lighting

Ceilings, frame walls, and stem walls are always an option for plumbing and electrical locations. When you do have to run these systems through a bale wall, how do you do it?

Plumbing leaks are more critical within straw bale walls than within stick frame walls for obvious reasons: straw rots pretty quickly if it gets wet and stays wet - a lot quicker than 2×4s would rot. As a precaution, it is best to keep most of the plumbing within interior walls and run the water into the house through a stem wall. The highest standards of fitting can help minimize the risk of leaks. Careful planning eliminates unsightly messes at this point. Before beginning construction, you should plan for water to enter where pipes will not be seen in plain view, such as under a sink or in a mechanical closet. Use of the stem wall is appropriate for running water into your structure.

The electrical system in a bale home is the same as in a stick frame home from the circuit breaker to the switches and fixtures. However, electrical wiring has different installation methods in a straw bale wall. UF (Underground Feeder) cable is recommended for its durability and moisture resistance. A metal “needle” is used to thread the wire from the exterior to the interior where necessary. A chainsaw is used to cut a 1.5 inch channel in the straw bale walls. The wire is stuffed into the channel or in the seam between bales and run to switch and fixture locations. Plug and switch boxes are screwed to a wooden stake which is driven into the bale to keep the box in place.

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Pull the cord five times, or shake one up for 90 seconds, sounds like a novelty, but it's how you turn on a battery-free flashlight. Not only do they have the benefits of a long-lasting LED bulbs, but they run without batteries. How they work is through magnetic induction and dual coils that when shaken charges a capacitor instead of a battery. The Shakelight 60 is one model available at www.generationgear.com. It seems to be one of the best, where 90 seconds of shaking allows for 60 minutes of usable light. Light dims and fades for an additional hour afterwards. If you shake it for 10 seconds, the light lasts 10 minutes. To recharge, all you do is shake it again. The light working range is about 30 feet. It sells for 19.95. The 3-LED Dynamo battery-free flashlight works by pulling a cord five times, and retails for 5.96. The light range and usable light time varies respectively with all the models. There are some models that can provide a light range up to one mile. Check out overstock.com for more values, but be sure to look for battery-free not just LED. Finally, a flashlight that can hide out in your car, storage or emergency kit and still work on demand.

You may have noticed I've been musing on lighting.

Despite silly recycled lamps documentation, I am technical in nature and have been mulling over lighting, wiring, and outlets for our off grid casa ti we're building as soon as it's warm enough to pour the foundation.

Here are my thoughts:

We are doing everything possible to minimize expense and maximize efficiency.

By advance planning for outlets/wiring, we can designate it into our SIPs panels, therefore increasing efficiency and decreasing further labor.

As an off grid house, by using DC power wherever possible (not just in lighting), it is more efficient than using the inverter and eliminating the less efficient pull between the power source and power consumer.

By proposing in advance where you need lighting, you benefit by using lower voltage.

We plan to further expedite efficiency by hanging our lights from the ceiling where needed-- but the switch is not in the wall, it is in the wiring to the lamp itself! (Swag lighting) That bypasses all of the complexity of wiring, saving energy daily in use, as well as initial construction expense.

Think of the flexibility! If you want to move the dining table (uhm, I do that sometimes...) and then, the light, you simply move the hook in the ceiling and re-hang the light.

On a design note, this is a perfect opportunity to use interesting wires/steel cables that are so popular with halogen systems for visual *and* practical effect.

Taaaa-daaaa! (stands up, brushes off jeans with a satisfied smile)
Whew. My lighting musings are over.
Onward!

I am searching for lighting.

We have been fortunate to find most of our lamps in thrift stores.

But I have been thinking of the casa ti we're building... and darned it, I'm itching for a little design! So, yes, I haven't even started construction, but this girl's got lighting on the brain.

I ran across a site, that has a great selection: http://www.gnr8.biz/categories.php?cPath=1_20&page=all

What I like about their offerings is that the lighting is modern, yet not too cutesy whimsical, or too "let's just copy something retro" and that there are a lot of affordable products. What I *would* like to see are more environmentally friendly offerings... readers, do any of you have suggestions for these manufacturers to replace the polyether that is used in so many affordable, attractive lighting designs?

Here is one I could totally see over my dining table:



Love how the part that hangs down is at an angle so that you could easily see your fellow diners instead of, like many low hanging lamps, obscuring them.

And of course, just for fun, this train of thought led me to walk around snapping pictures of our own locally recycled lamps, ALL previously owned before finding their way into our household!

Here they are!

We actually have tons more in the basement in storage... it makes you realize *how much* you can do / decorate through recycling! (Pretty much any of the furniture you see was recycled as well) In fact, doing this just made me realize... I have never bought a new lamp! ... and... Wow, I have a lot of lamps!

The advent of compact fluorescents has been a boon for energy savers everywhere, but to date the things have been rather utilitarian to look at. A lampshade goes a long way, true enough, but there's something innatelty satisfying about good design, even in ordinary objects like light bulbs. Well, CFLs have been around long enough now that a few brave and enlightened souls (forgive the pun), have been inspired to create art with them. Hulger's Plumen Project is a "reaction to the lack of real diversity, imagination and personality offered by the market today."  Their twisty, witty bulbs make you want to put the lampshade on your head and throw a party. Link via Inhabitat.

Equally delightful is the recycled fluorescent tube light by artist Castor Candensis.