Estonian company UNITe that engineers and builds environment friendly module houses has set up approximately ten straw houses in Estonia. As the green way of thinking is spreading, this promises to be only the beginning.

UNITe’s owners Mikk Suursild and Rene Valner built the first so called straw house in Estonia – a sauna in the Soomaa region – in 2002. Prior to that, Suursild worked in the US for an ecological construction company; that’s where he brought straw construction to Estonia from.

“Six years ago, most architects and builders found building from straw more than strange but for us it was rather a new and modern way of creating a simple living space,” Valner explains.

Since then, the men have built and tested various options, built straw houses for themselves and sold such dwelling to client as well. Currently, most of UNITe’s activity consists of energy-saving and environment friendly engineering, only selected items are being built.

Building your house not of stone or wood but straw can make some people smirk. Remember what the three little biggies in the fairytale used to build their houses and what was left of them… 

However, Suursild and Valner think their eco houses have a number of advantages. Low energy content in the material i.e. low carbon dioxide emissions, healthy interior climate of such houses, low heating costs due to good heat retention and capacity, for example. Additional advantages include the low cost price, reusability and independence from the general situation in the construction materials market of the material – timber, straw, celluwool, puiduhakk, clay, lime and sand. A relatively labor intensive grouting process and a long finishing time related to that are the main downsides of straw houses, admits the UNITe crew.

“Straw or roopakk houses face the same challenges as building from any other material; dangers are mostly not related to any specific material but mistakes in engineering and building,” says Valner. “A straw house that is built right is better and less risk prone than regular framed houses in terms of fire safety, interior climate as well as how dampness and rodent safe the walls are.”

An example of how prejudices against straw houses should not be taken seriously is the fact that in the US thousands of such houses have been built and they have often been safe from forest fires – a thoroughly finished grout layer will not let through oxygen and the house will not catch on fire.

Suursild and Valner consider smallness and efficiency as the cornerstones of economy. “In nature, extravagance is rare. Organisms only need the essential to stay alive – no more, no less. Houses that are optimal in size and the design of which is thought through, reserve natural resources, reduce the human impact on nature and ensure sufficient resources for future generations and other species,” they note.  

Eco houses have a smaller ecological “footprint”, they require minimal maintenance, are functional in space, well insulated, use daylight to its maximum for lighting, consume as little as possible of groundwater and utilize renewable sources of energy for functioning. 

Furthermore, in stead of fossil fuels, such houses use the properties of the landscape, sun, wind, rain water, planting, ground, daylight and building materials.

The owners of UNITe have invested couple of thousand USD in development but consider the company not so much a business project as a mission to propagate eco houses at seminars, work shops and other informative activities.

“We find development activities more interesting than working hard just for profit,” says Valner.