Blanca, Colorado

What makes your home a Green or Healthy Home?

Totally off-grid strawbale home

Property Description

Forty-seven. Many owner-builders arrive at their strawbale home build with skills gained over years of working with their hands, while some have never even used a hammer. In the case of this strawbale house for sale, the owner brought 47 years of building experience and knowledge to the design-build house construction process. And, while he couldn’t be happier with the result of his labor, life has brought new chapters, and it is time to pass his craftsman home onto a new owner.

Alternative building techniques captured his interest in the 80’s and continually developed from there. He believes strawbale home construction is “…an excellent choice for an owner builder. It’s an easy type of construction in a lot of ways. A lot less labor intensive than the earthship I built for my son!” His ongoing interest in building technologies, the easy access to quality local oat bales, and the sustainable qualities of strawbale construction techniques made it a perfect fit for the area. He designed the home to take advantage of passive heating through solar gain and for energy efficiency. Combined with the highly insulated strawbale walls, it makes for a cozy home even when cold outside. Just in case a little auxiliary heat is needed,  a high efficiency wood burning stove is centrally located with more than 5 cords of wood on-site. 

Built to last, with durability and craftsmanship as top priorities, he chose post and beam infill walls, metal roofing, quality materials, and more. “I build very practically. I’m not a chicken little, but I’d much rather sleep well at night knowing Mother Nature is taken care of, so I tend to overbuild and build for low maintenance.” Knowing the area occasionally sees wind events, he built to secure against the extreme of any local storms and has had great success with this home. One of his favorite features is the soundproofing quality of the bale walls; it is beautifully quiet inside.

The home is situated on land that is centrally located to town amenities but remote enough that it is ‘so quiet it kind of hurts your ears.’ This spot offers a meditative atmosphere with its 360-degree mountain views, well-known in the San Luis Valley. It’s also situated near the base of Mt. Blanca, a place of sacred significance.

Neighborhood Description

Rural sparsely populated with farm fields close by with county maintained dirt roads

Market Area

The major town of Alamosa is a 35 minute drive with two grocery stores, Walmart, lumber and hardware stores,  etc.

School District

Grade schools, middle school and high school within half hour drive

Community

Rural quiet community 

Location of Home or Land

Rural

Elevation of Home

Mountain

Energy & Water