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Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-09-05T01:36:00.006-07:00

2nd-3rd October 2010 from 9-17 in Pickala Gård
An educational workshop for all who are interested.
The idea of this workshop is to educate anyone interested or curious about building with straw bales. This will be done in a hands on approach and is open to all. You don’t have to be a professional to participate in this workshop. We will raise the walls of a small building and prepare for inserting windows and doors.

More course info here

Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-09-05T01:36:00.005-07:00

Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-09-05T01:36:00.004-07:00

Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-09-05T01:36:00.003-07:00

Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-09-05T01:36:00.002-07:00

Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-09-05T01:36:00.001-07:00

Building a load bearing straw bale house

2010-06-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

August 21st - 28th 2010 from 9-17
An educational workshop for all who are interested.

The idea of this workshop is to educate anyone interested or curious about building with straw bales. This will be done in a hands on approach and is open to all. You don’t have to be a professional to participate in this workshop.This is an on-going workshop where you are welcome to join for the whole time or drop in as you wish. More course info here

Building a small straw bale house

2010-06-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

In 14 - 17 May 2010 we ran a course in Solberg where we raised a small strawbale building. This course was aimed mainly at professional builders. Check out some impressions here.

Clay plastering a small straw bale house

2010-06-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday 19th June & Saturday 3rd July
In our efforts to present strawbale building as a viable and excellent housing choice to the finnish consumer we are presenting a number of courses aimed at professionals from different areas of the building industry.

As a logical next step we’d like to welcome you to our upcoming course featuring clay plastering techniques. More course info here

Roundpole fencing workshop

2010-02-08T07:57:00.001-08:00

Saturday April 17th 2010 09.00-17.00
Svarfvars organic farm, Near Meltola in Karjaa.

A one day, hands-on course in the basics of traditional round-pole fence building.
The day is spent working with wood and fire to erect a stretch of fence from prepared materials. Everything needed to build a fence is supplied. The course will teach the basic techniques of setting poles and tying horizontals with branches, to material acquisition and preparation. More workshop info here

Building a small straw bale house

2010-02-08T03:00:00.003-08:00

Friday 14 - Monday 17 May 2010

In our efforts to present strawbale building as a viable and excellent housing choice to the finnish consumer we are presenting a number of courses aimed at professionals from different areas of the building industry.

Our previous course was mainly for planners, and this time around we'd like to invite builders and entrepreneurs to join in. The aim of the course is to cover all aspects of building a strawbale house using some of the most advanced techniques available today. More course info here

Straw bale building workshop in the UK

2010-01-25T05:44:00.005-08:00

From the 20-27th of February 2010 Charlie will be attending an international workshop at Amazonails in the UK. This is an important step for us to increase our skill levels in natural building and bring us up to date with recent developments in Europe.

Strawbale presentation

2009-11-20T07:29:00.006-08:00

Today we had a nice presentation of strawbale building at Kasper's place in Solberg. Attending were representatives from Merkur Pankki, Osuuspankki, Aktia and Pohjola. This presentation is a part of our program to spread knowledge of strawbale building among people working in the banks, insurance companies and real estate agencies.

Course: Planning a straw bale building

2009-09-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

We just ran our first course in straw bale building! Gathered in Kasper's place in Solberg were a group of architects and planners, with the emphasis of the course being getting an understanding of the amazing possibities and structural properties of straw bale building today. Check out some impressions here.

Course: Planning a straw bale building

2009-07-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

We're happy to announce our first course in straw bale building!

We thought it best to start with a course for architects and planners - this is where the process begins when you are looking to start a project. So we have invited Kuba from Amazonails (UK) to come over and share his extensive knowledge as a natural building architect with us.

This course is limited to a few participants only, but we still have one or two places available.

Check out the preliminary course program here

Booking: Paul Lynch 0442509663

An "old" timberframe in Västankvarn

2009-07-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

An old ugly shed was disturbing the surroundings, so we were asked to turn it into something beautiful. We were not allowed to buy any materials but had to reuse everything from the old structure. Even the old nails were used again! We came up with an open timberframe construction with an old metal roof and nice old floor.

All pictures here.

Solid spruce terrace

2009-07-07T09:49:00.002-07:00

We have just finished a nice terrace in Ingå. We used big stones as foundation points, 125 by 125 joists on the stones, and 150 by 32 spruce decking. We made sure to include a lot of air space everywhere in the construction, so as to avoid using impregnated timber.

As you can see from the pictures we included a nice framing detail to pull it all together and a pergola at the end to create a more cozy space.

Clay course in Slovakia

2009-07-01T08:36:00.002-07:00

Paul and Charlie just returned home from a great natural building course in Slovakia. The course was part of the european Grundtvig programme. We picked up a lot of exciting clay building techniques from clay- and strawbale building pioneers Bill and Athena Steen. Especially the earthen floors were interesting and something we are looking forward to promote in Finland. Also clay relief carving will surely surface in one of our coming courses - it is amazing the kind of detailed, subtle or dramatic effects you can achieve with this technique!

Anyways, check out some impressions from the course right here