Build a Better Straw Bale: Simply Perfect

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The arched, main-floor entrance to Michele’s office includes wood doors that Dale made. Michael Shopenn and Meghann Decker

Photography by Michael Shopenn and Meghann Decker

Although it took Michele and Dale Doucette five years to plan their straw bale house and two years to build it, they agree it was worth the wait. Their home reflects the life they live: simple in design and elegant in detail.

Set on 22 acres in Wilmington, Vermont, the 3,200-square-foot house fits right into the landscape. Local stones set in the stucco perimeter around the base connect the house to the earth. Locally sourced timber and straw bales make up the frame and the walls. The indigo metal roof mirrors the surrounding mountain peaks at dusk.

When imagining their home, the Doucettes knew they wanted to live close to nature’s cycles and to conserve energy. They read everything they could about solar power, visited many straw bale homes and decided to go off the electrical grid. They also paid close attention to the way their family moves. “Bodies and houses are very similar,” says Michele, a chiropractor and Zero Balancing energy worker. “You can optimize the way energy moves through both for better health.”

To transform their ideas into workable blueprints, they turned to architect Joseph Cincotta of LineSync Architecture, a longtime friend who also lives in Wilmington. “The design evolved from Michele and Dale’s initial idea of having separate work and living spaces to one barnlike structure that houses both efficiently,” Cincotta says. Michele’s chiropractic office and Dale’s woodworking shop both are located on the main floor. Their living space, which they share with their sons, Justin and Beau, is on the upper floor.

The family’s sun-drenched living space includes an open kitchen and a living room that accesses a deck. The master bedroom and a full bath are at one end of the house; at the other end, the boys share a large suite that includes a living area, loft and small private alcoves with beds and desks.

Cold comfort

Building a straw bale structure in the New England climate took some architectural innovation. Vermont gets cold—really cold. Ice can wreak havoc on a foundation when the earth expands and contracts. To get around this, Cincotta used Frost-Protected Shallow Foundation technology, developed in Norway in the 1950s. This innovative method involves digging down only 18 inches instead of the usual 5 feet, then pouring the concrete slab over crushed stone and a blanket of 2-inch-thick rigid insulation that extends past the perimeter of the house by 2 feet. This way, the fight between warm and cold earth remains outside the building, away from the foundation, Cincotta says.

To keep the straw bale walls dry during rain and snowmelt, Cincotta raised the bales off the ground using a 6-inch-high perimeter wall built with stay-in-place concrete forms that sit directly on the slab. This construction also allows for an interior stud wall. Plastered so it looks like the rest of the straw bale walls, it offers easy access to wiring and plumbing. Though the Doucettes don’t plan to leave their home anytime soon, Dale appreciates the flexibility of this feature both for himself and future owners. “I was able to wire the house with resale in mind and put in enough electrical outlets to meet code,” he says.