Straw house you say?

Grenfell - Building homes with straw may seem like a foreign concept to many in Saskatchewan but in other provinces, such as Ontario and B.C., it is becoming more familiar.
Dan Kreuger, a Moose Jaw native, studied the construction of straw bale homes in Ontario and became fascinated by the process.
Kreuger moved to Moose Jaw about a year ago with his business, Ecohaus Solutions and is presently working on a project in Pilot Butte.
"It's a fun way of building," said Kreuger.
Although the building timeline may take from eight months to a year before completion, the end result is a "well built, energy-efficient home."
"I have seen homes go up in like a month . . . I just don't know if I trust that," said Kreuger.
One of the best parts about building a straw bale home, is that it has to be built extra conservatively, said Kreuger.
There are a lot of little details and personal touches that the contractor or homeowner can add to make it a special and unique home.
People who are looking to build a straw bale home have most likely done their research so they know that this is a process, said Kreuger.
Also because this is still a niche market, the people building these homes are looking to spend the time, he said. "These are not flippers. These are people looking to build forever homes."
If built correctly, and with the addition of a few other energy saving devices, such as solar panels, a homeowner could save up to 40 per cent on his or her utility bill, he said.
"(These homes) can be incredibly inexpensive to maintain too," said Kreuger.
In the winter, half of the utility cost in a normal home is heating the house and the other half is keeping the heat in.
With straw bales a person no longer has to worry about losing the heat because the straw is compacted too tightly it makes a great insulator, said Kreuger.
He said one concern people may have before building a straw bale home is fire but because the straw is so compact and there is about an inch to an inch and half of plaster on each side of the straw, fire is no more likely then in any other house.
With Kreuger's recent project nearing an end, he would like his next goal to be to build a straw bale house in Moose Jaw.