Delbot

Hi all, We have got planning for an offgrid 2/3bed strawbale house in Mid-Devon which we are aiming to be near passive house standard. If anyone wants to look at the plans the application number on the Mid Devon portal is 20/01631/FULL. We are aiming to be cement free so my present dilema is the foundations. I have worked on car tyre foundations before and they were very labour intensive, also not sure on the lifespan of the tyres. we have looked at building on gabions filled with stone but these have a suggested lifespan of 60 years. We have thought about using trenches full of clean compacted 40mm stone with the ring beam for the bales sitting on top but the structural engineers want us build a block wall on top of the stone. I would be keen to here other peoples thoughts especially if anyone has experience with cement free foundations. Thanks, Del

Hi, we are in Mid Devon and recently got planning for an offgrid strawbale house near Cullompton. The planning took 14 months to get. We had a very good planning consultant and support from a local councillor who took our application to the commitee for consideration after the planning officer refused it. We purposely did not go down the paragraph 79 route as we were told it was very expensive and time consuming. Our build sounds very similar to yours, only 3 bed though. The main thing I am having difficulty with at the moment is the cement free foundations, I have worked on car tyre foundations before, very labour intensive. Friends in Castle Cary built their straw house on Gabions filled with stone.What are your plans? I'd be very interested to compare notes. All the best with your project.