Straw Bale Residence

Day Spring, NS
Built 1850.
Most recent renovations circa 2000.

Working within a very limited budget, Tina and Larry Cannon have transformed a 160 year old Baptist church into a comfortable home for themselves and their three children. Located near Bridgewater the building had been stripped of many of its fixtures and the old church furniture when they purchased it so they were left with a relatively blank canvas.

The Cannons employed an open concept design for their renovations and have used every inch of space including turning the attic under the steeple into a bedroom. Plastered straw bales were added to the lower portion of the interior walls to increase insulation in the building – conventional blown in cellulose was used elsewhere.

A major challenge of this adaptive reuse project revolved around the septic system. The church property lacked sufficient land to install a conventional septic system. Since the Cannons were applying for a change of use permit from church to house, they were required to install one. An agreement was reached with the Department of Environment to install a holding tank instead of a septic system which is emptied regularly.

The Cannons are very happy with their home and especially having saved a historic building. “I don’t know how it would have stayed up if we hadn’t moved in”, said Tina of the project.