Stonehouse Straw House: April 2007

Working against gravity

And so the plastering continues. I've been working for three weekends plastering on the area above the windows. After installing wire cages stuffed with straw that make the window headers round out nicely, they have to be plastered over. Plastering against the law of gravity is not so easy. Initially, I installed wire cages made of thin chicken wire, but every time I touched it, the wire would bend and pop the plaster off. I bought harder hardware cloth and installed it over the softer chicken wire and Voila! It worked. It's still a curse to work on b.c I can only put loonie-sized bits of plaster on at a time (otherwise the weight of it is too much to withstand those dang gravitational forces). I also need to let it dry in sections so that it hardens up, but at least it's working. I'll show pics of the window headers soon. For now, here are a few update photos:

Here's an image of the kitchen au current. It feels like it's finished with all the appliances in place, but, the plaster work has yet to be done. And the backsplash. And the floor.

Here's Ma working on a treacherous stretch of plastering that kept falling off. "Soft" bales tend to bounce back afer you put on the plaster and can cause it to fall off in huge hunks. @$%&*$!

Here's Dave working away on the other side of the patio door. He's a bit more patient than the rest of us, but what else is new?

We've moved in!

It's nearing the end of April and we've decided to start living in the house so that we can work on it every day.

The propane fireplace is finally trimmed up and finished. We still have to get a beam-mantle made to go above it.

An antique light fixture newly installed in our bedroom.

The main bathroom with light fixtures and cabinets installed.

A few head shots

Admittedly, these photos have little to do with the technical aspect of building a straw bale house, but I couldn't resist posting them.

Mom was Spring cleaning and found this hat that someone had given Dad. Read the hat closely. It seems quite appropriate, given the stress levels Dad sustained last week while several sub-contractors swarmed about in our absence.

Here's Jake the Poser looking quite smug after munching on some styrofoam from an appliance box. Argh!

My niece, Valri, made this photo of cut daffodils in our spare room this weekend.

A quick posting to add in some photos and brief updates. All of our contracting is complete now, save for a return visit from the company that installed the solar panels (Houston, we have a small problem with a sensor). I'm ready to move in! But, it is a bit dusty with all the plastering and finish work still going on, so I'll have to be patient.