Nad Kad’s Cosy and Cool Natural Home in Iowa

One man’s battle against conformity to create a beautiful straw bale home.

​I love to hear of people beating the odds to build a natural home. And we all have different odds to beat. Nad Kad and Sue’s beautifully crafted straw bale and clay home in Iowa is a testament to resilience and perseverance. It took six years to create this beauty. Many times Nad wanted to give up. He was (as we natural builders so often are) faced with ridicule and a lack of encouragement. But he prevailed, and now gets to spend the rest of days lounging in front of his stunning rocket stove with a cup of cocoa in his hand and wry smile on his lips.

But why did Nad even take on this mud and straw mission in the first place?

“I stumbled across cob homes on the internet and fell in love with the organic shapes and apparent ability to be built by a non-builder,” says Nad. “Eventually, I found straw bale homes and thought they would fit better in our very cold winters.”

Sounds like a great plan! Straw bale homes are indeed snug and highly insulating.

​“I was very attracted by the energy efficiency of clay, the ability of clay to moderate temperatures and humidity...and I loved the look of clay walls,” he adds. And thus a dream was born.

It all starts here...

Moving from Research to Action 
Everyone goes on their own journey when they build their own home. Unlike my gung-ho, let’s-dive-in-and-give-it-a-go approach, Nad is a careful researcher. He has built a home for the long haul, and it was no mean feat. This is a very large build for a first attempt, and executed with professionalism throughout. It wasn’t easy, though. You have to be a certain kind of person to stick with a house build for six years.

I’ve been studying different approaches to building for a while now. Everyone is unique. However, usually it’s the leapers who make it happen, as the researchers seem to get stuck on a Mobius strip of YouTube videos. Nad Kad is one of the rare few who did the painstaking research and then got off the blocks. And how!

“I did ten years of research, reading about methods and asking questions in natural building Facebook groups. I learned as much as I could at a desk and as soon as we moved back to the US (we had been in the Philippines), I joined a three-day natural building workshop and it really excited me. That was the push I needed to believe I could build a house.”

​This is a great piece of information, because somehow you have to find a way to shift yourself from the head stuff to the action. Nad did it with a workshop.

A massive project.

Weather and Work
This house is a testimony to patience and resilience. It took Nad six years of slog to build his home, and he had to take frequent breaks.

“I was working a part-time job...I could not work on my home until July each year, and then I could only work on it up until freezing weather”.

​Weather is an important consideration in building. I know when I moved to rainy northern Spain, I hadn’t factored just how many days would be cancelled because of the wet. Snow is worse! It completely brings things to a standstill.

When it snows in Iowa, it REALLY snows.

Overwhelm

However, it wasn’t simply the weather Nad was battling against. Building a home can feel pretty hardcore some days. Once you start, you realise you need a lot more psychological tools in your toolbox than you do screwdrivers and spanners.

“I was stressed each time the project took a turn. I would spend weeks or months between each phase in order to regroup, build up my knowledge of the next task, and work my courage up for the next challenge.”

​I think all builders know this feeling. You’ve got the foundations in, and then suddenly it’s the walls or the roof, and you’re like, “Oh my Lordy Lord, this is huge! How will I do it?”

The roof usually makes us gulp.

A Helping Hand
Nad has been very open and honest in this interview, which is so much more helpful than a bunch of bravado. He did millions of things right throughout the project, utilising all the resources available to him. But I suspect his most intelligent decision was to get a bit of help in at the right time. Too many people turn stubborn (ahem) and let pride start ruling the project. It’s usually fatal. No one on the face of the Earth truly builds alone. There are always people in the background helping lift heavy beams, preparing meals, or washing clothes.

Talking of which, where’s Sue? Well, she spent those six chilly, mud-spattered years in a mobile home, keeping Nad fed and watered, so she deserves her own medal. People have divorced for far less, after all. He he.

​“Once the walls were up I could work through the winter. That definitely sped up the process,” explains Nad. “Before the interior work was started, I met a natural builder, Jim Schalles, and that really helped the project move forward. He worked for me two to three days a week and he worked every bit as hard as me, maybe even harder. He also allowed me to eliminate the pause between phases. His knowledge and experience were immensely beneficial.”

Helping hands — Jim and Nad on the rocket stove.

The Importance of the Visionary
I would say here, Nad is being humble though. Because projects do have owners or leaders, and they are the make or break of it. It’s ultimately that person’s drive to keep going and ability to hold onto the vision in the face of adversity, that makes a house appear. Credit where credit is due!

What were Nad’s biggest challenges?
So we have weather, part-time jobs, and overwhelm. But what was the biggest challenge?
“There were so many decisions that became fatiguing for me. Also the danger of making a mistake in my processes and materials...These decisions often were made during the breaks...and that caused me to dwell on them, go into a depression and really struggle to push forward.”

I really get this. My advice to anyone feeling paralysed by the sheer scale of the task at hand, is to break it down into the smallest chunks possible, and just tackle the first small step without worrying about the second or third. It’s amazing how as soon as you’re off the blocks, the thing seems to just happen.

Linseed oil going on the earthen floor.

A cultural mandate:
“Another major challenge was the cultural mandate to be just like everyone else. Real pressure to abandon the build was exerted over and over. Those people said I was giving the community a reason to ridicule me. No one should take six years to build a house, they said. If I had used ‘normal’ materials, I could have had a house in a few months.”

Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been your house, Nad. It would have been a soulless sheetrock box.

I used to think I was receiving this kind of negativity because I’m a woman. But I’ve since learned, numbskull comments are the knee-jerk reaction of a mainstream that hasn’t even the courage to support what you’re doing, never mind actually do it! Personally I think this is going to be any natural builder’s greatest obstacle. You just have to shut out the naysayers, keep your vision in your head, plough on regardless, and wait for the day when those same people’s jaws drop.

Overcoming the challenges​
So how did Nad deal with those difficult pauses, and where did he find the courage to keep going?

“First, thinking about the entire process of building as a huge experiment. Second, my wife was an encourager. She pushed me when I was frozen. When I was really stuck she would say the dreaded words, ‘We can just buy a prefab home’, and that would shock me out of my inactive period.”

He he, yes there’s something in this. I often wonder if I’d have built anything much had I not had the spectre of winter breathing down my neck. Sometimes fear of the alternative can galvanise us.

Nad and Sue’s straw bale home has had years of sweat and love poured into it, and it shows. The final result is magnificent. It boasts so many extraordinary features, I can’t cover them in a single post. There is the massive and beautiful cob rocket stove, a cob island in the kitchen, a cob bathroom sink, gorgeous earthen floors, and (my personal fave) a beautiful burnished kitchen backsplash, which I’ll be covering in the next article.
​
Things we can learn from Nad’s Build:

1. Hire professional help when you’re tired or stuck. I cannot state enough the value of this. I’ve found hiring a tradie incredibly helpful on multiple levels (and a lot more fun), especially in an area I’m not so experienced. You not only get the job done, but you learn new skills in the process, so you get a teacher and a worker all in one!
2. It’s good to research, but it’s absolutely critical to move from YouTube and books to action. A live workshop is a great way to do this.
3. Don’t listen to negging neighbours/peers/semi-distant family. Seriously. They have never once been right.
4. Do listen to your spouse if you have one. You’re in it together, they often see things you don't, and they’re the only one who really understands what it takes.
   

You can see more of Nad Kad's work on Facebook HERE.

Related Links:

• How to Build a Straw Bale House
  
• My Greatest Obstacle 
  
• The Builders’ Road to Enlightenment
  

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