The 7 year journey to build a 400m² straw bale dream home

BUILDING THEIR DREAM HOME was a true labour of love for the Geisters.

“We did at least two hours on the house every day, religiously,” says Monika. “We had to do it before we went to sleep.”

Even with that punishing schedule, it took them seven years to finish it.

The first build was a three-walled shed to house a solar system. Then they dug in the composting toilet, laid footings and a wall base of gravel.

The house framework was temporarily enclosed in recycled corrugated iron, while they built the straw bale walls. The large (800mm wide) straw bales sit under a roof of turf, part of the design to help the building stay dry.

“Straw bale buildings need a good hat and good boots, it can’t get wet.”

Rafters are usually 800mm apart, but the couple used specially jointed timber (ganglam beams, www.mitek.co.nz) at 400mm intervals to support the roof’s enormous weight, topping it with marine ply, a waterproof pond liner, and old carpet (to anchor the grass). They then dug up and rolled lengths of sod from a paddock to lay on top.

As they finished a wall, they’d remove the iron (which is now re-recycled in the gardens), tied chicken wire over the bales and plastered the walls with a mix of cement, lime, sand, and water. Hermann mixed the first layer and Monika pushed it into the gaps by hand. Then they swapped: Monika mixed and Hermann trowelled and sponged off the top layer.

The finished adobe was then covered with a porous paint. A window into the wall by the front door shows the plaster about 3-5cm thick, a breathable surface that will keep hardening as the lime continues to react.

It was such a huge undertaking, with the benefit of hindsight, would they do it again? Hermannn doesn’t hesitate in his reply. “Absolutely, but not today. Then, I was 15 years younger. It’s a lot of work and you need to love what you are doing. You can’t just hire someone to do it for you.”

You have to think creatively, says Hermannn. For example, they created the curves in the downspouts by hand-snipping and joining the pipe to form the sweeping angles.

“If you put your mind to it – you can do it.”