In the classic fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin spun straw into gold. In real life, Maj. John Schulz is making it into concrete. Or at least it seems that way to those helping him build his new “hybrid home” in Belton, Mo. The walls of the green house are made of heavy, dense straw bales that are then finished with plywood and stucco. Lead carpenter Jim Morris says the straw provides more than just superior insulation.“When it hardens,” Morris said, “you’ve basically got something as hard as concrete.”
That’s only one part of the home’s durability.
“If a tornado came through here it would have to take the home and the dirt in one whole piece, because I don’t foresee any way it can blow it down,” Morris said. “It’s got 36 vertical beams going from the roofline buried into the ground. It’s so overbuilt it’s ridiculous. But I have to give him credit. For someone who’s basically designed it by himself, he’s done an outstanding job making it strong.”
The green home is called a “hybrid house,” and it has been Schulz’s dream to build one for many years. The home is not only strong, it’s so efficient it needs no air conditioner to stay cool in the summer and only a small furnace to keep it warm in the winter.
After reading about such homes in magazines and on the Internet, Schulz and his wife, Susanne Koehler, bought how-to DVDs and met with the owners of a straw-bale house in Lawrence, Kan., before starting the project.
After learning everything he could, Schulz designed the home to be built with recycled beams, cord-wood masonry (lumber embedded in Earth-friendly mortar), an earth-sheltered lower level, Portland cement mixed with recycled paper pulp and active solar collectors.
What’s more, the home has a bank of large rectangular south-facing windows with insulated internal shutters for passive solar heating, and an Earth-friendly, super-insulated roof that will have 5 inches of soil, a sophisticated drainage system and various no-maintenance shrubs and flowers growing on top. The roof is projected to last 60 to 80 years.
“I don’t even think if a tree fell it would damage this roof,” said Morris, the carpenter.
The house also has a sun room that serves as a barrier to the weather outside.
“If you go directly through a door to the outside you’re losing heating and cooling,” Schulz said. “So if you put a buffer zone like a sun room between the outside and (the main part of the home) you lose a lot less hot or cold air. It’s the same principle as a foyer in a restaurant. You don’t get that blast of cold air when you’re sitting at a table.”
Schulz’s love of the environment grew in the various places he has lived. He was born in Prescott, Ariz., where so many people have built straw-bale houses they’re officially included in the city’s building codes. He also lived in Colorado for two years, another environmentally sensitive state.
“I don’t think we’re being good stewards of our natural resources,” he said. “I think it’s important to use recycled materials and Earth-friendly products whenever possible.”
But as proud of the home as Schulz is, the project is bittersweet. The Army reservist has been deployed overseas with his unit, and he will be out of the country for an extended period. His wife is traveling with him. When the home is done in May, Schulz will have to sell it.
“My heart bleeds every time I think about having to put it up for sale,” he said. “I put my heart and soul into it.”
On a positive note, he plans to take some of these green building methods to other countries. The Civil Affairs Reserve unit Schulz serves in specializes in helping countries rebuild schools, hospitals, government office buildings and general infrastructure.
“Why spend millions of dollars for a fossil-fuel generated power plant, when you could do the same thing with solar?” he said.
And when he returns stateside, Schulz plans to build another earthy home.
© 2008, The Kansas City Star.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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