And the baling goes on....

The baling is complete on the 2nd floor! (yippee!!!), and about 3/4 done on the first floor.

Still more baling

Yes, the baling continues! About 3/4 of the upper floor is now complete and 1/2 of the first floor is now complete. Although it seems to be going quite quickly now, the estimate is about 3 more weeks until the plastering begins.

Here is a photo of the upper floor:

Here is a photo of where the front door will be. The doors were removed to protect them and ensure no scratches during construction.

The Baling Continues...

The baling continues - that is, the building of the walls out of straw bales. While the crew has been working away at this monumentous task, we have been visiting the site on the weekend to stain the windows. The windows have now been installed, and we are staining them a dark brown colour (actually called 'red mahogany'). It is a very slow, and very hot process. The tarps around the house do a great job keeping the rain out, but they also keep the heat in.

Here is a picture of the latest progress building the walls on the 2nd floor:

Here is a picture of the completed roof (without soffit or facia yet):

And here are some pictures of the windows:

What a beautiful day for a baling!

On Wednesday, August 20th we had a bale raising - that is we started building the straw walls of the house. What a fun experience!

Thank you to Tina and the crew (Travis and Mike) at Camel's Back Construction (http://www.strawhomes.ca/), for teaching us and assisting in the process.

A great big thank you to my colleagues (Allan, Manju, Hugh, Mark, Boris, and Kamal) who volunteered their time to come out and help. They did a fabulous job and it was hard to convince them to stop at the end of the day. Their work will become a legacy in the house.

Also, thanks to all of the crew from Havencraft that also assisted in the process, and have done a fabulous job with the house construction.

It was a great day, and thank goodness for all of the sunshine!

Take a look at some of the photos from the day....

Bale Prep

The rain has slowed things down this week, but preparation for the straw bales is underway!
The house has been wrapped in tarps and the scaffolding is up and in place. The doors and windows still need to be installed prior to baling, so hopefully that happens soon.

Styrofoam has been laid where the bales will be placed, to ensure they stay dry beneath them.

Also, the roof has been started, however the tile we chose is on back order so the roof could only be partially completed. Hopefully they will be able to finish in about a weeks time, however the waterproof layer is up so we shouldn't get anymore flooding in the house.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

The never-ending rain remains relentless. Due to rain, the roof was not able to be started this week - our hope is that it will be done this coming week. Unfortunately, the straw bales cannot start until the roof is up, because they need to stay dry, dry, dry!

When visiting the house today, we found a flood plain on both floors. The windows and doors have not yet been installed, but luckily they are resting on wood just above the water level. Today was spent trying to remove the water - mostly with a broom.

Here are a couple shots of the water before it was removed.

And a picture of the house with the plywood for the roof partially completed.

Roof Framing Complete

The Roof trusses are all up, and the "house shape" is really emerging. The roof will be going up this coming week, which should change the look of things. This is the last time that the house will look so 'open'.

Here is a shot of the house as you reach the end of the driveway.

Here is a picture of the front of the house (the South side).

The roof trusses.