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New Buildings - Straw, Sticks or Bricks?

The New House

Photographic Tour

Japanese Timber Framers

Workshops

New Buildings - Straw, Sticks or Bricks?

How about all three!  Welcome to our window on the new building project at Harvest Haven Health and Market Farm.  Conceived many years ago, our dream is now becoming a reality.  We are constructing two buildings - one an organic store and alternative health center, the other a residence.  The first will include a spacious area for “self-care” health devices, organic store and bistro, and a commercial kitchen with wood-fired cook stove and oven for bread and, you guessed it… pizza. 
The new store and health center will be a timber frame, straw/clay structure.

Click here to view store/health Center floor plan

The timber frame will be designed and erected by two of Japan’s best traditional timber framers.  Other notable craftspeople will also be involved in the project.  With their help, Harvest Haven will host several unique seminars over the next couple of years that cover the timber frame, straw/clay construction method. 

We look forward to meeting all those whom God will draw to the project and the seminars, and sharing this experience with them.  Enjoy a photographic tour of the project thus far, as well as an introduction to straw/clay construction, timber framing, Durisol block, and our Japanese timber framers.

Straw & Clay

For some years now, we have explored various alternative construction methods.  With the building of a new store and house in mind, we experimented with Styrofoam ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms) as well as straw-bale construction. While these methods are popular, they both have drawbacks. 

Styrofoam ICFs are expensive, inflexible, potentially toxic and hard to work with.  In straw-bale construction, the medium is vulnerable to mice and water, and difficult to keep square, plumb and straight which makes achieving a quality finish a real challenge.  Searching for a better way, we were introduced to straw/clay construction.

In light clay/straw construction, loose straw is mixed with clay and water then packed into formed wall cavities.  Clay and water are the ‘glue’ that holds the straw together, at the same time adding thermal mass.  The thermal mass helps keep the house warm and cozy in the winter and refreshingly cool in the summer.  In addition, clay provides the straw with the ability to wick water, eliminating the need for a vapour barrier. Without a plastic vapour barrier the building can ‘breathe’ through its foot-thick walls, improving air quality.

Unlike straw bale walls that are uneven and have gaps that must be chinked, the straw/clay form system provides a perfectly smooth, straight wall with flexibility for window and door placement.  The walls are finished inside and out with clay plaster, which adds density while maintaining the “breathability” of the walls.  These beautifully textured walls have a magnetic attraction that makes you want to reach out and touch them.

Light clay/straw is a “do-able” method that remedies the shortcomings of other alternative methods we examined while meeting all our criteria:

1. Build-able - easy to construct, easy to finish
2. Sustain-able - uses readily available, renewable resources
3. Stable – resistant to deterioration
4. Dur-able – an investment for you and future generations     
5. Afford-able - to heat and cool due to its high insulation value and thermal mass
6. Live-able – an unparalleled healthy environment
7. Pleasure -able –highly aesthetic, attractive detail.

Ready to try it for yourself?  Learn how to implement the straw/clay technique in a home of your own, by attending one of the straw/clay workshops in the summer of 2010.  For details,click here.

Sticks (a.k.a. Timber Frame)

Hand crafted, intricately joined timber frames represent a level of quality and artistic beauty that has become nearly extinct in this era of “cheap, quick” buildings.  They offer soaring open space aesthetics, while displaying the soul-stirring beauty and strength of exposed timber. 

The natural beauty of wood is unmatched by any man-made color scheme or design; it brings the beauty of nature indoors. Timber framing allows the support of the building to be a piece of art and beauty in and of itself rather than just a “structural component” hidden behind toxic man-made materials like drywall, filler, paint and trim.  Seeing the normally hidden structure makes one feel a part of the building and creates awareness of, and testifies to, the skill and ingenuity of the designer and builder. 

Our source for timber is Douglas fir and Western larch harvested just over the mountains in south-western British Columbia, cut by a small-scale private sawmill.  These are some of the strongest and most aesthetic woods available for timber framing. 

To make this project even more special, the Lord has granted us the willing help of two highly skilled traditional timber framers from Japan.  Within the world of timber framing, Japanese workmanship is considered of the highest calibre and these men are at the top of their craft.  The timbers are joined with surgeon-like precision for a strong, enduring structure, leaving a testament of skill and beauty that can last over a thousand years (yes, really), even in earthquake-prone Japan.

We thank the Lord for His plan and His provision, and while we anticipate the completion of this building in all its beauty and craftsmanship, we look forward even more to meeting those He will bring to work with us and those who will enjoy the finished structure.  

For experienced timber framers who would like an opportunity to work alongside master carpenters from Japan, we are offering several workshops for the summer of 2010.  For details, click here.

