Straw Bale Construction

Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw (commonly wheat, rice, rye and oats straw) as structural elements, insulation, or both. Straw-bale construction has advantages over conventional building systems because of the renewable nature of straw, its cost, easy availability, and its high insulation value.

R-Ratings provide a guide as to how good a particular material is an insulation. The higher the value the better. Straw Bale as a rating of R5.5. Insulation batts for the ceiling (called "pink-batts" here in WA) have between R2.5 and 3.5 at best.