Posted By: Nedingtonhello, does anyone out there live in a strawbale house and can let me know what they recommend for foundations?

I live in a strawbale house, and we are pleased with our choice of a passive slab.

We are going cement free, we are considering a few options but would love to her from someone with 1st hand experience.

Ah, so you probably won't be going for a passive slab. Straw bale builders tend to fall into a couple of groups, those with an emphasis on natural materials and those more interested in performance. I looked at a suspended timber floor on micropiles but that was quite expensive and looked trouble prone to me (but then I have no experience to judge by). A lot depends on the ground conditions where you are building, so do get a good survey before deciding what foundations to use. And obviously a two-storey house needs stronger foundations than a bungalow.

Some people have used old car tyres rammed full of earth, which Barbara Jones likes, other people have built brick dwarf walls, but again you have to decide what's under them. A lot of it will also depend on your notion of what's OK and what's not. Some people reckon limecrete is OK but concrete is not. I reckoned a load of recycled hardcore and GGBS concrete with EPS between them was OK. A chat I had with Bill Steen was influential in deciding me.