Jerry Hobgood Home- Hybrid Solar Strawbale Home Tour Report
Tour conducted: 21 April 2000
©Gary Duncan/ Smart Shelter Network nov, 2001 all rights reserved

The Hobgood home, "Madre de Paz" was selected for a Smart Shelter tour because it establishes a landmark in regional natural home design. This home is considered to be one of the best examples of passive solar home design built in Western Colorado. It exemplifies sustainability, extensive use of re-usable materials, excellent thermal performance, as well as livability and public appeal.
Because of these accomplishments and her diligence in promoting public awareness, Jerry was given the Smart Shelter Lifetime Achievement Award, the first of its kind to be awarded by the Smart Shelter Network for Natural Building (Southwestern Colorado).
This and other home tours are part of the public and professional education program of the Smart Shelter Network. The series begins with a 12 hour introductory course (video and 80 page manual- Natural Homes #101) covering the gamut of natural building in this region . From time to time, tours and workshops are conducted for those preparing to design or build. The homes presented are selected from a field of hundreds for their cutting edge contribution to natural building and community education. A Design Studio series meets year around as local interest groups for to assist owners preparing their own plans and working drawings. Notification of these events is available to Network Members. Membership information and other notices are accessible on the website: www.smartshelter.com.

Background: Jerry is a graduate (sociology and psychology) of Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif, with additional studies at U.S.C. and U.C.L.A. She was a recreation director with Special Services in Austria and Italy
During the Italian tour of duty, Jerry planned and decorated a new service club. After returning to the United States, she was a counselor in L.A. with Catholic Social Services.
Jerry moved to Aspen, Colo. and opened the "Opera House Espresso" with a tool kit containing a hammer, a saw, and a spatula. This was her first natural interior...made of tree stumps, animal hides and the ends of cable telephone spools.
After a wide variety of ventures and adventures--working with famed photographer Franz Berko, becoming the second woman in Colorado licensed as a professional guilde, being a ski instructor for 10 years and completing her first building project (an A-frame duplex and later a much larger addition), she then relocated to Grand Junction and joined VISTA where she was attached to legal services as a community organizer serving the poor, elderly and minority population.
Ever alert to social injustices, Jerry (as a VISTA volunteer) was instrumental in stopping a highway, which was planned to plow through the poorest section of town (Rifle, Co.) and would have eliminated the low-cost housing there. In another instance her comprehensive investigation of jail conditions in Grand Junction led to the construction of a new Mesa County Jail. Jerry's research of domestic violence brought about the extablishment of a women's safe house there.

Preparation for this Project: Jerry's inspiration for sustainable building started when she heard
Buckminster Fuller lecturing on solar energy at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. Later
in Aspen a group began staging conferences on alternative building in which she participated.
In 1980, she attended an intensive six-day, hands-on adobe building workshop at Glenwood, New Mexico, where she learned from Joe Tibbits- cofounder and director of the South West Solar Adobe School and editor of the magazine "Earth Builder" ("Adobe Today"). Jerry was further inspired toward alternative construction by an article (1993) in this publication featuring homes built of strawbales, tires and sand bags. Jerry also had been profoundly influenced by the work of Egyptian Architect Hassan Fathy and his book "Architecture for the Poor". At that time, Fathy was in Abequiu, New Mexico to advise the Islamic community preperatory to building the Dar es Salaam Mosque.
Additionally, she recalls visiting the oldest earth structure in Santa Fe and remarking as she came
face to face with adobe floors and walls that "this is the way to build!" And she did.
However, when she did venture into construction for her next home, "El Refugio" , it was difficult to find anyone locally who was knowledgeable or experienced in this medium. However, she found Monte Wilson, who sent his right hand man to head up construction and together, a beautiful small adobe was created. They made 4,000 blocks from leased soil in the desert of northwest Mesa County.

