1100 sq ft, designed & owner-built with workshop support at ~$50 per sq ft, completed Summer 1999. Engineered wooden box-beam framing, steel cross-braced exterior walls & gable-style metal roof for rainwater-catchment.
Norm & Cat live in the first straw bale home to have been permitted within Austin's city limits, and they are proof that you can keep a marriage together through the challenge of building your own home. It helps if you take four years and several workshops to do it, but the results are a “Free and Clear” home, in this case.
There are many impressive features in this three story structure, such as hand-crafted native cedar railings outside and sculptured steel railings on the inside stairs. Mottled iron-oxide finishes are on the exterior stucco, and the interior finish is the smoothest old-world style lime-plaster this side of the big river. Unusual touches include bottle-wall sidelights and recycled flooring.
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