Straw Bale Yurt

[Dan R-M]

So here we go. A new idea for me. How about straw-bale walls? What kind of roof might I put on it?
The purpose is two-fold. 1) I want the

yurt platform

to be used (for a yurt), and 2) we're considering doing some straw-baling on the house, and this would give us some great practice on a building that doesn't need to be up to any kind of code. Probably. We'd have to check in with our zoning board friend on that one. But I just started thinking about this one, so maybe ya'll could weigh in.

[Jafo]

All the pics I have seen of straw bale walls were square. I guess I am wondering how it would work with the compression/tension design of a yurt. I would love to hear some ideas on this!

[djspn]

kheymah- southwest adobe yurt home
You might get some ideas there, the yurt built on top of a 4' straw bale stem wall.

[Colorado Yurt Company]

Our blog featured that straw bale stem wall yurt:
Colorado Yurt Company customer stories: Unique Yurt | Colorado Yurt Blog

The customer is really happy with the yurt set up this way. It enabled them to have a functional second story/ loft.

[Dan R-M]

That is beautiful! And fancy. I'm picturing full strawbale walls for ours... Maybe putting rebar down through and leaving a little poking out the top to hold a cable. I haven't quite thought that part out yet.

[chana]

Loving the idea of straw bale stem walls. Any reason i can't do this in the North East? (moisture, frost heaving). i'm thinking i would need to get the bales off the ground a bit, maybe earthbags for a couple of feet?
Jenny

[Surely Yurts - Steve]

Originally Posted by chana

Loving the idea of straw bale stem walls. Any reason i can't do this in the North East? (moisture, frost heaving). i'm thinking i would need to get the bales off the ground a bit, maybe earthbags for a couple of feet?
Jenny

This may help:
Foundations : NBNe - Natural Builders Northeast

You'll want some kind of a foundation if you are building straw bale in the Northeast

[bss]

Lloyd Kahn's books get into this type of building style (straw bale/adobe/ rammed earth/ etc with various post supported roofs, gabled, tension roofs and all of that)

Specifically, the book called Builders of the pacific coast would be a valuable resource for you.

[Jafo]

You can find Builders of the Pacific Coast here.

[Dorydog]

Originally Posted by Jafo

All the pics I have seen of straw bale walls were square. I guess I am wondering how it would work with the compression/tension design of a yurt. I would love to hear some ideas on this!

One thought is that the straw bales positioned in a circle would present gaps where the bales join at the corner edge. However, loose bales can be cut to the right shape and fit into the triangular gaps. Then, the entire circle could be secured with the clay that is generally applied to a straw bale structure.

Question remains, how to secure the bales to hold up to the tension from the roof ring. Plus, where would one buy a roof-only yurt? May be possibilities here, but challenges also.