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Ecology and economy'

Environmentally minded gather to learn about straw-bale construction

Monday,  June 9, 2008 3:19 AM

By Josh Jarman

GAYSPORT, Ohio -- They came from throughout the nation, and even the world, searching for information on a more sustainable way of life.

What they found was Blue Rock Station, a 40-acre nexus of green living surrounding the first Earthship in Ohio -- a house made of garbage and recycled materials.

A dozen people spent six days recently at the station, in southern Muskingum County, to learn the proper methods of straw-bale construction.

The owners, Jay and Annie Warmke, run several such workshops a year on the farm, which has become a year-round center for education and advocacy.

"We were building the house as our own project, our own retreat, and people kept showing up," Mr. Warmke said. "They'd heard that these people were building a home out of tires or garbage, and they wanted to see it."

The couple were struggling to get work done on the house, despite all the other people stopping by, when Mrs. Warmke conceived the idea of charging $5-a-head admission to dissuade more tourists.

"Then we started getting busloads," Mr. Warmke said. "Suddenly we were an attraction."

Their station represents an information hub for folks seeking to save Earth and a buck at the same time.

In addition to the workshops, the Warmkes sell custom-made tools and informational pamphlets for build-it- yourself recycled dwellings.

"For me, it's really ecology and economy," said Chris Arnold, a 49-year-old videographer from Front Royal, Va.

"We need to cut back on the way we are using the resources of the Earth, and straw-bale construction is less expensive to build and more efficient to heat and cool."

Arnold attended the workshop because he wants to build his own straw-bale house. The session reinforced -- with hands-on training -- what he had read about the style.

The focus of the workshop was the construction of a loafing shed for the station's five-llama herd.

The walls were built of 21 straw bales sewn to a reclaimed wood frame, covered in clay mud and topped with a recycled slate roof and siding.

The cost: less than $250, including hardware.

On a small scale, the project introduced the participants to the techniques needed to build a larger structure.

The work allowed Nans Thomassey of Grenoble, France, to watch his design come to life.

He arrived at the farm a month ago to craft the loafing shed for his college thesis.

If the shed passes muster with his professors back home, the 23-year-old will earn a civil-engineering degree in late summer.

"It's not a common way of thinking," Thomassey said. "Being green is seen as about buying new stuff. You can't sell recycled stuff for construction, but, if we started building industry this way, we could really make a difference."

Chad Bliss, 40, hoped to take what he learned back to Chicago, where he teaches public-school students how to grow organic gardens on vacant lots.

"Kids in the inner city are still at the level of survival," he said. "They're struggling for food and shelter. It's about taking the power back."

His dream is to build a community center using straw-bale construction.

First, though, he needs to get building codes changed to include such designs.

The workshop, he said, marks the first step in making his center a reality.

"It's all about getting people to think differently."

A house as a haven for the sustainability crowd is more than a business venture to Mrs. Warmke: She sees it as her responsibility to help educate a generation about protecting the planet.

"When young people can envision the future in a more sustainable way of life, that's what we are starting to make happen here," she said. "That should be the goal of every adult."

People might be easily discouraged by news of climatic changes and pollution around the globe, she said, but "They need to realize that we have everything we need to keep the world healthy."

jjarman@dispatch.com

A primer

• Straw-bale construction uses standard bales, usually purchased from a farm or co-op, as the primary building materials.

• With the more popular of the building methods, the bales are stacked between wood frames and tied to saplings or wood supports for stability.

• A couple of layers of clay mud are added to a completed wall for support, weatherproofing and looks. In the Southwest, where the design is considered more popular, many a finished home resembles an adobe-style building.

• Wood plates are added to the tops of walls to hold roof trusses. Utilities are sometimes run through moldings or laid into walls as they are built.

• Straw bales cost $2 to $4 apiece and have twice the insulation value of traditional wall-building materials.

• Building codes in most parts of the nation don't include guidelines for straw-bale construction. Because the style is little-known, bank financing isn't easily obtained.

Sources: www.greenbuilder.com, www.bluerockstation.com

TOM DODGE | Dispatch photos

The loafing shed for the five-llama herd at Blue Rock Station

Ross Gay of Bloomington, Ind., who made the trip to the farm -- and got his hands dirty