…and Bricks

Straw/clay walls cannot sit directly on the ground due to their susceptibility to standing water, so a stem wall is required.  We chose to make this wall out of ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) blocks made by a Canadian company called Durisol (www.durisolbuild.com).  The recycled wood fibre and concrete blocks have many advantages over the more common Styrofoam version:

1.  More dent resistant
2.  Greater load-bearing strength
3.  Fire-proof, therefore no potential for toxic smoke or need for a fire barrier like drywall
4.  Vapour permeable allowing the wall to “breathe”      
5.  Free of harmful VOC’s (volatile organic compounds)
6.  Directly accepts stucco or clay plaster 
7.  Can be fastened together with wood screws and cut with a circular saw. 
8.  The last and most important advantage of Durisol block is that they do not isolate their thermal mass from the interior of the building.  This is of value in energy savings because they store and regulate heat, eliminating costly heat fluctuations and providing a more comfortable environment.    

From the footings up

Our building site began with the typical hole in the ground and strip footings, but this is where the similarities ended.  A six foot Durisol block stem wall was built up from the wide, load-distributing strip footings.  Four feet of this wall extends below ground to the frost line.  The two feet above grade form the base for the straw/clay, keeping it up out of snow and rain.

Getting off on the right foot(ing) is of utmost importance when working with block.  Time spent making the strip footings PERFECTLY level will pay off many fold when it comes to stacking block.  We learned this one the hard way – our strip footings were not level so we had to shim and survey to level the first layer. Once the first layer of block is level, it is just a process of hauling, cutting, setting and levelling the following layers… six times over.   The blocks were screwed together as we went, thereby eliminating the need for wall bracing during construction and concrete pouring. However, the manufacturer recommends a good bracing system which may be more efficient than screwing everything.

Every product comes with a downside it seems and the Durisol block is no exception.  It can be cut with a circular saw, but, as you can imagine, cutting concrete/wood fibre makes a great deal of dust. If you choose to work with these blocks, get a good dust mask, hearing protectors and safety glasses, and be prepared to get dust down your neck while stacking above your head.  Oh, and by the way, be sure you have a strong back and arms (or you will when you are finished). 

With all the blocks in place, it was time for P-Day.  The Lord granted unseasonably mild weather for the pouring of the concrete. Several weeks of such weather followed, which allowed for curing.  We also had time to install the septic field, the water and electrical lines, and the all-important backfilling to protect the walls from frost. The good weather that had extended well into December ended over night. We went from above freezing temperatures to minus 30 degree Celsius.

The cold weather gave us time to plan for the next year’s big push.  When the ground thawed, we started compaction, under-grade plumbing, installing in-floor heating and electrical, and then poured the floor.

Following that, the walls will be erected and infilled during the straw/clay workshop in August (2010). The roof, windows and doors are next and the heat installed and working before winter.

Beta Bunkhouse

In the winter of 2008, Mark attended an intensive two week seminar to learn the basics of straw/clay construction.  We decided to build a bunkhouse as a “dry run” before diving in to the two large-scale projects. By doing so, we could test our intended clay source, experiment with various straw/clay ratios, work the kinks out of our mixer, and construct the wood frame or matrix.

Preparation took longer than expected, so we didn’t get started on the bunkhouse until the end of September (2008), hoping to still have sufficient drying weather for the walls before freeze-up.  The simple foundation was constructed of treated posts levelled on brick and gravel footings and sheeted with ¾” plywood.  On top of this the matrix was assembled and erected. 

We fabricated a mixer for combining straw, clay and water.  Then came the foot-stomping fun!  In a marathon session that ended with us working by headlamp and tractor light until midnight, all but part of the fourth wall of the main structure was completed in one day, with the final portion being finished the next. The Lord provided an unusually warm, dry and windy fall for curing.

The bunkhouse is available for viewing. It is a work-in-progress, so you can see the wood matrix and straw/clay infill before the stucco finish is applied.  A simple solar hot water heating system and outdoor shower will be added to the structure. 

Seeing the straw/clay walls erected here in our own yard was a moving experience.  Everyone who stops by to see it cannot help but reach out and touch the walls. There seems to be a universal deep attraction. We look forward to having a store and house made in this manner.

Workshops

Straw-clay construction: Get your feet wet (literally!) in this economical, versatile, and environmentally-friendly building method.  Straw-clay workshop August, 2010. Open to all.  Wet and Well – Report on 2009 Workshop

Clay-finish plaster: Workshops on plastering both interior and exterior walls for a non-toxic, durable, functional and beautiful finish.  Instructor and dates TBA. Open to all.

Advanced Japanese joinery and timber-framing: Several courses will be taught by two traditional Japanese timber framers.  Expected seminar dates: June and July 2010 - exact dates to be posted soon. Open to experienced timber framers.
For those interested in any of these courses, please click here.  Space is limited and will be filled on a first come, first served basis.