Owner's Function: In constructing "Madre de Paz", Jerry acted as her own general contractor involving design, planning, permits, engineering, negotiations, sub contractors, purchasing and dealing with a
curious public. She did not have any outside employment during the construction period and was free to devote full time to the project. She created her own floor plans and included in the elevation a shed roof and clerestory window system.
Eldon Krugman (builder-Grand Junction) assisted with the plan development and provided most of the carpentry and site supervision. His experience included many years with the Colorado State Energy Office. The final drawings were begun by Architect Chris Krabacher and finalized by his father Architect Joe Krabacher (Grand Junction) whose professional stamp served to meet one of the permit requirements.
Jerry provided all of her own financing for the project. No commercial loans were used.
Once the plans were completed, submitted and the building permit secured, Jerry took on the
hiring and firing of subcontractors and the purchasing of building materials. She is a highly effective
shopper and advocates scouring the want ads and having long term storage space as major
ingredients in cost savings, as well as the time to look for the right deals.
Jerry did very little of the actual labor in building this home. She did hand peel all the vigas used
in the structural system, laid a few courses of adobe block, and did some of the plastering..applying a 50-50 lime-gypsum slurry over the inside adobe block walls.
The laborer Pancho, found thru Catholic Outreach, did the majority of inside and outside mud plastering.

Building & Site Description:
This six acre plot had been part of an 11 acre parcel. Jerry's first adobe house, "El Refugio", is located across the road east of the strawbale house. The site of the current building is at an elevation of 4500 feet and highly exposed to wind. However, when exerior temperatures are in the 0 degree range, when the sun is out, she reports interior temperatures are about 65-75 degrees. Typically, during her residence there, the house h required only 7-14 fires per season.
This home is a "Hybrid" design, combining several structural materials. Until recently, natural homes were either all adobe, all strawbale, all timber frame or all earthship (tires). The current generation of natural building architecture has brought about a "hybrid" approach because no single material is appropriate to all situations. By studying the particular attributes of each material, one can see that there is room in a well designed building for almost all of them. Straw is a good insulator, but a poor mass provider. Adobe is a poor insulator,but a good massing medium. Wood neither insulates nor provides mass, but is easily shaped, readily available and well suited for structural frames.
To produce a competent design for a natural home, each element of the structure needs to be considered independently. This is explained further in the Smart Shelter Video Course Natural Homes #101.
This is primarily a strawbale structure, which is used to form the east, west and north walls. In winter, the north walls never face the sun, but constitute the largest drain on interior heat. Because the strawbale walls are super insulators they are used in these areas.
The exception is in the solarium, where the north wall is made of adobe block with an exterior foam insulation applied as a thermal barrier, and stuccoed over to match the rest of the building exterior. Strawbale could have been used in this application, but the solarium receives a lot of morning sun, allowing much of the heat gained to be stored in the adobe mass.
Similar reasoning was used in the selection of strawbale for the east and west walls, although it serves some different functions there.
The principles of passive solar design emphasizes the placement of glazing (windows and glass doors) on the south-facing part of the building and avoids them as much as possible on the north. This allows the building to capture the sun's energy for heating.
East and west windows can become problems during fall and spring because of the intense solar
heat. In winter, late day sun coming through the west wall might be advantageous, but the same window could turn a room into an oven in the summer. A similar situation exists with the east facing exterior walls and the morning sun.
Jerry optimized her taste for early morning winter sunshine by building the solarium south glazing with a small arch of glass curveing inward toward the east. This gave her a warm, sunny space in the morning.
The south wall is made of 4x4 posts with some insulation to accommodate the variety of different sized windows which form the south glazing. Strawbale or adobe on this wall would have been problematical because of the difficulty working the window frames into the bulky building media. Wood is efficient here because it is sizable and malleable enough to accommodate the intricacies of the wall design.
Interior partitions and wing walls are of varied heights and design. Most are mortared New Mexico sun dried adobe block. The sleeping area divider wall is "serpentine" with Egyptian vents along the top. These adobe partitions do not extend to the ceiling. While compromising sound privacy between interior spaces, this technique does enhance the natural convective air flow and distributes it uniformly throughout the home. Jerry emphasizes that this "open concept" also creates a feeling of flow and freedom in contrast to the box-like rooms cells) in typical homes.
The use of adobe in interior walls greatly stabilizes interior temperatures because of mass tempering
and is one of the reasons this home performs so well with solar heating. Minor partitions around the bathroom area are frame (to accommodate the plumbing), but could have been done with adobe, which provides superior sound proofing not attainable with frame walls.
Uncarpeted mass floors (sautilo tile over poured adobe) contribute to the massing stability of the solar design, besides being much less toxic than carpet both in its original manufacture and in the accumulation of allergens and toxins in its use. In the solarium, local flagstone was laid over bedded sand.
Contributing greatly to the sustainability of this structure is the fact that the majority of purchased materials were either salvage or sustainably harvested. The vigas were harvested from standing dead timber. The posts and beams were salvaged from a dismantled Great Salt Lake railroad trestle. The bathroom wall and ceiling boards used as finishes are beetle killed pine. Not only did the use of used materials save money, and reduce environmental impact, but in many instances produced superior materials which are no longer commercially available . A case in point are the clear, straight grained Douglas fir trestle timbers, of very large dimension (4" x 13"). Unfortunatly, this quality of lumber, especially in these dimensions and length is unavailable at any price...due to deforestation of the Pacific Northwest.
Building Size and Room Count
For clarity sake, both interior and exterior building dimension areas are listed here and an equivalent builder's square footage is calculated. Figures quoted are from a take off done by Eldon Krugman.
Interior Sizes: living space: 1619 sq ft Solarium: 260 sq ft Garage 469 sq ft Total: 2337
Exterior Sizes: living space: 1862 sq ft Solarium: 345 sq ft Garage 629 sq ft Total: 2836
In order to make square footages comparable to standard frame construction, a builder's square footage is calculate which weights interior square footages as follows: living space-100%, solarium -100%, garage-50% producing a net total square footage of 2114 sq ft. To this interior space is added the amount of footage that would have been taken by a standard frame exterior wall (the bale walls are much thicker). This amounts to 167 sq ft, which is added to the 2114 sq ft to give a total of 2281 sq ft builder's equivalent area.
Room/Area List: living room, single bedroom, kitchen, single bathroom, study/westroom, solarium pantry, combination library/guest room, 2 car garage.
Lot size: 6 acres

