JOSH HUTCHINS.COM

     I don't know if there are two separate camps in the extreme eco-homebuilding arena, but I sensed some hostility between two types of thinking: straw-bale homes and thermal mass homes. The straw-bale home camp is pretty self explanitory. If you need a little refresher, check here. The thermal mass home I talked about here. I got the feeling the two camps felt each of their ideas were mutually exclusive. You can't have a thermal mass home while using straw-bales as the primary insulator. I'm not even sure if there is an issue, but I heard not one, not two, but three people make remarks about how the idea opposite their own would not work. So there has to be something there. Can we not build a house using straw-bales as the primary insulation and put in lots of stone and brick? I dunno. My next post will be in bullet format with lots of crazy eco-ideas. So, if you have a crazy idea and want to post it, then would be the time.