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.

Meet Gigi! A new full-time hire at Straworks. Gigi is a 25-year-old carpentry apprentice with 4 years of experience unde...
07/12/2026

Meet Gigi! A new full-time hire at Straworks. Gigi is a 25-year-old carpentry apprentice with 4 years of experience under her belt. She is well on her way to becoming a Red Seal carpenter and will complete her apprenticeship hours over the next couple of years working at Straworks. Gigi is a hardworking, cheerful carpenter eager to learn and get things done. I’m delighted to have her and looking forward to telling her everything I know!

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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500 Paterson Street
Peterborough, ON
K9J4P7

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