Building Costs:
Because no strict accounting was employed and because the owner followed the "pay-as-you-go" system during this project, precise cost is not known. The builder indicated that he expected the project to cost about $45-50/sq ft ( which would have indicated a total cost of $102,600 to 114,000- at 2281 sq ft.)
Jerry's comment was "He must have been out of his mind!" (Smart Shelter thinks she meant the cost was probably higher)
Over-all case studies for alternative building show, given the builders know what they're doing and the project is not a learning endeavor, that natural building costs about the same as conventional. Conventional frame construction with interior finishes equivalent to this home's at the time of its completion would have probably run in the $70-80/sq ft range (possibly as high as $90/sq ft, if you consider the level of interior finishes, the low-toxic standard and the passive solar design and energy efficiency of the home). That would place the fair market value of the home itself (without land) at $160,000 (@$70/sq ft), $182,000((@$80/sq ft) or $205,000 (@$90/sq ft).
Jerry effected significant savings in a number of ways: (a) This is her third building project and she is experienced in purchasing and coordinating construction. (b) She acted as her own contractor. (c) She is a dedicated and effective shopper. (d) She used salvage or bargain materials extensively...though of high quality. She allowed a very reasonable time frame for the project completion(14 months).
In other projects, these cost reducing techniques have resulted in savings in the range of 10-20% below fair market value (some projects have gone as much as 30% below).
If the equivalent fair market value for the home was $80/sq ft ($182,000) and it was delivered at 20% below fair market value, it's cost might have been $64/sq ft or $146,000.
This cost would not have included land purchase, but would have included site improvements, design, permits, tap fees, utility installations, costs of the building itself.
Also excluded would have been any furnishings, draperies, sprinkler system, landscaping or decorating.
Jerry could recall a few of the specific costs as follows: foundation and stem wall ($8,000), pond, with liner ($11,000), sprinkler system ($8,000), underground utilities $8,000-9,000 including power pole and architect's fee $750.

Construction Schedule:
Construction began in the fall of 1996 and occupancy began on 7 November, 1998...approximately 14 months. At that time items remained incomplete, but the home was livable.

