The Little Seed
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House Notes – The Little Seed
The Little Seed
99 Jacksons Road, Franklin
Note: THIS HOUSE IS ONLY OPEN BETWEEN 9am and 12 midday.
The Little Seed is a 15-acre permaculture property overlooking the Huon River, featuring a magnificent strawbale home with earthen floors that has featured in the Owner Builder Magazine.
The design of the home is based on the principles of Sacred Geometry, incorporating a Golden Spiral clerestory over the lounge room as the central theme. Just as the priests of ancient Egypt preserved a geometrical canon, a numerical code of harmonies and proportions that they applied to music, art, statecraft, and all the institutions of their civilization, the owners of The Little Seed used a foundational canon based on their heights to create this Golden Spiral. The home was built in recognition of harmony, balance, and symmetry, and is an example of dazzling architecture.
Much of the timber frame was produced through a Lucas mill on a nearby property, and cabinetry was made with timbers from a demolished apple shed. The external walls are constructed from straw bales sourced from a farmer in Richmond, and internal walls of reclaimed brick and stone. The internal walls are rendered with clay from the property, painted with clay paint and sealed with wheat paste. Lime renders were applied externally and sealed with lime paint (no cement was used in the renders).
The stunning earthen floors were laid by hand within strip footings, made from clay sourced from the property, cow manure from a local diary, straw left over from the wall raising and sand, with a linseed oil and beeswax finish that was made with wax from a local bee keeper.
The home is heated by a Nectre Big Bakers stove, which also functions as the oven, grill and hotplates in winter. It is plumbed to three tanks that hold 76,000L of rainwater, two of which provide gravity fed water supply back to the home, and is set up ready to accommodate a micro-hydro system from a rivulet that flows year-round.
The earthen construction, along with double glazed argon gas filled windows and earth wool insulation in the ceiling, has achieved an 8 star rating.
Sustainability Features
- Energy efficiency:
- Efficient lighting
Draught proofing
Efficient appliances
- Passive heating cooling:
- Thermal chimney
- Active heating cooling:
- Ceiling fans
- Active heating cooling:
- Wood fired stove heating, future micro-hydro from adjacent rivulet.
- Water heating:
- Wood fire wetback
- Water harvesting and saving features:
- Above ground storage
Stormwater management
- Above ground rainwater storage Type:
- Water tanks for domestic and fire fighting purposes
- Above ground rainwater storage Size
- Three tanks for 76,000 litres.
- Recycled and reused materials:
- Re-used stone, timber
- Sustainable materials:
- Internal walls clay rendered, with clay paint sealed with wheat paste, lime renders.
- Recycled and reused materials:
- Bricks
Timber
- Insulation Type:
- Ceiling
Internal and external walls
Floor
- Ceiling Type:
- Bulk insulation
- Ceiling Rating:
- R5
- Floor Type:
- Concrete slab with polystyrene insulation
- Floor Rating:
- R2
- Internal / External Walls Type:
- Strawbale
- Internal / External Walls Rating:
- R5 to external walls
- Energy star rating:
- 8 stars
- Renewable energy used:
- Micro-hydro
- Renewable energy
- Slow combustion cooker and space heater.
- Cost estimate of sustainable home/features:
- $1,000
- Estimate of annual savings:
- $2,000 per annum
- House Size
- 140m2
- Window and Door Types
- Double glazing
Clerestory windows
- Universal Design Features
- Multi-generational
- Number of bedrooms
- 3
- Number of bathrooms
- 1
- Garden / Outdoors
- Water wise plants
Edible garden
Organic
Permaculture
Composting
Native plants
- Healthy home features
- Earthen floor made from clay from property, cow manure, straw and sand, with linseed oil and beeswax from a local bee-keeper. Earthwool insulation.
- Housing Type:
- Standalone House
- Project Type:
- New Build
- Builder
- Owner Builder
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