Forestburgh straw bale home on display on October 6

A stop on the Green Building Open House tour

By FRITZ MAYER

FORESTBURGH, NY — When Richard Mandelbaum and Gabrielle Kahn decided to build their home on Plank Road in Forestburgh three years ago, they wanted to make it as green as possible, while keeping the cost within their relatively modest budget.

They decided on a straw-bale house because, said Mandelbaum, they can be built for a cost no greater than that of a similar stick-built house, and, often, for less. And, according to Mandelbaum, the insulation value of the walls is two to three times greater than traditional walls, resulting in significant savings in the cost of heating and cooling the house.

The couple designed the house with the help of an engineer, and hired a green building specialist to construct it.

The result was a home impressive enough to be listed with the Green Building Open House tour in 2005. The home was also on the tour the next year, and will be open to the public again for the 2007 tour, which will take place on October 6, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Green Building Open House is part of the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour, and is organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) in the New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. NESEA is still compiling the list of homes and buildings that will participate this year, but the organization said that hundreds of buildings will be included in the tour.

Mandelbaum said the main feature visitors will notice are the thick adobe-looking walls. This is because the house is “built on a post-and-beam frame of local white pine, the straw bale walls are covered with all-natural non-toxic earth plaster, with pine siding on the exterior and milk-based paint on the interior,” according to 2006 NESEA literature.

Mandelbaum said hay bales are susceptible to damage from excessive moisture, so special consideration is given in the house design to keep the interior of the walls dry, such as building larger-than-normal roof overhangs to prevent rain from constantly hitting the exterior walls.

However, there are many other “green” elements in the home, such as recycled cotton material used to insulate the roof, and radiant heating in the cement slab foundation. Also, reclaimed construction materials, such as rigid foam insulation, were used whenever possible.

Mandelbaum said, “We like to have people see the house during the open house. It’s once a year; we don’t always get a lot of people because there aren’t a lot of buildings near here on the tour, but we always get some.”

Visit www.nesea.org for more information on the Green Buildings Open House.