Financing:
Although Jerry did not use commercial financing, it has been obtained for many projects similar to this one. Smart Shelter educates lenders and maintains a resource list of financial institutions supporting sustainable building. Network members have been quite successful attaining such financing, when they are willing to do the legwork and if they are qualified for a normal loan.

Insurance:
No insurance was initially purchased for the home. Jerry approached State Farm locally, ran into problems and decided to just "skipped it". Later Home Loan in Grand Junction insured it "no hassle, no problem". Smart Shelter has done work in the insurance sector similar to that in the banking arena to garner regional support for sustainable building. The Network publishes a report listing about 30 regional insurance agencies willing to insure bale structures. Some of them are State Farm Offices. Usually, it is not a matter of company policy, but the opinion of the individual insurance agent themselves which determines if coverage is granted. There are instances in which one agent in an office would provide the insurance, while another at a desk across the room would not. Contact the Network to save yourself a lot of headaches and wasted time.

Appraisal:
No appraisal was done in conjunction with the construction of this home. Such appraisals should be done on the basis of fair market value for any equivalent stuccoed structure in the neighborhood, based on square footage. To this appraisal should be added a "Green premium" equivalent to 10-20% in consideration of the reduced bills for heating (passive solar design), lack of any need at all for cooling, increase in fire protection(about 3 times that of frame structure), stucco exterior, daylighting (reduced costs) and low-toxic indoor air quality-which is a definite health premium.

Building Team:

Construction manager/ carpenter: Eldon Krugman, 916 White Ave. Grand Junction 81501 245-6138. Eldon supervised the site work and provided most of the carpentry for the project. He left the project prior to it's completion. His prior experience included 13 years with the Energy Office
of Grand Junction, performing energy analysis and energy efficiency retrofits and rehabilitation. Since this project, Eldon reports having completed 5-6 other strawbale homes.
Laborer: Poncho- provided labor for construction, plastering, etc. Acquired from Catholic Outreach.

Inspectors/Code Officials:
Jerry reports a very satisfactory process concerning procedures to attain a permit. An architect or engineer's stamp was required for the plans and was provided. Jerry advises, "Don't try to get away with anything. If you're confronted with a requirement you think is unfair, question it and take a stand." To do an alternative building project requires jumping through new and extensive hoops. This must be done willingly and thoroughly or it won't work.
She found Bob Lee of the Mesa County Building Department to be very cooperative and believes he would consider permits for rubble trench foundations and load-bearing strawbale structures, given the proper engineering certificate.
Jerry did encounter some difficulties with the Orchard Mesa Sanitation District because of a feud between the excavator and the County Roads Supervisor. After some costly delays, she resolved the problem by replacing the excavator
Jerry reported satisfactory procedures with Mesa County Plumbing Inspector.
She reported a minor problem regarding metal outlet box extension requirements on an adobe wall,with the Colorado State Electrical Inspector/ Mesa County, but aside from that, the electrical inspection process was satisfactory.

Subcontractors:
In addition to the subcontractors who provided the foundation, excavation, glass, plumbing system, roofing, stonework, cabinets and security doors, Jerry gives special recognition to the following:
Electrical: Grand Valley Electric- very good report
Stucco: J.C. Lent (Grand Junction) 242-1330- very good, long term contractor in area. Gene Lent did natural stucco from scratch with no prefab materials. They also provided the remedial stucco repair system for the parapet walls (see stucco discussion below). Recommended.
Stone work: Don June (Delta)- installed flagstone over sand in solarium.
Tile: Ed Hunt- Mexican Tile and Design (Grand Junction)-tile supply
Cabinets: Leo's Wood Shop (Grand Junction)- kitchen cabinets-excellent, recommended

Building System Details:

