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Thread: Huff and Puff and Straw Bale houses!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Christchurch
    Posts
    95

    Default Huff and Puff and Straw Bale houses!

    Mr Granite and I are doing a serious amount of research regarding straw-build housing.

    We were wondering if anyone out there has gone thru the (self-build) process in NZ, and would love to hear of your trials and tribulations, pitfalls, planning, costs, and benefits.

    We want to be as environmentally friendly and self sufficient as possible: ground source heating/wind turbine/solar panelling etc. A straw build would be sooooooo cosy, no problems with insulation there!

    Cheers
    Mrs Granite

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Canterbury, NZ
    Posts
    1,793

    Default

    Where are you going to? cos i know someone in canterbury who is building strawbale house.
    Do search on "strawbale" as been mentioned several times

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    2,691

    Default

    I love the idea of a straw bale house, but there are so many long-term unknowns in NZ climate at the moment. OH wants to buld a straw bale office in the garden one day though...he thinks it could be very cheap to do. Nippa & Pippa know someone who build straw bale house...

    http://www.enz.org/forum/showpost.ph...7&postcount=20

    Here is one of the sites I was looking at earlier this week...

    http://strawbuilthomes.com/index.php...d=17&Itemid=37


    We are planning (budget permitting) to have solar hot water and hydronic underfloor heating, topped up by input from wood stove Rayburn or similar type thing, all backed up by electric for dark summer weather so we don't run out of hot water. Looked at price of photovolteic panels to run all pumps etc for hot water system and domestic lighting and OH thinks a 1kw panel would do all that OK....but as new ones are being developed that are about 25% more efficient and the prices have only started coming down recently (about $15k for kw panel), we are more likely to leave to get all the wiring in etc and maybe get one in few years if it is a viable option then. Also going to have larger concrete base than the standard 50mm for passive solar gain and thermal mass etc and max out on insulation. None of these things cost a lot more if done at time fo build as opposed to retrofitting an existing house. We have looked at ground source heat pumps but they are extremely uncommon in NZ so far which is a shame, and wind turbines are not allowed in a lot of area...apparently they also require quite alot of maitenance.

    Another few sites I been perusing recently which have a lot of useful links...

    http://www.ecobob.co.nz/EcoProperty/Default.aspx

    http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/

    http://www.righthouse.co.nz/?gclid=C...FQL8iAodz2TG0Q

    http://www.smarterhomes.org.nz/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    BC, Canada
    Posts
    143

    Default

    An alternative to solar panels are solar tiles or shingles. Been looking into it for myself. Some work better on cloudy days than sunny, don't know if they're available in NZ or not or what the cost comparison is. Looks like a possible do it yourself except for the final wiring. This site is one of many:
    http://www.solar-components.com/pvshingl.htm

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    BC, Canada
    Posts
    143

    Default

    Found this-
    http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?t...Solar-Shingles

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