The building of this house in a very rural area in the interior of Argentina (Córdoba province) was the fulfilment of an eleven-year dream. No permits of any sort were required, but the house is bale in-fill because this is an area of seismic movement. We used 660 bales, all of locally-obtained oat straw, that had been “cured” for eight months. We had neither architect nor building engineer: my wife and I designed the house, basing it on a photo we’d seen in The Straw Bale House. The floor plan was done by a draftsman, structural calculations checked by an engineer and an architect friend in Spain. The house (excluding the porch) measures 242 square meters (2605 sq. ft.) and has a central second floor. It faces east, to take advantage of the view of the Sierra de Comechingones.

My wife and I directed the work, all of which was performed by local tradesmen with no experience in bale building. Village residents had never heard of such a thing and thought we were mad; they have since changed their minds. Now that the house is complete, it has been the subject of a story in the county newspaper and I have been interviewed by local radio. As far as we know, this house is the largest bale house in all of South America.

Argentina is very well suited for and could derive great advantage from bale building. We are hopeful that the method will gain greater acceptance.

We pinned the bales with rebar on the four extremities of each wall and then followed the advice given by Barbara Jones on her web page: we used weed-whacker plastic whipcord to tie the bales to bamboo after first trying furring strips. We tested various lime-based plasters and put on three coats (manually) with no cement additive. We’ve experienced cracking, but principally due to wooden window sills that had not been properly cured, thus swelled and warped; they have been replaced.

Labor costs are low here, so we were able to complete the house, complete with high-end plumbing (all pipes passing through bale walls are thermofusion) and custom woodwork, lighting fixtures, staircase, carpentry, woodstoves, etc., for about fifty five thousand U.S. dollars. The floors are of brick set atop a four-inch layer of coarse sand (anti-ant) in turn set atop a four-inch layer of brick rubble atop pressed earth.

Insulation value has thusfar proved high. Our first week in the house saw frost on the ground outside, but we slept without using the woodstove; in fact, we didn’t even use a quilt! The summer here is hot: 40 degrees centigrade (104º Fahrenheit) days are not uncommon, yet the house remained comfortable, even on the upper floor; we have no ceiling fans either. All visitors to the house were highly impressed by the difference in temperature when they entered.

The house took nine months to complete so that it was habitable; we had not finished painting the exterior nor had the stone footing façade been done. Errors unrelated to bale building technique delayed the construction, which required a complete change of crew six months into the job. Had the second crew of six been on the job from the beginning, I believe we could have completed the house in six months. We were also blessed with favorable weather. Roof leakage has been nearly non-existent and the one small leak (the galvanized chimney plate) was easily repaired.

Our project for 2006 is to “permaculturize” our property, which has an irrigation canal running alongside which we have channeled (with permission) through our land. We used the dirt (75 cubic meters worth; 2,649 cubic feet) from the projected swimming pool to form the base of the elevated and leveled wing of the house, and also dug out a small pond for water storage, etc. We are contemplating a well, though we have municipal water. We have a grey water leach field and a septic tank/cesspool for black water.

We recently added a tool shed/carport made from adobe brick and we plan to “scientifically” manufacture these bricks on our property in an attempt to reduce the local dependence on fired brick; the nearby ovens contribute to deforestation and a recent law will prevent the use of carob wood by these ovens, thus causing them to use expensive and wasteful natural gas. We used fired brick for interior walls, but if we had it to do over again…

All in all: so far, so good!

You can contact Tim and Patricia on timc@vdolores.com.ar