Raising a Strawbale Bathhouse
In the middle of beautiful nowhere.
First came the yurt.
Then came the deck.
Next came water,
Followed by a loo.
Now, there’s a bathhouse
…or will be soon.
I’ve been interested in StrawBale building for a while. The idea of building with something that nobody else really wants, making it into something warm and comfortable, that keeps the chill winds from your toes.
I did a lot of reading – and I do mean a LOT of reading.
Books on strawbale building.
Books by people who built with strawbale.
Books by people who build roofs and floors and foundations.
I even tried to read a construction book by an engineer, but ended up skipping most of the equations.
Books on design.
Books on feng shui.
Books on attributes of ‘friendly’ houses.
Books on working alone and getting stuff done.
I’d finally read enough that it was time to percolate, doodle and see what germinated.
The yurt is round.
The deck is round.
The bathouse should be round then too.
All of a piece, with an inset door to welcome and afford entry.
A window to gaze out of while showering.
Another near the loo, while still feeling secure and private.
Something that flows and is open and is closed off and is safe-feeling and yet freeing.
I started to doodle.
The first doodles were pretty plain, boring and choppy, but eventually, they started to flow together into something possible.
(Sorry. I’m not very good at using the drawing box, so all the text is rather miniscule.)
That is what the inside of my bathhouse will look like, more or less.
This is what the outside of my strawbale house will look like (if it were all stretched out flat.)
The bottom of the bathhouse layout is uneven, because the bathhouse is being built on a slope.
That’s why.
The 20” wide concrete block foundation rests on at least 2” of gravel, set below the frost line.
The foundation will eventually be covered with gathered local rock set in concrete for a more attractive finish.
The foundation is as tall as it is because I believe we’ll see a bit of ‘horizontal rain’ come winter.
Good boots are essential, especially for a strawbale building.
Two ‘railroad tracks’
of pressure treated 2x4”s will be attached to each edge of the top of the
concrete block foundation,
gravels placed between the boards, then the first bales will be impaled on
top.
Gripple clips on thick fence wire will attach the top plate to the foundation, compressing the bale walls.
The bathhouse 2x8” tongue and groove ‘raw’ floor rests initially on a lower level of the bale wall, with 2x6 joists just below
(resting on the joists when the wall settles.)
Here’s the basic roof rafter layout.
Roofing rafters are tied to the roof assembly top plate, lined with two layers of º” plywood and infilled with straw for insulation.
Then, it will be topped with another two layers of º” plywood followed by seam sealer and roofing felt, then copper shingles.
With a 2 foot overhang for rainy days.
Gorgeous.
And Waterproof.
That figured out, I ordered the strawbales from Dennis LaGrande of DLG Farms and Strawbales in Williams, CA.
http://www.DLGFarms.com is his website.
Some of his newer equipment was out elsewhere, but he had a trailer and truck that could deliver 174 2-string bales.
Deliver.
The longer I go hauling things into the middle of nowhere to build, the more I appreciate the niceties of the word ‘deliver’.
He delivered.
Cheerfully.
Here Dennis is in his rig, following me into the wilds of the great beyond.
I let him through the gate and followed him the rest of the way down.
Aren’t the bales beautiful?
(and they’d been stacked quite neatly, but I’d messed them up earlier when I’d cut a corner too tightly.)
Here’s Dennis himself.
I wish I’d gotten a picture of Dennis tossing the bales, as he was able to place them within inches of each other,
and sometimes three bales higher than he was standing himself.
Don’t try this at home.
He’s a professional and those bales are crazy heavy after the first 40 or 50.
I’m not sure he noticed.
He untied the bale straps and started to toss.
My bale hooks and I couldn’t keep up, he was so fast!
We piled them all to the side of the road, as neatly as I could manage while still moving along.
174 bales. He picked up and tossed. I grabbed, dragged and nudged.
A short hour or so later and he was turned around and headed back out of my life.
Leaving glorious strawbales in his wake.
Greg came up the following weekend and helped me put them in some semblance of a stack, covered with a tarp and tied down.
Next comes the foundation and probably raising some bales myself up to the ‘ground floor’.
If I can get the floor up, the loo can be placed and possibly be functional in time for the raising of the rest of the bales.
That would be a treat!
I’ll post foundation pictures when it’s together!