Strawbale House Building in Costa Rica.

[Cancertomnpdx]

I have found two links on the Internet saying that two homes have been build in Costa Rica with strawbale. Both links had very little information, so I am turning to this forum to see if anybody knows of builders, architects or engineers that have been building with strawbale in your area.

Does anyone have any feeback or stories they have heard about?

Thanks,
Tom
Portland, Oregon

[pweisel]

Buenos Tom/Neighbor!
Please cc me in anything you learn. I’ve done some digging in the last few years and like you haven’t come up with much. My wife and I have property in Uvita and have always been interested in alternative enviro-friendly building methods, especially in CR, as labor is around $1.50 per hour.

Amoungst other things, I have not located a source of straw bales in CR, and am not informed about their existence there in general. Alternatively, I have been wondering more about Earth Bags, and how they work out in in warm tropical climates. Either can be covered in a more or less Stucco type finish. I’ve sent out a few emails to different companies but haven’t heard anything back. Any info from anyone about alternative building methods in warm humid climates with red clay-like earth would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete
Milwaukie, Oregon

[GringoTico]

Strawbales are new to me, but I know bamboo is being used in home construction in CR. It’s cheap, very strong, and holds up well in earthquakes.

[*Lotus]

Here is a great site regarding bamboo construction:

http://www.vegetablesteel.com/

http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/bamboo.html

There is also some people buiding with Bamboo in Playa Hermosa/Jaco they are about a 1/2 mile off the costa nera down Calle Hermosa. I am also very interested in alternative building ideas for CR, my only concern regarding bamboo is fire, as there seem to be no real fire houses near the beaches. Especially since my house will be a vacation home. I also know of a guy building with local woods and some concrete producing a rough hewn type home for about $35 dollars a square foot.

I do not no any of these folks i’m just passing on some info…goodluck!

[linimal]

Good day,
I am (was) a general building contractor from northern California and have an ecological building company in the south pacific (based in San Isidro/Dominical) and have been building here and in Panama exclusively for the past four years. We have 12 completed and successful projects (customer happy, builder happy, workers happy, integral buildings, environment minimally impacted). One unhappy customer. He just wouldn’t be pleased. But his buildings, I think (and anyone who visit them) are some of the coolest in the country. We build in wood (as much farmed material as possible), bamboo, concrete and…(pause for effect)…earthbags. Firstly, there are a variety of reasons straw bale building isn’t used here (much), availability being one. Another is that the notoriously high ambient humidty and temperature here creates an environment that is very succeptible to mold and mildew. Straw bales can harbor this environment wonderfully if the finishes aren’t done to perfection or develop crack and fissure over time (seismic activity). Straw is also food (not just for horses anymore) and as I’m sure most of you know if it’s edible someone out there is ready and willing to eat it). As an alternative we have built with earthbags here with great success (we think the first in CR). The clay material comes directly from the site, reducing material cost and transportation costs (both globally and locally), we used limeplaster paints and finishes, which are healthy and reduce VOC chemical use and are resistent to weather, mold and mildew. Earthbag building is more labor intensive than block and requires experience in getting a quality finished product, but is beautiful when done well, provides great thermal mass (when designed and laid out correctly will keep a house nice and cool throughout the day negating the need for AC), is flexible in design parameters, is all natural and healthy, and there is nothing like the feel of being in a natural home versus a concrete box. There are other natural building materials that, when done well, provide a wonderful living habitat. Bamboo is becoming very popular and is a great sustainable material. It also needs to be cured, handled and worked-with by someone with experience. Don’t cut an inexperienced Tico crew loose without having someone who knows what they are doing keeping a close eye (on any type of building actually). Waddle and daub, straw-light clay are other alternatives that would work well here. If anyone has questions on natural building processes let me know. As development continues to plow through the country anyone who can spread the vernacular of minimizing the impact we have on the land, water shed and natural resources the better.

Saludos,
Bay

[*Lotus]

can you please post your e mail so I can contact you directly.

Thanks,

Keith

[Andrew]

This is a topic that I am very intersted in and have spent some time looking at their website which is at:

They have admitted to being too busy to keep their site up to date but it looks very intersting.

For my own education, I’ve just ordered four different books about earthbag construction from Amazon.

Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com

[linimal]

Hi Keith,

you can email me at bay@vayacongaia.org

[telebay]

Hi Scott,

Bay here under my own login name(I was impersonating my wife earlier). We have a fairly extensive library on natural building, bamboo building, permaculture design, sustainable systems, etc. I don’t know where you live but maybe something can be worked out.

Bay

[pranaspakeywest]

Just checked out the site, very cool stuff going on.
I have another web site if anybody is interested. I have not been to there project in person yet, only on line. I have had some e-mail contact, and they seem to be doing some cool stuff with sustainable building, using local materials including a traditional mud over bamboo construction. They offer courses as well. http://www.ranchomastatal.com/home.php

[rf2cr]

Approximately 2 years ago when we started house/land hunting in the Arenal area there was a strawbale house called Casa Salamander for sale on Intertica. I haven’t seen it listed for some time but you might get in touch with Terry Moran or Jim & Rene of Rico Realty and see if they know where it is and who built it.

We had planned a stawbale house here in the Desert of Southern California but local building regulations made it too difficult to deal with within the time constraints we had. If you are interested I can give you a list of websites that cover the subject within the US – also have a number of books which I could bring down when we come later this month. You could “store” them for us until we get moved down.

email me at rfatacg@yahoo.com if you would like more infol.

Ruth

[pweisel]

Hey Bay,
I’d be so interested (and appreciative) in meeting with you and seeing how the Ojochal project finished up, as well as other’s you having been working on or are connected to, the next time I’m “in town.” The pictures on you’re website are inspiring! Beautiful project, family, friends! We may be following suit soon on our uvita plot.

I’ve got your email and will try to reach you when I’m there – sometime before next summer. Glad to see some/more NoCal Universe folks doing things right in CR.

Please keep posting so we all can learn from you all…Thanks!
Pete

[jenny]

Hey Folks,

I’d like to get in on that information. We have a spot in our back 40 that I would love to build a bamboo house. Boy, any information that could be shared would be great. The area we want to build is a park like area with fruit trees and a wonderful river. Bamboo would be great, my husband thought I was crazy when I mentioned it to him.

Please publish the web site information for the US and any information about experienced builders in CR.

[GringoTico]

Sorry Jenny, I think they use the bamboo as internal structure, like rebar, then cover it up with cement. I guess you could then paint bamboo shoots on the cement though.

That’s one of the problems with CR architecture – too much cement. Of course, it’s one of the few materials that hold up, but it sure can be ugly. Government buildings are the worst.

IMHO the ugliest buildings in San Jose are the Caja, National Bank, School of Architecture at UCR, and the horrendous new AYA building in Pavas.

There are lots of new ways to use cement so that it doesn’t look like cement. Ever see the Si Como No hotel in Manuel Antonio? It has cement pillars that look like palm trees. Very nice.

[*Lotus]

Jenny just look up at my post and you will see some info on Bamboo construction.

[Author]

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