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Lance Kairl is South Australias most experienced straw bale builder. He is also passionately committed to helping people to gain the skills to build their own dwellings through workshops and on-the- job assistance. He has been in the building trade for well over 10 years and brings a fusion of the knowledge of conventional, energy efficient and alternative design and construction to each project he undertakes.
His business, House of Bales is involved in the construction of a number of h...
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There are some 10,000 plus pages about strawbale construction on the Internet and the number is growing all the time.
Within Australia
Huff n Puff - John Glassford, strawbale builder, NSW
House of Bales - Lance Kairl, Goolwa SA
Anvil Strawbale
Overseas:
Strawbale Surfin
The US Dept of Energy - excellent for practical building info and many graphs and certified results comparing materials
Greenbuilder - passive Solar design concepts and rules of thumb
The Development Center for Appropriate Tech...
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Straw bale walls can be built very much like brick walls, stacking the bales on top of a concrete foundation with a damp proof material (heavy plastic) between the concrete and the bales to stop any moisture getting from the ground into the wall. They are held down firmly by high tensile fencing wire or rods which are attached to a top plate, something strong like a...
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This summary of straw-bale building is part of a project by Nikki Brookman and Catherine Oermann Trinity College Gawler. It contains information derived from literature on the topic and some unique research on the insulation qualities of straw bale walls.
Please use the links below to jump to specific information:
Summary
History of strawbale building
Some benefits of straw bale construction
Sustainability
Cool in summer, warm in winter
Insulation against the movement of heat
Our...
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A revolution has been quietly taking place in the housing industry as more and more people choose to construct their homes with straw-bales and the rate of adoption of straw-bale building is set to accelerate as a result of the testing of straw-bale construction in extreme bushfire simulations by the CSIROs Building, Construction and Engineering Division in North Ryde, Sydney.
Test walls were subjected to sustained and then extreme heat (well over the specified bushfire front simulation of 29...
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Reinvent your home and garden with strawbale building
Strawbale building is sweeping across Australia as progressive architects and environmentally sensitive home builders realise that this simple technology gives them the opportunity to create walls with uniquely natural shapes, textures and colours; walls that are strong, weatherproof, cheap and easy to build yourself.
The superb insulation qualities, the cost savings, the satisfaction of being involved in the building of your own...
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Please contact us for large orders as we may be able to reduce shipping costs or if you would like to place an order from outside Australia. We offer a range of educational DVDs, pistachios, pistachio kernels and wines at wholesale prices.
We send our orders every week on a Thursday with Australia Post. Please see here for further shipping details.
Shipping costs will be displayed once you add item/s to your cart. Once we receive confirmation of your successful payment we will send you a...
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This page discusses the energy consumption of a 'normal' home and environmentally/economically sound ways of providing it.We use the homestead at The Food Forest as a case study.
Hot water
Heating water consumes more than 35% of the energy used in most homes.With our solar hot water panels and connection to a wetback in a slow combustion space heater, which we light in cold, cloudy weather, electric heating backup in the new house is minimal (as little as 90c pe...
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The system for the production of green electric power at The Food Forest comprises 30 thin-film amorphous silicon photovoltaic panels arrayed on the roof of the extension to the homestead.
The orientation of the roof is due north and roof pitch is approx 25 degrees in order to maximise the effectiveness of the modules
In this installation, the panels are also used to shade the northern roof face, which they virtually cover, reducing the need for super-insulation in the roof
Each panel nominal...
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Also known as Pineapple Guava, Guavasteen. Botanical name - Feijoa sellowiana. In more recent times it has been renamed Acca sellowiana.
It is native to extreme southern Brazil, northern Argentina, western Paraguay and Uruguay where it is common in the mountains.
Feijoas prefer cool winters and moderate summers and are generally adapted to areas where temperatures stay above minus5 degrees C. Flower production is poor in areas with fewer than 50 hours of chill. The flavor of the fruit is much...
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