Cait and Peter’s Strawbale 2018

Cait and Peter’s Strawbale

We have a lovely strawbale house set on 3.6 acres just outside of Inverloch.

The house, designed by our architect and friend Sue Mitchell, has a passive solar design, and is rated 8.3 Stars. It is lovely and cool in summer, and warm in winter.

We have solar hot water and solar power, although we are grid-connected. All windows and doors are double-glazed UPVC. We have R6.0 batts in the ceiling, and foil blanket under the colorbond roof. The house is built on an insulated concrete slab for thermal mass. There is no cooling other than ceiling fans, and the only heating we have is a wood heater, which we largely use because we like looking at it!

We are not connected to mains water or sewer, so we have water tanks connected to our downpipes, and we have a septic system.

We have just had three wicking beds built so we can grow our own veggies; we also intend establishing an orchard and beehives.

The house has just been evaluated against the Victorian Residential Efficiency Scorecard, and received the maximum rating of 10 stars!

Please note that we aren’t set up for large numbers of cars; we are waiting to get our driveway resurfaced and the verges are soggy, so we request that you park in the street and walk down to the house.

Sustainability Features

Years Open
2018
ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENT FEATURES
    • Energy efficiency:
    • Efficient lighting
      Efficient appliances
      Energy monitoring
    • Passive heating cooling:
    • Thermal mass
    • Active heating cooling:
    • Ceiling fans

    • Active heating cooling:
    • Wood heater
    • Water heating:
    • Solar hot water (evacuated tube)
    • Water harvesting and saving features:
    • Stormwater management
    • Energy Efficient Lighting
    • LED lights throughout
      Natural daylight
      Solar skylight
    • Window Protection:
    • Automation/controls
      Blinds
INSULATION SPECIFICATIONS
    • Insulation Type:
    • Under-roof
      Ceiling
      Floor
    • Ceiling Type:
    • Bulk – glass wool
    • Ceiling Rating:
    • R6.0
    • Floor Type:
    • Wafflepod
    • Floor Rating:
    • R0.6
RENEWABLE ENERGY SPECIFICATIONS
    • All-Electric Home?
    • Yes
COSTS AND COST SAVINGS
    • Total cost of home when constructed:
    • $504,000
    • Cost estimate of sustainable home/features:
    • $25,000
    • Estimate of annual savings:
    • $3500
HOUSE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
    • House Size
    • 230m2
    • BAL Rating
    • BAL – 12.5: Ember attack with heat up to 12.5kW/m2
    • Wall Materials
    • Strawbale
    • Window and Door Types
    • Double glazing
      Sliding windows/doors
    • Universal design accessability
    • Multi-generational
      Universal access
    • Universal Design Features
    • 80cm minimum door opening width
      Hobless showers
      Lever handles for doors (no knobs)
      Shower head on rail for various heights
      Tapware to be easily accessed from outside the shower
    • Number of bedrooms
    • 3
    • Number of bathrooms
    • 2
GARDEN AND WASTE REDUCTION
    • Garden / Outdoors
    • Composting
      Edible garden
      Organic
      Permaculture
      Native plants
HEALTHY HOME FEATURES
    • Healthy home features
    • Indoor plants for air filtration
      Lime render/wash
      Low VOC paints/sealer/varnish
Location
Inverloch VIC 3996
    • Housing Type:
    • Standalone House
    • Project Type:
    • New Build
    • Builder
    • Frame by Sutton Constructions; owner-built with the strawbale walls largely constructed by a crew of volunteers

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