This document is a slideshow presentation about a straw bale home built by Brenda and Chuck Horton. It summarizes the sustainable building techniques used in construction including straw bale walls, earth plasters, solar panels, and more. The presentation provides photos documenting each stage of construction from framing to finishing touches. It highlights features like radiant floor heating, a metal roof, and the homeowners' use of the space.

1. The Accidental Straw Bale
Homeowners
Presented by Brenda and Chuck Horton
Twitter: @BrendaHorton -- Facebook: facebook.com/BrendaTelloHorton
Fan Page: facebook.com/HwareFB -- blog: www.hware.com/blog -- email: info@hware.com
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2. Green Festival Rocks!
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3. Garbage Turned into Art.
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4. S.F. Green Festival After Party at Temple.
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5. Outline
• The aesthetic beauty of a straw bale home.
• The technical details of straw bale home.
• How building and living in a straw bale
home has shaped our lives.
• Q & A Time
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6. Brenda and Chuck Horton
• Moved to the Foothills from the Bay Area in 2000.
• Own an online business training and software company
called Hware (HumanityWare).
• Use virtual technologies to run business from straw bale
home.
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7. Stone path and deciduous wisteria
vines leading to our entrance.
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8. This is where we run our company
Hware.com, HumanityWare.
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9. Luna Sagrada - Sacred Moon.
During the Winter season,
we love to sit in the Great
room and watch the moon
rise as it lights up the
entire room.
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10. .
Entrance to the Great Room.
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11. Great Room
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12. Great Room
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13. Reclaimed trusses from
lumber mill in Forest Hill
.
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14. Concrete floors unstained and unsealed. The
color came from leaves and native red soil.
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15. It’s a GREAT room to have parties!
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16. Views from Great room.
Autumn leaves 2010
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17. Sunrise from Great Room.
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18. Neighbors walking by the Great Room.
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19. Kitchen and Great Room.
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20. Open Kitchen
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21. Our neighbor hanging
out by kitchen window.
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22. Curved walls and built-in niches
throughout.
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23. Reclaimed sinks and doors throughout.
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24. Compost
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25. Preparing our organic garden rooftop that
houses our well equipment.
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26. 2.25 miles of hiking trails to take breaks from sitting
in front of our computer monitors all day.
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27. Hiking on our trials through the Manzanita.
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28. Stunning Sunsets
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29. Breathtaking Sunsets
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30. And the Bear River near by to relax.
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31. Sustainable Building
Techniques
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32. Sustainable Building Techniques
• Straw Bale Exterior Walls
• Strawboard Interior Walls (Prestowall)
• Earth Plasters with Lime Plaster Lime Wash for Exterior Walls
• Earth Plasters with Mica/Lime Texture for Interior Straw Bale Walls
• Clay and Wall Paints from Bioshield Paints (no VOCs) for Interior
Strawboard Walls
• No VOC Stains from Bioshield Paints
• Post Beam Framing
• Roll Form Metal Roof (life time roof, fire safe, no waste of materials
or package)
• SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels) for Roof Structure
• Insulation - UltraTouch natural cotton fiber insulation
• Slab on Grade
• Stain Concrete Slab, and Flagstone for Floors
• Radiant Heat
• Passive Cooling with central Evaporative Cooloer

33. Sustainable Building Techniques
• Active Solar System – Uni-Solor Roll on Photovoltaic Panels, Charge
Controller, Inverter Batteries
• Passive Solar Design
• Recycled Wood for Trusts, Engineered Wood
• Pressure Treated Wood - ACQ (Ammonia, Copper and Quaternary
Ammonia) not CCA - (Chromated, Copper, Arsenate)
• Local Crushed Gravel Driveway, DG, Pavers and Flagstone
• Loewen Windows made from Certified Sustainable Forest Products (see
Loewen Enviro Statement)
• Day Lighting with Solar Tubes and Skylights
• High Efficiency Lighting
• Grey Water Plumbing for future Grey Water System
• Local Artisans
• Local Furniture
• High Efficiency Appliances
• High Efficiency Fireplace – Rumford Fireplace
• High Efficiency Windows

