesterday the Denver Business Journal reported that homes in Denver are selling so fast after they hit the market, one real estate valuation company says they're "flying off the shelves."

Colorado-based Re/Max Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RMAX) reported earlier this month that the average days on market for homes sold in February in Denver was 38, trailing only San Francisco at 32 and Omaha, Nebraska at 34.