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Strawbale Foundation

M

mudhugger

New member
Wanted to share for general interest. We raised our Two Girls Farm yurt in the spring of 2015 on a strawbale foundation which was inspired by (and got input from) Groovy Yurts. The foundation felt super stable and the insulation was amazing. This spring (so, 2 years later) we moved the yurt to its new location on its spiffy new, raised platform. I was really excited to see how the strawbales looked under the floor. Here are a couple photos of what we found. They look as good as new! To me, this is an exciting discovery for our NH yurt community-- a cheap, eco-friendly foundation that could stand up to years of our weather means someone can get their yurt and then save up for the equally big cost of a platform for a couple years.

view of uncovered foundation

straw condition up close
 
Awesome! When I took apart my first strawbale platform, it didn't look that great--but then the wood & straw was exposed to a couple months spring weather... Good to know there probably isn't anything growing in my current straw foundation :D

Also curious, it almost looks like there's a 6" deep drainage channel just outside where the straw meets the ground. Was there a drainage ditch?
 
hierony said:
Also curious, it almost looks like there's a 6" deep drainage channel just outside where the straw meets the ground. Was there a drainage ditch?
Click to expand...

Yep. I can't remember how deep we originally dug it-- a foot down maybe?-- but the ditch went all the way around the yurt and had a drain (and by that I mean another ditch running downhill :) ) off to the right side into the woods. We had the whole ditch filled with woodchips that I tossed a bunch of borax in to keep the mice and ants at bay.
 
We are planning this same option thanks to this post. Did you do anything to protect the sides of the bales or did the wall's edge go all the way down? What did you do for flooring?
 
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