I have a chance to pick up 350 bales left over from house. I need a barn. Has anyone done this? I can find a 1000 houses on the web, but haven't found a barn yet. Any ideas or opinions are wanted. Thanks, Kevin in Colo.

-- Kevin Beckey (homeonthefarm@chaffee.net), April 13, 2002

Answers

Never made one, but seems to me that a house is a fancy barn... Just don't have to make the floor as pretty... Find a "pattern" for a nice, open house and call it a barn...

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), April 13, 2002.

First thing that came to mind was the problem with keeping water off the walls. I've never had a barn but I do know a good bit about strawbale. Seems like I've heard people talk about hosing out stalls, washing down the walls in the dairy area, stuff like that. Also wondering about a rambunctious or terrified larger animal damaging or destroying a wall. I have had a horse and we built a shelter for him. He got colic once and ended up kicking out two walls of the shelter. I doubt that a cow or horse would have any trouble kicking holes in even a very thick application of the plaster needed to protect the bales. Probably goats and sheep could also destroy the plaster.

I've been learning all I could about strawbale for over 7 years and have been on the internet strawbale discussion group for a very long time. I've heard about and even helped build strawbale chicken houses, strawbale pump houses, studios, workshops and houses. But as you point out, never anything about a strawbale barn.

If you want, I'll post your question to the strawbale discussion group and see what the experts have to say about it. Let me know.

-- Carol - in Virginia (carollm@rockbridge.net), April 14, 2002.

as a temporary barn it would be ok i would think, but probobly not the best choisce for a permanant one, i know i have heard of straw bale chicken coops....

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), April 14, 2002.

As a person who built & lives in a strawbale house in the Pac NW, I think you should do it. You could line the bottom 4feet of wall with wood, if you were concerned about kicking animals, or you could sheath it with something water-impervious along the lower portion to protect from water splashes. Or have concrete stemwall up a good 2 feet from the ground. You could also use cement stucco on the lower 4 ft on the interior, like the outside, and it is hard as a stone wall. The warmth/coolness, the quiet, the solidity and permanence of strawbale construction would make for calm animals I think.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), April 14, 2002.

Try plugging in Straw bale Barn into google search engine, got these results and there are more:

Straw Bale Barn, www.skillful-means.com/projects/barn.htm

Straw Bale Barn, www.barnsbygardner.com/newsletter3.html

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 14, 2002.