Straw Bale House in Morin Heights Quebec

At the top of a mountain in Morin Heights sits our comfortable two-story, airy and artsy straw bale house. We are shaded by maple, birch and beech trees in the summer and up to our windows in snow in the winter.

The house itself took 3 years to build with a baby coming along during the first year to add to the excitement. The construction uses trees from the property as posts, old recovered beams from a nearby barn to support the second floor and roof, actual straw bales in the walls covered with a mix of clay, sand and an outer shell of lime stucco. We had a lot of help to build this house and just putting clay on the walls took a whole summer. There are also a lot of details that give the house its charm, from the trees on the inside, one of which has a branch reaching up to touch the cathedral ceiling, to the face of the Roman God on the top of the east wall. Small alcoves are shaped into the clay walls on the interior and the clay is also rounded around all of the windows which are set deep in the walls.

The challenge of coordinating and putting together this unconventional house was actually very rewarding and created interesting challenges at every step. Now we are enjoying the house with its open spaces, large kitchen and comfortable rooms.

For more details on the actual construction, complete with a photo gallery, see our straw bale construction page.

Come for a Visit

If you are looking to rent the house in any season to experience the comfort of living in a straw bale house, or if you are interested in building a straw bale house and want to see our home, please contact us by email: Jaso@sympatico.ca.

See a poster for a workshop that we are giving on straw bale construction.

See our house in a recent article in the magazine la Maison du 21e siecle.