Practical Course: Straw Bale Building with Salli Gosling
Mon 3 Jun 2024 8:45 AM - Fri 7 Jun 2024 5:00 PM
Tarskavaig, Isle of Skye, IV468SA
Description
Join us for a 5-day practical course, led by Salli Gosling, where you'll be learning all the essential skills of building with straw bales. This course welcomes people of all building abilities, and our building sites are renowned for attracting wonderful, welcoming people, so you'll feel at home on this course no matter whether you're a beginner or an experienced craftsperson.
Tarskavaig, Isle of Skye, UK
We will be building a 1.5 storey straw bale house with a tin roof. Our Straw Bale Building course covers the practical aspects of building with straw, and by the end of the course, participants will have gained both knowledge and hands-on construction experience which includes;
- How to identify a good construction bale
- How to dress and customise bales
- Notching bales
- Load bearing and infill techniques
- Creating reveals around windows and doors
- Making the walls straight
- Compression of the wall
- Preparing straw bale walls for plastering
- and much more!
ABOUT THE LIVE BUILD:
Learning with us on this project will give you experience with building load bearing strawbale walls on a raised platform with a focus on using low-impact, natural and recycled materials. This includes how to build and compress straw bales and how to trim the bales to receive clay plaster. Solar photovoltaic panels will later be set up on the croft, to power air-source heat pumps for heating. Participants will receive a Straw Bale Build certificate from the School of Natural Building.
Salli is a graduate of SNaB’s prestigious training programme, and since graduating has taught on many of our courses, to great acclaim. She has a background in education and teaching, and is well equipped to ensure that participants have a wonderful learning experience. Working as a natural builder for almost ten years, Salli is currently building her own large workshop from straw-bales and is planning a straw rebuild of the family home within the next year.
The School of Natural Building is a not-for-profit BenCom, set up to benefit communities, and doesn't receive external funding. However, we believe in driving representation within the construction and building industry, and price our courses as fairly as we can to ensure that they remain accessible. Our prices include tuition, all materials, tools and equipment, and daily refreshments (bring your own packed lunch).
Price: £200/person total for full week
Practical courses take place on construction sites, which often means participants will be walking on rough terrain or through spaces which pose accessibility issues. Those with reduced mobility or in wheelchairs should reach out to us for more information regarding the accessibility of the specific course site you'd like to join, and we can assess the options together.
The School of Natural Building believes in the urgency of the climate challenge, and our work is fundamentally about supporting a low-carbon future where people live in ways which bring us closer to the earth, back into community with our ecosystem and back to ourselves. For this reason, we urge participants to travel to our course locations via public or shared transport where possible. We'll connect course participants via email in advance of the course, to facilitate ride-sharing.
ACCOMMODATION
It is up to participants to organise their own accommodation and there are no camping facilites on-site. However the host has arranged rooms with local residents available for £35 per night - These are limited and offered on a first come, first served basis. Here are some other accommodation options gathered by the host within walking distance: Rum View in Tarskavaig; Peters Cottage; Braeside cottage; Joan's House. And within driving distance: Flora Macdonald Hostel. Other places you could look for accommodation are in the nearby villages of Ord, Armadale and Aird, or anywhere along the road between Broadford and Armadale Port.
There are limited places on this course, and booking is essential. Please use the button below to pay and secure your place. Please note that for insurance reasons, all participants must be 16 or over. We look forward to meeting you on site, but if you have any questions ahead of attending, please email schoolofnaturalbuilding@gmail.com.
Location
Tarskavaig, Isle of Skye, IV468SA