Foundation: 24" wide footer, 12" tall, with a 24" stem wall 18" wide (to accommodate bales). 2 " styrofoam blue board insulation was applied to the exterior as a frost shield. To prevent moisture wicking up through the bale walls, an asphalt sealer was used over the concrete followed by a layer of visqueen plastic was before the bale courses were started.. 1/2" rebar was embedded into the concrete to impale the bale courses to the stemwall.
Concrete footers (12' high, 10" wide) were placed under interior adobe partitions.
Structural system: This is a non-load bearing or "infill" strawbale structure. The roof loads are supported by a post and beam system comprised of bridge timbers (4"x13" split in half) and secured with fabricated Simpson connectors. The vigas and latillas are from standing dead timber secured by Randy Roper" saw mill in Glade Park (near Grand Junction).
Roof: The roof is a clerestory design with a north and a south sloping component offset at the peak to provide space for a set of 3 foot high windows in the ridgline facing south, allowing direct sunlight high into the structure and onto the back wall of the building. This is a very efficient solar design aspect allowing solar heat into the cold north part of the home as well as daylight, eliminating the dark north wall syndrome and brightening the interior tremendously.
The roof frame is engineered lumber (osb) tji's, which are manufactured to load and size specifications to accommodate whatever loading, span and roof frame depth characteristics are needed. Tji's are 12" depth filled with blown cellulose insulation (from recycled newspaper) (r-40 plus).
Roof Covering: plywood over tji's, a layer of roofing felt and metal "Propanel" sheathing.

Ceiling:The Spanish "Viga and Latilla" look is accomplished beneath the structural tji frame of the roof. 1/2" drywall was applied under the tji frame. Peeled poles obtained from Triangle Lumber (between Montrose and Olathe) were split and applied as latillas . Then Colorado pine logs were installed as Vigas below the latillas. Other areas of the ceiling were finished with rough-sawn pine, unplaned and untreated.
Exterior partitions:
Strawbale-(north, east and west walls-except solarium) two string strawbale(15'x18"x36") walls with two coats (appx. 3/4") stucco comprised of adobe clay, sand and 10% portland cement for stabilizer applied over stucco netting (exterior surface only) fastened to the top wall frame and window and door bucks. (see stucco notes below). Interior is 3/4" natural adobe plaster. Jerry notes that old-fashioned hay bale saws (kept properly sharpened) are best for trimming bales (as opposed to chain saws, which clog with the straw cuttings). Asphalt coating was used over concrete foundations in addition to a layer of visqueen plastic, prior to setting bales as moisture protection. Visqueen wrap was used to protect the first course of bales. (note-this is currently not deemed necessary or advisable in bale construction.).
Adobe- (north solarium wall only)- blocks were laid with the 14" direction across the wall to form a 14" thick wall, sheathed with 2" of rigid styrofoam insulation overcoated with exterior mud stucco. Blocks are mortared sun baked adobe from Albequerque, N.M. and are partially stabilized. No blocks are exposed to the exterior. Had they been, the building department would have required them to be fully stabilized. Straw is not used in exterior blocks because it acts as a wick when wet.
Stucco: was made from a mixture of natural adobe mix from building site with 10% cement mixture used over the entire exterior with stucco netting to support the stucco on the exterior of the bale walls only. Jerry reports she had not wanted to use the wire and if she were to build again, she wouldn't. This agrees with the comments of several other strawbale builders in the region who confirm that the netting is not necessary, a big hassle and an added expense, providing no benefit except at wall penetrations.
