Natural Building Experience 2019

In the spring of 2019, we started a project that would send us off into a whole new direction- The Treichlers Project.  Surely one of the few, if not only, permitted Light Straw-Clay room remodels in PA this year.  In case you don't know... Light Straw-Clay is a framework filled with straw that's been coated with slip, made from clay and water.  The interior of the walls were finished with clay plaster (sand mixed with clay from the job site) and the exterior was coated with lime plaster. These natural materials allow for an insulated enclosure while maintaining great breathability, all without the petrochemical energy filled products usually used in construction, like polystyrene and fiberglass insulation, and drywall.   While there were materials used in the building process that did require considerable fossil fuel input (concrete/mortar, CMUs, rock wool insulation, LVLs), we feel like this project was a step in the right direction to reducing our total carbon footprint.  Even the non-kiln dried wall framing lumber came from a local mill.  With support from the Natural Builders Guild of the Lehigh Valley and the Alliance for Sustainable Communities, Lehigh Valley, this project represents the growth of a community that's willing to come together for ethical building practices with respect to our planet.