Straworks Inc.

Straworks Inc. Straw Bale Building & Design Company Straworks Inc. is one of Ontario's well established straw bale building companies. radius of home.

We are located in Peterborough, ON, and work within a 1 hr. We offer straw bale building, design, our own engineered wall system, plastering, consulting and project management services to ensure your home is built the way you want it done. We take pride in our work and have fun doing it, because when built properly, straw works.

05/24/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 More plastering the arch!




MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 FINISH LIME PLASTER. All hands on deck (Carol, Solomon, Mike, Karla and Miles) to plaster the arch. We l...
05/16/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 FINISH LIME PLASTER. All hands on deck (Carol, Solomon, Mike, Karla and Miles) to plaster the arch.

We let the lightly scratched clay-lime plaster set up for two weeks before applying a thin (1/4”) coat of lime plaster. During that time, Mike filled low spots with a clay/lime/sand mix (light patches in the photos).

FINISH LIME PLASTER RECIPE: (3 sand: 1 binder ratio)
⚪ Two 5-gallon buckets of water
⚪ small handful of poly fibre (multi filament)
⚪ 18 shovels of brick sand
⚪ 1 bag of hydrated lime plaster (Bondcrete Air Entrained by Graymont)
⚪ 18 shovels of brick sand

Let mix for 10 minutes, and adjust water as needed.




MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 FINISH LIME PLASTER. All hands on deck (Carol, Solomon, Mike, Karla and Miles) to plaster the arch! We l...
05/16/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 FINISH LIME PLASTER. All hands on deck (Carol, Solomon, Mike, Karla and Miles) to plaster the arch!

We let the lightly scratched clay-lime plaster set up for two weeks before applying a thin (1/4”) coat of lime plaster. During that time, Mike filled low spots with a clay/lime/sand mix (light patches in the photos).

FINISH LIME PLASTER RECIPE: (3 sand: 1 binder ratio)
⚪ Two 5-gallon buckets of water
⚪ small handful of poly fibre (multi filament)
⚪ 18 shovels of brick sand
⚪ 1 bag of hydrated lime plaster (Bondcrete Air Entrained by Graymont)
⚪ 18 shovels of brick sand

Let mix for 10 minutes, and adjust water as needed.




MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 GO VEERY! Solomon’s daughter loves to plaster and we love having her out. The last time she developed her...
05/03/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 GO VEERY! Solomon’s daughter loves to plaster and we love having her out. The last time she developed her own technique of placing mud patties on the wall and blending them with a trowel. This time she worked alongside her dad and uncle Miles ALL DAY and learned to put it on with a trowel like a pro! And check it: Thanks to Veery we had a 50/50 split of 2 genders that day 💪. Go, Veery! Your doing great!




04/26/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 CLAY -LIME PLASTER!! 😊 Who doesn’t love a good recipe, eh 🍁? My favourites are cabbage roll casserole, kale salad, and clay-lime plaster. After a light coat of clay-slip, we loaded these bale walls with 44 mixes of this tried-and-true delight.

This recipe hasn’t really changed in over a decade. I just copied it and pasted it below from a post 6 years ago when we were building the Rotary Health Centre. It works. It’s great!

Trowellers love it because it is very satisfying to apply. It can go on thick or thin and allows them to level the bale walls with ease. It also offers a vapour-permeable seal that will chemically and mechanically support a durable lime plaster finish.

It’s a great mix to learn on which brings me to my next post about Veery Johnston joining us. (She’s the little one working away in green in the video)

BASECOAT CLAY-LIME PLASTER:
** using a 3-gallon bucket
🟡2 water
🟡2 chopped straw *
🟡2 loose straw **
🟡 6 granite infield mix (75% sharp granite sand, 25% clay),
🟡 1 brick sand
🟡 1 hydrated lime
🟡 water as needed
- Mix for 10 minutes and enjoy!
* trimmings from w**d whacking bales
** straw boss - fine



04/18/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 What a dining room! This collaboration between the homeowners, Coolearth Architecture, and Straworks is really taking shape 😊.


MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 Safecoat Polyureseal BP, supplied by Eco Building Resource, is still our first choice for a non-toxic, no...
04/10/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 Safecoat Polyureseal BP, supplied by Eco Building Resource, is still our first choice for a non-toxic, non-yellowing, hard-wearing finish for pine widow stools. This is the third project in a row using it. Here, we are doing 2 coats on the bottom and sides, and 4 on the top and front on all 22 stools before installation.

04/05/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 This week Mike and I installed all 22 pine window stools that we had prefit and prefinished. We are getting really close to plastering now!

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MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 It’s not every day that I get to build a straw bale arch! I’ve only done one before and that was in 2009....
02/22/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 It’s not every day that I get to build a straw bale arch! I’ve only done one before and that was in 2009. Thank you to my clients for the opportunity to put my carpentry skills, creativity and love for construction geometry together. I’ve had all the fun so far but Mike, and the other trowellers will have their fun when it comes time to plaster it. Scroll through to see the step-by-step starting with a compass made from a piece of plywood and a screw.
Jane Laut, wherever you are, my construction geometry professor at Algonquin College, Perth Campus in 2004, this one’s for you!

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MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 Douro, ON: Here are some detail shots of how we air-seal the joint between interior plaster and the VETT...
02/16/2026

MEADOW HOUSE 🌾 Douro, ON: Here are some detail shots of how we air-seal the joint between interior plaster and the VETTA windows and doors. We install 3 rounds of tape before they go in - before is key because there isn’t enough room to do it properly, and so the plaster covers the tape, after.

1️⃣ The interior perimeter is taped with CONTEGA SOLIDO IQ by ProClima and sold by 475. It sticks to the window, and the plaster sticks to its fleecy surface creating a robust air seal at a traditionally leaky joint. CONTEGA has a double-release paper on the back and that is key. It allows us to stick a portion of the tape (3/4” of 2 3/8”) to the window before installation, and peel and stick the rest after. At the corners, we make a pleat proportional to the gap around the window and turn the corner so there is only one joint.

2️⃣ The exterior is also taped with CONTEGA in much the same way. On this job, plaster is not the exterior finish so we technically don’t need the fleecy surface but we are confident in how it adheres, it is air and water-tight, has the double-release paper, and logistically it’s easier to use the same tape for both the interior and exterior.

3️⃣ We tape the inside perimeter of the pine with PLASTIMASK by Canteck available from TimBr Mart to define the finish line where the plaster meets the window and to keep it clean.

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Address

500 Paterson Street
Peterborough, ON
K9J4P7

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