Gail’s Tale – Straw Bale Owner Builder
1) What did you want to achieve? We wanted an escape to the country, our ‘green pill’ to get away from it all. It had to be the greenest natural and healthy home, that was also the smartest in building. 2) What did you do to prepare yourselves? It took us 5 years to find the ideal land. We researched the best options, we weren’t stuck on any one material, we wanted the best performing. We looked at rammed earth, mudbrick but didn’t like the energy performance of them. We loved a yurt but being in a suburban area, council warned us that our neighbours may take ‘offence’ to one. Hebel, but we didn’t like the materials.Then we researched Huff n Puff’s situps, then did 3 Viva workshops and Sam’s course to see what they were like. They were very welcoming and they just felt ‘right’. It was a good system that worked for them. Sam finally said to me after 1.5 years and 4 events: “Gail, you’re ready, just do it”. At some point you have to take the leap of faith and just do it. By learning everything, it gave me the confidence to say to the builder and architect, this is what I want. I want LVLs (the architect wanted posts where we’d have to notch 90 bales). We followed the Viva system so that I...
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