Home Tour Celebrates Natural Building In Ontario

Oct 17, 2013

Those interested in natural alternatives to building got an eyeful on October 6 as three area homeowners opened their doors to the public. The homes were stops on the Ontario Natural Building Coalition’s (formerly the Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition) annual tour, which took place in regions of Ontario and Quebec. The goal of the tour is to give the public a chance to tour one-of-a-kind custom homes that use innovative, energy saving and sustainable building methods and materials.

I toured two homes, one of which was the straw bale/timber frame home of Bruce Bailey located near Maberly on the Old Brooke Road. The home was designed by Geoff Hodgins and built in 2005 by Bruce's son, Kris Bailey. The 2500 square foot home includes a straw bale studio with a planted green roof and was styled after an old barn. It was constructed with three straw bale walls and is framed with exposed reclaimed timbers. It has a large south-facing glass wall in the main living space for passive solar heat, and the primary heat source is a large wood boiler that fuels the radiant floor heating system throughout the home. There is also a small interior stack wall in the open concept living room that is the home's central focus. A study and kitchen branch off of the living room.

A main central staircase leads up to a similar open concept second floor with bedrooms and bathrooms branching off of it. Bruce, who along with son Kris led the tours, said “ The basic notion in building in this way is recognizing the fact that we have to be more thoughtful about the amount of non-renewable resources that we use.” Bruce said he loves living in the house, loves sharing it with others and he particularly enjoys its openness, especially the different types of light that enter it at different times of the day. The round features typical of straw bale construction are another feature that he ranks high. Other interesting features in the home include a butternut post in the study, as well as the copious amounts of natural reclaimed materials, like the hardwood flooring and wooden doors and trim, which all were salvaged from an old house in Ottawa that was being torn down.

The home took Kris Bailey a year to build and was the first building project for his eco-building company called Dwellings. To date he has completed seven other homes after graduating from the Heritage Carpentry program at Algonquin College in Perth. He explained his basic philosophy when it comes to building: “It is a tendency towards utilizing natural materials and recycling and reusing whenever possible and whenever it makes sense but also trying to build for comfort and beauty as well. It's having a familiarity and comfort with the materials that are going into a home that make it special for the home owner. The timbers in this house, for example come from a barn in Glen Tay.”

The house was originally built off grid and later acquired hydro to avoid the use of a generator. Currently Kris is building homes using straw bale panels, a newer kind of natural straw material that is also becoming popular with eco builders. What is Kris' advice to those considering building in natural and alternative ways? “People should not be daunted. It's no longer a scary thing. It's becoming more familiar and common and there are a lot of resources out there and a lot of people who have experience and can help.”

The second home I toured was the business home, studio and garden of Ross and Kathryn Elliott, owners of Homesol Building Solutions. The company works with builders to create super energy-efficient homes and buildings that in Katherine's words “go way beyond the building code.” The couple, who admit to having “a serious green building habit”, recently completed one of their own personal projects - the vegetarian café attached to their renovated farm home. The 900 square foot café is called “Lively Up” and took them three years to complete. It was constructed using an insulated concrete form (ICF), which Katherine described as “Lego for big boys”. It has radiant in-floor heating heated by a Swedish wood/gasification boiler and a geothermal heat pump as a back up system. The walls are clay and the floor marmoleum. The café counter is made with silestone, an artificial quartz material made solely from recycled materials. The café includes an upper floor that houses their Bowmana's Boutique, where they sell all natural and recycled clothes.

The café earned a LEED Canada for Homes Gold certification and is rated R2000. It also earned an Energy Star rating as well and it is as beautiful to look at as it is energy saving and efficient. It seats 30 and houses a large film screen and audio visual system, which makes it a great space for holding special community events. Behind the café sits the Elliotts’ former residence, a 700 square foot straw bale building, a curvy, story-book-like abode that will become the office for the couple’s soon to be launched design/build business called 4syte Design/Build. The business will open in 2014 and will serve clients looking to construct super energy-efficient and sustainable homes and buildings. The building was designed around huge old maple trees on the site. Ross later told me that they are able to heat the café, home, straw bale office/studio and greenhouse using about one single bush cord of wood.

Behind the café is the 1500 square foot greenhouse, which has a soap bubble insulating system that traps soap bubbles between plastic sheets and which earned its Energy Guide 90 rating. Katherine also created “edible landscape features” all over the property.

For those who did not make it out to the tour, the Lively Café, located at 981 Concession Road 11 in McDonalds Corners is a must see and is open regularly throughout the week.