Now it may sound strange to hear this, but using straw as the main ingredient in housing construction is actually a growing trend, albeit a small one still. If you’re a fan of the show Grand Designs, you’ve likely seen it done and heard and witnessed some of the extraordinary benefits of its use.
Straw has a number of attributes which are very desirable in building materials; it is fire retardant, highly insulating, cheap, easy to transport, easy to find, renewable and recyclable. With all of this rolled up into one product, you can see why some prospective home-builders are intrigued by its potential as a building material.
Straw bale constructions can be a relatively quick process, requiring little by way of heavy machinery to get it up and running. The materials can be bought from a large number of locations, and as it is a waste material which is also used as a food source for animals, it is one of the cheapest materials around.
While it is a recently growing trend (due to its exposure on TV), the use of straw in homes dates back thousands of years, from a large variety of locations including Europe, Africa, the Americas and many more.