Some kind reader wrote me a few months ago asking about the feasibility of
straw bale construction in the city limits. Considering the enormous volume of
mail I receive, it’s not surprising, but no less embarrassing, that I would
lose a piece of correspondence from time to time. Fortunately, my finely tuned,
steel-trap mind loses nothing, especially since I cleared out those pesky
marbles that were rolling around in there. (Actually, if you see them around, I
wouldn’t mind having a few back.)
Mary McCloud, with the Greenbuilder Program at the City of Austin, said she’s
had tons of calls this week about strawbale construction. Perhaps this flurry
of interest is due to David Eisenberg, author of The Strawbale House,
who was in town this week giving talks at Book People and the Sustainable
Building Coalition (sorry I didn’t get the word out sooner). Or maybe it’s
because of the strawbale home tour scheduled for Sat., Jan. 20. (Meet at the
Chevron station west of Dripping Springs at 10:30am or call the Strawbale
Association of Texas at 323-8173 for more information. They are holding their
first meeting on Wed., Jan. 24 at the LCRA auditorium at 3701 Lake Austin
Blvd., 7-9pm.) Then again it could be because the first strawbale house within
the Austin city limits is now under construction.
Following guidelines established in Tucson, Arizona, the building inspection
department of Austin now approves post-and-beam strawbale construction (where
the bales themselves are non-load-bearing). Another hurtle to widespread
acceptance of this “progressive” building technique was conquered when Texas
Bank in Dripping Springs provided interim construction financing for a
strawbale home. Tom Wycoff, senior vice president with Texas Bank, says the
credit is due more to the long-term lenders — Aspen West Mortgage of New
Mexico, in this instance — for their “leap of faith.”
Although there have been quite a few strawbale houses built outside the city
limits, most of them were financed out-of-pocket and through what I think of as
the “Tom Sawyer” approach to home building: “Hey everyone, this strawbale
construction is so much fun, I’ll let you help me stack bales and stucco the
walls and you’ll only have to pay me $30 a day for the privilege.” Sure, this
communal approach works for some, but now that traditional financing and code
approval are part of the mix, we will probably be seeing more and more of these
thick-skinned abodes springing up around town.
I hope some questions spring up here soon. Suzebe@aol.com or PO Box
49066, Austin, TX 78765.
This article appears in January 19 • 1996 and January 19 • 1996 (Cover).