Pole Barn House

You will get less flack if you refer to your walls as: "1 - 3 inch thick wire-reinforced concrete or plaster fire wall containing straw insulation"

The Canadian building code recognizes it as such, also New Mexico has done extensive research.

The book "The Straw Bale House" by Athena & Bill Steen and David Bainbridge, ISBN 0-930031-71-7, Chelsea Green Publishing Company is a good reference.

Anyone ever been to the Burrit Museum in Huntsville, Alabama? It was built in 1938, and yes, it's straw.

Regards

MetalZ

2x6 wall with a 2x4 purlin forms an 8" cavity for insulation. ceiling has 14" of insulation, once inside you do not notice outside noise with the exception of hail on the metal roof, no wind noise,traffic noise, animal noise....

reasons for building it, low cost, flexible room layout (no load bearing interior walls)can be changed anytime, highly efficient to heat and cool, wife said I wouldn't know where to start. FBI put up the shell, my Father and I on weekends for 6 months finished the interion. Erected walls, wiring, plumbing, hvac, insulation, drywall, paint, trim... I hired out the kitchen cabinets and flooring.

Loan, Farm Credit was more than happy to work with us and would have financed 100% if I desired. talked with other banks and they would do the came, just considered "non-conventional housing".

Biggest mistake, did not install in-floor radient heating due to the wife wanting all floors carpeted.

Think of the walls as being finished like adobe block ones, no studding, only plastering.

The strawbales have expanded wire or wire lathe pinned to them, then the entire works is cemented/plastered over sealing in the bales. If they are completely enclosed in cement/stucco, there should be no threat from vermine.

The points about insurance and building codes are good ones - check before you start out, it can get real expensive to fix stuff later. When I put up our pole barn, the building permit folks had to be reasured that it was not going to be used for living quarters. Likely not a problem with camping in it while building the house, but they didn't want to hear anything about water or sewer connections to it. They took their hands away from the Really Thick Code Book when they found out we had 62 acres and were building more than 200' from the property line.

Strawbale construction seems to be coming into favor more and more. As to fire danger, the walls are encased in stucco or other type of vermin reduction system. With heavily packed material and limited air, home fires of bale construction are minimal. I did read of one such fire, and the bales only charred, never flamed and burned.

Whatever your decision, do remember that in colder climates you should seek solar gain from south windows. The normal is 10% of the square footage of the house.

Think super well insulated and air infiltration restrictive. While a well sealed home needs an air to air heat exchanger, savings will be realized overall. I read of homes built in New York state and other New England states that have no furnaces whatsoever in them. They are using R-50 in the sidewalls and R-90 in the ceilings. EXTREMELY tight construction is what makes them work.

Best wishes however you proceed.

Q - Is there a reason that Pole Barns are rarely converted into Houses?
A - See above

Seriously, I don't know any reason why it couldn't be done from a technical standpoint. You would have to do it where the local zoning & building codes either don't exist or would allow it. You would also probably have to finance it yourself. I doubt that FHA, VA, or most banks would loan money on it.