so basically, there's people who have the wrong idea about bugs, damp, maintenance etc.

there's 100 year old strawbale houses still standing.

heat insulation is phenomenal, i built one on a very cold day and as soon as the walls were up our body heat was enough to keep us warm inside, without a roof!

sound insulation is phenomenal, they built a single bale width wall around the generator and filmed a tv program 10 meters away.

a properly built plastered straw bale wall is a 2 hour firewall. there's not much air in there to fuel the fire if the bales are compressed. a straw bale house in the uk burnt down recently and the only thing left standing was the straw bale wall. that is not "very flammable".

the problem in the UK is getting a standard certified so that you can get a mortgage, and convincing local corrupt planners that you are not insane.

http://www.strawbale-building.co.uk/index.php?page=faq

it's not like there are zero drawbacks with bricks and mortar.

one of the things i liked best about building that straw house was that a whole big team of unqualified people can learn the skills in about five minutes under an experienced foreman. then you all get together and have fun building, instead of just calling a big ass truck to come and pour tons of concrete into the ground.

also don't forget the fact that if you build your own natural home, it's BEAUTIFUL to live in, these things are really damn nice compared to identikit "american dream" new houses.