Interior designer Marcia Wolff wanted a house that's energy-efficient, ecologically sensitive, fire-resistant and, above all, beautiful. So she chose a building material that might surprise some ...

Roberta Strickler Jan 19, 2007 Jan 19, 2007 Updated Sep 11, 2013 Straw bale houses of the western Nebraska prairies were comfortable places built where there were no trees or sod. In Lancaster County, ...

BROOKINGS, S.D. -- How far would you go to get a house that only costs $1.25 a day to heat in the winter? Better question: Would you live in a house built with straw bales? That idea, which began in ...

The straw bale home of Elise Lang and her husband, Michael Pierce, was finished in 2001. SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAPH Winding under the canopy of trees shading the long driveway, goats and sheep peered at ...

Dear Jim: I want a natural way to build an energy efficient house without plastics, foams, adhesives, etc. Straw bale houses seem to be natural. Is the straw bale construction efficient for low ...

When Gavin Tenold started in the construction industry in his early 20s, his sole focus was finding a job where he could make good money but not cut into precious skiing time. Little did he know these ...

BOISE -- On a small lot tucked between conventional homes on Boise Avenue in Boise, Mark Lung is hard at work stacking bales of straw and mixing mud. He is building a new home using local, recycled ...

Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook A University of Michigan green building class plans to unveil a sustainably-built, straw-bale ...

In Clinton, Mary Ellen Blakey is building a straw house even the Big Bad Wolf couldn’t blow down. Nearly 10 years ago, Blakey read a magazine article about straw bale houses, which piqued her ...

"She had this vision for a straw-bale house, so I did a lot of reading and she got the California straw-bale codes and then we designed the house," Boeck said. Once the plans were drawn, Fletcher ...

Straw bales and mud will be key components to the house, but that won’t make it a primitive structure. Norman architect Dave Boeck designed the home as a post-and-beam structure. A concrete foundation ...