Strawbale Foundation

[mudhugger]

Wanted to share for general interest. We raised our Two Girls Farm yurt in the spring of 2015 on a strawbale foundation which was inspired by (and got input from)

Groovy Yurts

. The foundation felt super stable and the

insulation

was amazing. This spring (so, 2 years later) we moved the yurt to its new location on its spiffy new, raised platform. I was really excited to see how the strawbales looked under the floor. Here are a couple photos of what we found. They look as good as new! To me, this is an exciting discovery for our NH yurt community-- a cheap, eco-friendly foundation that could stand up to years of our weather means someone can get their yurt and then save up for the equally big cost of a platform for a couple years.

view of uncovered foundation

straw condition up close

[hierony]

Awesome! When I took apart my first strawbale platform, it didn't look that great--but then the wood & straw was exposed to a couple months spring weather... Good to know there probably isn't anything growing in my current straw foundation

Also curious, it almost looks like there's a 6" deep drainage channel just outside where the straw meets the ground. Was there a drainage ditch?

[Andy_in_Germany]

That's scuppered my plans for a wooden platform, by virtue of being a far more practical idea. Thanks

[mudhugger]

Originally Posted by hierony

Also curious, it almost looks like there's a 6" deep drainage channel just outside where the straw meets the ground. Was there a drainage ditch?

Yep. I can't remember how deep we originally dug it-- a foot down maybe?-- but the ditch went all the way around the yurt and had a drain (and by that I mean another ditch running downhill ) off to the right side into the woods. We had the whole ditch filled with woodchips that I tossed a bunch of borax in to keep the mice and ants at bay.

[Groovyyurts]

missed your post... Thanks so much for sharing!!

[Kirstinrhea]

Hello,

Do you have a tutorial or plans for how you built your strawbale foundation?

[BrightIdea]

Groovy yurts

has one.

[The Steward]

why wood chips in the trench/drain?

[Maruf89]

We are planning this same option thanks to this post. Did you do anything to protect the sides of the bales or did the wall's edge go all the way down? What did you do for flooring?