Hay Houses and Straw Buildings: Happiness is a Hay House
(Page 2 of 7)
July/August 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors
Our land had been a homestead years before, so it wasn't difficult to find a cleared, flat site with good drainage (a very necessary consideration, since we planned to use the ground for a floor).
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We measured out our six-sided area and-with a posthole digger-dug evenly spaced, 2-1/2foot-deep holes. The 90-foot circumference of the structure consisted of a pole at each corner and one in the middle of each wall. We also sank six similar posts-in a hexagonal pattern around a six-foot diameter center area . . . and started to notch and lay cross beams and tie-in supports. It wasn't what you'd call "finish work", as the cuts and notches were done with a chain saw and all of our timber was simply spiked together.
With the walls framed in, we began work on the roof . . . because we didn't want to lay our hay bales until there was covering to protect them from rain or snow. We couldn't afford lumber, but with the help of friends managed to cup lots and lots of poles and create a nearly solid umbrella-like roof ... which would be sturdy enough to support "shingles' of plastic, hay, and sod. (We were careful to make the eaves project far enough to cover the walls . . . and then some! )
It was necessary to partially peel the roof poles . . . to prevent bark or rough spots from wearing holes in the plastic that went over the timbers. When the "umbrella" was assembled, we spread about 45 bales of hay-taken apart into pallets that we laid as close together as possible-on top of the plastic-covered wooden latticework. (This was to serve as insulation . . . but-as it turned outwasn't adequate for our cold northern winters.) Another layer of plastic went over the hay, and then we started to cut and lay sod . . . again with the welcomed help of friends.
Unfortunately, we didn't get the whole roof sodded before a big freeze came . . . and then snow. (When we finished the job -during the next spring and summer we found that the sod had been a big factor in protecting that top layer of plastic.
The sections of root that weren't covered had already started to deteriorate, and we had to patch them up before we could lay the rest of the turf. Also, if we'd had time, we would have ordered some more durable, heavy-gauge plastic . . . but we were forced to make do with what was available in our small town.)
The most complicated part of the construction involved the freestanding center section of the roof which would house our stovepipe ... and which required the use of store-bought lumber. We built a small mitered hexagon to fit around the Metalbestos stovepipe . . . and supported the wooden form with 2 X 4's radiating in and up from the center poles. Then we laid boards over the top of this entire center-roof structure and cut out square holes for three glass blocks that would serve as miniature skylights. No hay was used on this section-in the interests of fire safety-and the whole area was waterproofed with a layer of clear plastic placed topside.
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