Straw bale construction is a relative newcomer to the world of alternative building methods. It does not have the millennia-long history of cob or adobe, but it certainly has a viable place at the table of natural building methods.
Indeed, it has seen a surge in popularity in recent decades, and many people the world over are seeing the merits of building with straw bales. So let’s have a quick look at this building method and what it entails.
What Is Straw and What Are Straw Bales?
To start, let’s get some terms straight. Straw is the dried stems of a cereal grain once the grain itself has been removed. Straw can be made from any grass, but the main grasses used for straw production are wheat, barley, rye, and rice.
Once the grain heads are removed from the grass stems, the stems are compressed and…