Owner(s): Joy Purdy
Region: South Western
Municipality: Harrow
Number of bedrooms: 1 + 2
Number of bathrooms: 1 + 1
Usable floor area, square feet (interior): Total 3000 (plus 1600 square feet of wrap around veranda style porch, partially screened)
Number of stories: 2
Occupancy date: November, 2004

Builder arrangement: Owner
Main contractor name: Tim O'Brien and Joy Purdy assisted by framer Mike Tower
Designer's name: Owner
Structural engineer's name: Brian Mcrindle...enjoyed the challenge of his first and ONLY straw bale design....sticking with steel structures and structural engineering.
Length of time to build (start to occupancy): May, 2004 - and continuing
Volunteer participation: lots of family and friends, especially the 30 that participated on the bale-raising day, ages 5 - 82
Ease of obtaining a building permit: Easy

Other foundation info: 24"X12" footings and 4' X 15" poured foundation walls

Other roof system info: engineered trusses. Framer's recommendation - one roof vent per 100 sq. feet of living space, plus we added 4 extra, for a total of 14 in phase one

Other insulation materials used: Roxul in areas difficult to create small bales for Attic to be 16" of cellulose blown in, with Roxul around the perimeter to hold it in place.

Other bale wall style info: bales not pinned, Cintoflex D- stitched to the bales


Other information about windows: Vinyl, some double hung, some sliders. Some low E, some with no coatings on south facing windows to take advantage of passive solar heat.
Mechanical systems info: Boiler for hot water in-floor heating. natural gas
Electrical systems info: roof top vertical axis wind turbine - 3 KW with back-up natural gas 12 KW generator
Other green features: Drilled well and rain barrels Waterloo BioFilter
Anything else you'd like to share?: Phase one - consists of a two-car garage with 1000 square foot apartment above. Phase two - will consist of a 2-bedroom attached 2000 square foot home "Sanctuary" in 400 square foot bonus area one huge I-Beam ....24" X 9" X 30 ' in the garage area, supported by 2 six inch square X 6 foot columns (aquired for the right price !!!) Ease of getting a building permit: We approached him from the outset of our planning and he was on board from day one. Most cooperative as long as the plans were stamped by an engineer. We are really glad that we built the garage and apartment first. We have learned so much from this part of the project and will utilize the knowledge gained from it to perfect (ha ha ) Phase 2. Flooring will be cork throughout, except in the bath which will be ceramic. Bedroom will have a kill switch to turn off all electricity in sleeping area at night. Building materials contain minimum of glues to prevent leaching of toxins into the home.