The soil-based stucco has cracked on the parapet walls. Some areas of cracking were underlain with a metal cover over the bales which damaged the stucco through differential expansion and contraction. A remedial coating of synthetic stucco was applied in the spring of 2000 to the parapet walls as a remedy. The synthetic system used was "STO" B 10S Acrylic over a fiberglass mesh applied with a primary brown coat to the adobe stucco. Color coating is Stolit 1.0, which is made in Austria.
Because of numerous and consistent Smart Shelter case studies of soil-based stucco systems with similar problems, natural adobe exterior stuccos are not recommended in this climate. The recommended system is cement based stucco.
Interior Partitions:
adobe: privacy separations for the sleeping area, kitchenette and pantry are of sun-baked mortared adobe block, with a white slurry (one half lime and one half gypsum). The gypsum and lime mix was infused in the kitchen area with a powdery blue colorant furnished by the stucco distributor.The building department required that all adobe block used in interior partitions be partially stabilized. Partitions do not extend to the ceiling, which augments natural solar heat convection throughout the structure. Use of these massive walls contributes to the cooling and heating storage and temperature stabilization. The solarium and serpentine adobe block walls were left natural.
Frame: The only stick frame walls in the house are those surrounding the bathroom. They are sheathed with blue-stained beatle-killed pine from Doug Jones (sawyer).
Other: French Doors used were bought salvage from Construction Junction in Carbondale.
Interior Wall Coverings: Natural adobe plaster was used to cover bale wall interiors. No wire netting was used on the inside of the bale walls. Jerry emphasizes the importance of doing the "mayonnaise Jar" test for adobe samples to determine the clay content used, which can vary radically from building site to building site, and even from one location to another on the same site. By mixing the soil sample with water in the jar and shaking it, it will settle out sand on the bottom layer, silt in the middle and clay on top-giving a visual analysis of relative contents. 13% or more clay is recommended. when the inevitable cracking occured with application of the first coat,it was simply painted over (filled) with a mud slipcoat and left with its rustic look. The ingredients
had to be sifted through first a course and then a fine screen. This hand mixed coating was used instead of drywall compound or commercial paint because of their containing formaldehyde, mildew repressant chemicals and other toxins. A mixture of soil colors can be used in a slurry consistency and painted over the mud plaster or adobe block walls to attain the desired color and smoothness.
Floors:
Flagstone: from the area was laid over bedded sand in the mudroom/solarium.
Sautillo Tile: Used extensively throughout the home was laid over a poured adobe floor base and mortared. (adobe floor systems are discussed in depth below)
Used Brick: was bedded over sand for the south entryway/patio area.
Fixtures/Decoratives:
Plumbing fixtures, lighting, hardware, etc. was purchased through extensive shopping in want ads, salvage building outlets and thrift stores over a period of years and stored for use in a storage facility...which Jerry insists is the way to save lots of money.
Cabinets/ kitchen:
Cabinets were custom built by Leo's Wood shop- Grand Junction (recommended) The exteriors were resawn fir with a plywood core. Knobs were fashioned out of railroad spikes from the neighboring tracks.
Banco:
A large seating banco near the south windows is made of a strawbale core with standard adobe plaster.
Landscaping:
A 1/2 acre pond was created. It's lined (costs included elsewhere here). Australian trees planted were from a neighbor's cuttings.. A few European Mountain Ash have been planted. Dryland plants (grasses) were sown from "Chelsea" nursery in Clifton. A sprinkler system was installed. Emphasis is given to native grasses. Most of the landscape is left unattended.
Garden walls:
Under construction at the time of the tour will be of adobe.
Notes: Overall, Jerry emphasizes cost savings are in designs with very few doors, using salvage lumber, taking years to shop and store what you want, going to sales and shopping the want ads.

