A 25-year-old woman from rural south Kerry, between the villages of Castlecove and Caherdaniel, has overseen the construction of her own environmentally friendly straw panel new build house by direct labour without a mortgage.
Grace Turner’s straw panel house which is under the spotlight from today (Saturday, September 28) as part of Architecture Kerry 2024, has been constructed over approximately 12 months using EcoCocon structural straw wall panels, with an emphasis on natural and recycled materials throughout.
She saved up a good chunk of the cost, got a 10-year loan to cover the remainder and her mother loaned her some additional money to deal with increased costs as the build progressed.
The use of sustainable and natural materials including recycled foam glass, straw, clay and lime plaster, wood fibre boards and cellulose helped to attain an A1 rating for the straw panel house which is almost finished.
It could have been all done and dusted in just six months, but delays getting tradesmen to come at the right time dragged things out, according to Turner, who tackled a lot of jobs, having watched YouTube videos.
The straw panel house was probably more expensive than a traditional build to construct as all the materials she used were environmentally friendly and natural, she contended.
“They were pretty pricey”, she said, adding that budget was a real challenge.
“I didn’t have as much to spend as older people or couples might. The thing that saved me money was that the walls went up within two days. It was a really fast build and that saved on labour costs. Also, I did most of the inside work myself,” Turner said.
She moved home full-time in 2021, having been away studying and working for four-and-a-half years:
“I couldn’t stand living in built-up areas, so moving home to Castlecove was always my intention,” she said, adding that locals are “very much in favour of young people staying in the area after so many have left.”
Initially, she thought of buying an old stone house and restoring it as she is interested in vernacular buildings, however “even derelict houses in the area which has a lot of holiday homes, pushing prices for locals up, were far outside my budget at the time.
“I ended up buying a 1.6ac site in Bracaragh, as I love gardening and animals and wanted the extra space for those interests.”
Turnerwas determined to use natural materials to build something different and sustainable despite resistance from builders.
“I looked at cob houses and hemp as well but I couldn’t find anyone who knew enough about cob, and hemp would have been more labour intensive and costly so I went for the straw.
“My engineer suggested a company, EcoCocon, that constructs structural wall panels made from straw,” she added.
Straw panel
Planning permission can be very difficult to secure in the area which is close to lots of beaches, but a well draining secluded site and her lifelong association with the locality saw her get the green light for the straw panel house that she deliberately kept ‘sensibly small’.
It consists of two bedrooms downstairs, with a kitchen/living area and bathroom with a small loft room upstairs, providing another bedroom.
Turner had to make some sustainability concessions on the straw panel house, unfortunately “the company is located in Lithuania so the wall panels had to be shipped by lorry across Europe which is obviously not very sustainable.
“However, the hope is that the already increasing popularity of the system will lead to closer depots being established, reducing the footprint of the product further. I have already come across many other EcoCocon houses in other counties.
“The straw is machine pumped into a plywood casing, making it extremely dense, heavy and strong. This density helps it to comply with building regulations in Ireland, in particular its fire rating, making building with straw much more viable,” she said.
The groundworks and slab started in late September-mid October 2023.
“We used recycled foam glass aggregate as an alternative to your usual hardcore underneath the concrete slab.
“This is a very lightweight aggregate made from melted down recycled glass which has excellent thermal properties, and is acting as a natural insulator for the concrete and reducing the risk of a cold bridge between the very warm straw walls and the cold concrete,” Turner said.
The process
“Once the wall panels were standing and screwed, we covered the outside in a vapour permeable house wrap, which weatherproofed the straw for a time and ensured the internal space would meet current airtightness requirements for new builds.
“Then, a 6cm woodfibre board was screwed to the outside and this was then plastered with Baumit acrylic lime render which is also vapour permeable,” she outlined.
Over the following weeks, Turner “had some excellent builders and carpenters construct the roof. We added woodfibre boards on top of the rafters for extra insulation, finished with natural slate.
“Then a woodfibre board was added to the walls and on top of the rafters to further insulate the house. I used Brazilian natural slate for the roof to add a traditional look.
“Once the weather cleared up in the spring, the external walls were plastered with Baumit acrylic modified lime render,” Turner added.
“Inside I tried to stick to using natural materials where possible. Sheep wool was used to insulate the timber stud walls and then cellulose – sourced from recycled shredded newspaper – was used to insulate the rafter space,” she said.
“I would have used material more locally ideally but straw isn’t baled densely or compacted enough in Ireland to meet building regulations so this option seemed easier.
“Keeping the walls dry was a big challenge, especially as I got delayed and didn’t start building until October,” Turner added.
An exhaust air heat pump was installed for heating, hot water and ventilation.
“This system is fully electric and suitable for heating smaller sized homes so it will hopefully run quite efficiently.
“To power the system, I also invested in PV solar panels and a battery, which will hopefully generate enough energy to power the house for a large part of the year and allow me to sell power back to the grid during the finer months,” she said.