34. Foundation
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35. It All Starts with Raw Land
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36. Radiant Floor Main Lines
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37. Laying the radiant floor heating.
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38. Pouring the Slab
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39. Finishing the Slab
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40. Keep Slab Wet for 2 Weeks for
Better Curing and Finish
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41. Framing
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42. Post and Beam Framing
Entry Great Room
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43. Building Rumford Fireplace
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44. Garage First Floor Framing
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45. SIPs
Structurally Insulated
Panels
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46. Stacks of SIPs
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47. SIPs Installing on Roof
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48. SIPs Installing on Roof
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49. SIPs Installing on Roof
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50. SIPs from Inside
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51. Straw Bale
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52. The Bales Arriving
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53. The first bales installed.
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54. Working those Bales
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55. Straw Bale from Inside
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56. Preparing the Bales
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57. Interior Bale Wall
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58. Exterior Bale Wall
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59. Bales from Interior
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60. Exterior Bale
Wall
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61. Bales Installed and Ready for
Earth Plaster
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62. Electrical in
Straw Bales
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63. Typical Wall
Section
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64. Earth and Lime Plaster
Earth Plasters with Lime Plaster Lime Wash
for Exterior Walls
Earth Plasters with Mica/Lime Texture
for Interior Straw Bale Walls
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65. www.hware.com/sb

66. www.hware.com/sb

67. Putting on Earth Plaster
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68. Earth and Lime Plaster
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69. Earth and Lime Plaster
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70. Earth with Mica/Lime Texturewww.hware.com/sb

71. Lime Washing
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72. Lime Washing
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73. Every
Straw Bale
Home
Got Have
A Truth
Door
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74. Strawboard Interior
Walls (Prestowall)
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75. Prestowall - Strawboard www.hware.com/sb

76. Blocking for Radiant Floor Zone
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77. Roll Form Roofing
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78. Roll Forming the Roof Panels
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79. Installing Uni-Solar Panel
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80. Installing the Metal Roof
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81. Installing the Metal Roof
with Uni-Solar Panels
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82. The Solar System
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83. Uni-Solar PVL-128 Photovoltaic Panels on our roof
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84. Charger Controllers
Solar Boost 50s
Solar Panels
Combiner Boxes
Solar Equipment
Inverter
Solar
Trace SW4024
Circuit
Ac
Breakers
Disconnect
Xantrex Grid Tie
DC Disconnect
Outback Power
Panel
2 - Deep Cycle Forklift Batteries
(1085 amps)
Container
2 - Deep Cycle Forklift Batteries
(1085 amps)
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85. Solar System
• Photovoltaic Panels - 24 Uni-Solar PVL-128, Field
Applied Flexible Roofing Laminate Photovoltaic Panels
• Inverter - Trace SW4024, Advanced Sine Wave Power
Conversion Center
• 6000 Watt 120 / 240 Volt AC
Autotransformers, used for running our well
• Batteries - 2 General Battery 85-21 1055ah Industrial
Batteries - 12v Set
• Outback Power Panel
• Charge Controllers - 2 Solar Boost 50
• 2 Combiners
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86. Passive Solar Design – Block Summer Sun
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87. Passive Solar Design – Let Winter Sun In
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88. Other Special Features
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89. Reclaimed Wood
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90. Sunny
enjoying
Our Rumford
Fireplace
rumford.com
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91. Concrete
Floors
Stained by
Mother
Nature
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92. Reclaimed
Doors
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93. Reclaimed
Sinks
and
Mirrors
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94. Buffalo Grass
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95. Roll Formed Metal Roof
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96. Flagstone in Sand Paths
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97. The Model
and Evaluations
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98. Side Evaluations
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99. Front Back Evaluations
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100. The Model
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101. Resources and QA
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102. Resources - www.hware.com/sb
Website about our
home:
this slideshow,
links to resources,
pictures,
floorplan,
elevations,
details,
solar system,
and much more
www.hware.com/sb