Sustainable Building Systems Used (summary):
Passive solar design, clerestory window, water catchment set up for south roof slope, wood back up heating system, extensive massing in floors and interior partitions, adobe block interior partitions, strawbale shell, standing dead timber posts, salvage materials (both structural and finish), poured adobe floors, reclaimed brick pavers, flagstone floors, non-toxic materials standards, daylighting, xeriscape/native plantings, created pond, sunroom, absence of wall to wall carpeting, natural interior plaster and gypsum seal coat over mud walls.

Sustainable Building Systems Used (notes):

Passive Solar Design: Eldon Krugman analyzed the solar access on this site with a "Solar Tracker". He reports having calculated the building shell heat loss at 4.3 btu/sq ft/ degree day and estimated the passive solar design to supply 35% of the buildings heating needs. Jerry reports experiences that indicate the home is performing significantly better than expected. She indicates the building "idles" at 60 degrees in the winter with no additional heat added. She built 7-14 fires per winter in the last few years (winter have been mild here recently) She also dresses warmly instead of demanding more heat.
Solar heating strategies include a design with most glass on the south wall and extensive thermal mass storage on the interior including floors and interior partitions. The shell is super insulated strawbale with "thin mass" interior plaster throughout, which contributes to the heat storage. Convective heat distribution is enhanced by the absence of interior partitions which extend to the ceiling(open design). The only back up heating is a wood stove.
A four foot eave on the south wall is for architectural reasons, cutting off sun angles early in the heating season. No cooling system is needed in the structure, which is quite comfortable in summer.
Heated interior floor space is 1879 sq ft. Glazing area is approximatly 300 sq ft. This produces a glazing to floor area ratio of about 16%. Conventional rules of thumb indicate optimum performance at 12%. Wall mass area is about 1600 sq ft. Floor mass area is about 1800 sq ft. This means that total indirect exposure mass is 3400 sq ft. Ratio of glazing to indirect mass area is 9% or 1/11. Direct gain mass (mass exposed to direct sunlight) was not calculated for the structure.
The south glazed wall in the sunroom is curved back to accept morning light at an approximate 30 degree angle, which provides a direct sun exposure mass wall and seating area, which warms early in the day. Jerry reports this as quite successful.
Jerry indicates her take on solar glazing is that it needs to extend to the floor line, which is used in the sunroom
Shading Systems: No built shading or landscaping systems were used, except the 4 ft roof overhang on the south side as explained earlier.
Greenhouse/ Sunroom: discussed earlier.
Water Catchment: water catchment was planned for the south half of the roof to be distributed as lawn watering. The system was not installed.
Adobe: (used in plasters, stucco and floor systems) Jerry reports two types/colors of soil on the site: a tan dirt and a gray one, with more sand content. The approximate formula for partially stabilized adobe was 10% portland cement, 20% gray, 30% tan, 40% sand with no straw. The adobe was screened. The practical way of mixing was 3 shovels of adobe, two shovels of sand, 1/2 to 1 shovel of cement. Water was added to a consistency just sufficient to make a ball. Too much water produces excess cracking and shrinkage. To test mixtures, she made balls, let them dry and then dropped them to see if they cracked. Mixtures vary radically and each batch of soil needs testing. Too much sand and they fall apart. Too much clay and they crack or shrink excessively. With a little experience, a feeling for the right consistency for the mood is created...do your own experimenting.
Adobe Floors: Bill and Athena Steen's (Arizona)book "Earthen Floors" was used as a guide to lay adobe floors and subfloors. The book indicates a 2" floor to be sufficient. However, Jerry poured hers 4" deep and thinks this depth would be less prone to cracking. Most floor areas were covered with sautillo tiles bonded with standard mortar mix or thinset mastic to produce a hard, colorful finished surface.. Tile grout was standard cement based.
Adobe Plasters: Jerry experimented with an ancient plaster formula which used animal blood as a bonding agent. She substituted blood meal (used as a soil amendment) acquired from Fruita Coop in the finish coat. Another ingredient is Elmer's Glue.
Stone Floors: Uravan Maveric Sand stone, with blond border over bedded sand installed by Don June (Delta)
Tiles: Hand painted accent tiles were from "Mexican Shop" Santa Fe, off the plaza
Toilet: Low flush 1.5 gpf Kohler
Lav: "Lavabo" Talavera-Mexican Tile and Design- Grand Junction off Patterson Road.
Hot Water: Standard tank water heater
Graywater: not used
Insulation (Ceiling): 12" blown cellulose at r-40
(Foundation): 24 " perimeter blue board frost shield
Wood Stove: Irish Waterford-note-building inspector required installation of 4 ducts to add heating later if necessary. An adobe mass wall was installed behind the stove for fire protection and heat storage.
Art Work: Characterizing the most successful of natural building projects is always a level of artistic expression which signals the victory of the human spirit over dilemma. This is true also of architecture. In the assembly of this new, revolutionary (though also old and vernacular) method of creating shelter, we now see the first projects which have moved the defining characteristics of natural materials into the assembly of art forms.
The architecture of this home is unique: the building seems to grow naturally from the earth. Distinguishing its form are the east and west buttress walls, which are massive and extend in bold lines above the roof...calling to mind the architecture of the Santa Fe .
The four- foot south wall overhang creates strong lines when seen from the front and a deep sense of shelter somewhat reminiscent of the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi,whose homes far to the south were built in sheltering caves.
Greeting the entrances are handcrafted Mexican sun-god faces embossed into the stucco...one with its tongue out...fitting representation of the life forms ingrained in the structure itself and adding humor as well as charm...something we don't see much in stick framed houses clad in vinyl siding.
The quality of finishing in the home's interior makes consistent reference to Jerry's good taste. The investment in finishing details takes the interior beyond what the conventional decorator can produce in a few weeks of shopping.
The quiet and coolness(or warmth...depending on the season) are sensory influences as much a part of the aesthetic experience as the color and forms themselves. One also senses a feeling of protection radiating from the massive walls...which could be quite confining and oppressive if it were not for the daylighting relief of the south glazing walls and the clerestory windows which light the structure and give visual relief.
The toxic, manufactured components of conventional interiors such as wall to wall carpeting, drywall, synthetic texturing, fluorescent tube recessed lighting, formaldehyde-dyed fabric drapery and show room couches and chairs are noticeably missing here...all replaced with natural elements and design.
The landscaping could, in time, become an extension of this building style with the development of habitat around the pond, attraction of diverse plant and animal species. The art and entertainment of the home could seep into what was originally a barren wind-blown promitory overlooking the vast, incised reaches of the Gunnison River canyon desert lands.

Public Education:
Media coverage of the building was courted by the owner and aired on the local tv station. Jerry also did a 1/2 day workshop on bale building. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ran an article on the house. Several local builders toured the home. Jerry estimates 3-400 people showed up to see it. as well as 3 or 4 architects. These visits were mostly triggered by the articles. She became exhausted by the flow and began insisting on set times for tours and asking for 20-30 people at a time to reduce the drain on her time. Visitors came from the Western Slope, New York, and England.

Owner Comments:
"Things I like about the house": Everything. I like the sense of peace that it exudes, its stability and quality, especially its earthy feel.
"Things I liked about the building experience": To be so totally involved in day to day decisions. You have to have a clear idea of the space you want to live in. I loved to see it grow and to be using sustainable products.. It's neat to see the ideas you created grow, to change things. You can't do that with a walk-in house.
"Things I don't like about the house": It's too big for me.
"What would you do differently next time?": Nothing
" General Comments": With enough time, we accumulate what we need. We have a responsibility to the planet to learn to build sustainably...also for affordable housing.
"Are you available for consultation?": Sure.
"What would your next house be?": Another hybridstrawbale, but smaller.

Jerry's Philosophy:
"I am committed to the principle that we do not "own" the land, but that we are merely temporary stewards and are held accountable for how we use or abuse it. ....that as individuals, we are responsible for the health, welfare and care of one another...that what we do and how we live has a profound affect on the common good not only in our own community, but also in the world. To quote Dr. Mourtimour Adler, "As Americans, we must learn to distinguish the difference between buying or acquiring what we want versus what we need."
We must become aware of how the drive for consumerism destroys the economic well-being of third world countries. Our use of oil-based products, mostly non-biodegradable and toxic, in building and in our daily lives pollutes us, the earth and our environment.
As approximately 6% of the world's population, we consume 68% of its resources! Why? Building with sustainable and re-cycled materials, applying solar-passive design, we will know that our habitat will be given back to the earth and that we have contributed to the well-being of future generations and to the poor and suffering."

Bibliography: (books used for research on this project which Jerry recommends)

Solar Greenhouse by Rick Fisher and Bill Yanda John Muir Foundation, Pob 613, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Earthen Floors by Bill and Athena Steen Canelo Project HC1 POB 324, Elgin, Az
85611 (520)455-5548 <absteen@dakotacon.net>

Earthbuilder's Encyclopedia by Joe Tibbits (an absolute must:re Jerry)
Southwest Solar Adobe School, Pob 153, Bosque, NM 87006 (505) 861-1255

How to Build a Horno by Robert Montoya

Cob Builders Handbook by Becky Bee Groundworks, Pob 381, Murphy, OR
97533 <www.cpros.com/~sequoia>

The Strawbale House by Athena Swentzell Steen, Bill Steen, David Bainbridge with David Eisenberg. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction,Vermont 1994