There's a small wooden door in one of the walls at 6226 Sanderson Avenue in Peachland. Open it and you're looking at straw. The same golden straw farmers bale in a field every fall.
That straw is a big part of why this house is so comfortable to live in.
I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too. Straw? In wildfire country? What about mice, moisture, insurance? Will a bank even lend on it? In this post, I'm going to walk through every one of those questions with real answers. No hype. Because once you understand how this home was built, I think you'll see what I see. It's not a risk. It's one of the most thoughtfully built homes in the Okanagan.
A hundred-year-old idea
In the 1890s, settlers in the Nebraska Sandhills had a problem. There were no trees to build with, and the sod was too sandy. What they did have was grass, and the brand-new horse-powered baler.
So they stacked bales like giant bricks, plastered them, and moved in. They figured the houses would be temporary. Some are still standing more than a hundred years later. In France, a straw bale house built in 1920 is still a family home today.
The method nearly disappeared once lumber and oil got cheap. Then builders rediscovered it in the '70s and '80s, and this time the engineers and testing labs came with them. Bale walls have now been fire-tested, wind-tested and seismic-tested, and there's a straw bale appendix in the International Residential Code. This isn't a trend. It's an old answer that science caught up to.
How it was built
This is a timber-frame home. The posts and beams are real, local reclaimed wood, with no veneers or fake trim. The frame carries the roof. The straw bales wrap around it like a 17-inch-thick blanket, and the whole thing sits on an ICF concrete slab. That's many tons of concrete under your feet, storing warmth in winter and cool in summer.
The walls are plastered in layers, inside and out, and finished to look like aged old-world plaster. It feels like a villa that's been standing for a century. The original owner built it over years, with a real passion for sustainable living, and you can feel that care in every detail.
Then there's the truth window, that little wooden door I mentioned. Every good strawbale home has one. It's there so you never have to wonder what's inside your walls. You open it and look. Here, the straw is dry, tight and golden, years after it was sealed in.
What it's like to live in
Thick bale walls plus all that concrete mean the house changes temperature slowly. In summer it holds the cool, and the owners barely think about air conditioning until it gets past about 30 degrees outside. That's when the heat pump takes over.
The Innotech tilt-and-turn windows are a big part of it. They tilt in at the top or swing open like a door. As the day warms, air rises off Okanagan Lake and comes up the hillside in a steady breeze. Open the lower windows on the lake side and the upper ones up top, and the house pulls that cool air right through. You're basically tuning your home to the weather.
In winter, the Blaze King wood stove does the heavy lifting. It has long burn times and averages about three cords of wood a year for the whole house, with Crown land next door for firewood (with the proper permit). Look up and you'll notice the upper floorboards have small gaps. That's on purpose, so the stove's warmth rises naturally through the house. No ducts, just physics.
The main floor also has hydronic in-floor heat under polished concrete, plus dual heat pumps for heating and cooling, one of them new in 2024. And there's no natural gas in the house at all. That was a deliberate choice, so you get no gas bill and no combustion gas inside.
The six questions everyone asks
Will a bank finance it? Yes. The home passed code inspections and is mortgage-eligible like any other home. I can introduce you to lenders who know this type of build.
Can I insure it? Yes. Plastered strawbale homes are insurable, and I'll connect you with an insurer so you're not guessing.
Isn't straw a fire hazard? Loose straw burns. Compressed, plastered bales behave very differently, because there's almost no oxygen inside a tight bale. Think of trying to burn a phone book. In standardized fire testing, plastered bale walls have earned one- to two-hour ratings. After what we lived through with McDougall Creek, I know fire is on everyone's mind. In this house, the walls aren't the weak point.
What about moisture? The bales went in dry and sit up off the ground on the concrete. Deep roof overhangs keep rain off the walls, and the plaster breathes, so any moisture can dry out. And the truth window lets you check anytime.
Mice? Bugs? Anything would have to chew through roughly an inch and a half of plaster, then tunnel through bales packed so tight they're nearly solid. Pests are honestly more of a problem in conventional stick framing.
How do I take care of it? It's simple. Keep the gutters and drainage clear, keep water away from the base of the walls, and walk the house once a year to touch up any plaster cracks. The roof and eavestroughs were redone in 2018, and the exterior's metal accents were chosen for durability. Inside and out
The main floor is open concept, with clean French-rustic design that feels crafted without being fussy. The kitchen was built for long dinners. A butcher-block island seats 10 comfortably, and there's an apron sink, a wine cellar, and a working wood-fired Forno pizza oven right in the kitchen. The main bath has a 2025 tiled walk-in shower, a bidet, and in-floor heat.
Upstairs are two bedrooms, including a primary ensuite with a free-standing tub, plus a library loft. Keep climbing and you'll reach a large, fully finished attic bonus space. Use it as a yoga studio, an office, or an artist's room. Then open the door to the rooftop deck and take in the lake and mountain views.
Outside, the lot is a flat, fully fenced quarter acre. There's no steep driveway, no retaining walls, and no lawn to mow. It's xeriscaped with drought-tolerant planting and a lavender field. You also get a solar-heated saltwater lap pool, a covered patio, a veranda, and a 2019 Duradeck upper deck. There's a detached garage and workshop, plus parking for 10 with room for your boat or RV. Sewer has been brought to the lot line, and the property may support a future double garage with a carriage house (buyer to verify).
Most homes are built to be sold. This one was built to be lived in, by someone who cared about every beam, every window, and every inch of those walls.
It's quiet. It's warm in winter and cool in summer. It was built from a field, and it's meant to outlast all of us.
If this is the kind of home you've been looking for, I'd love to show it to you in person so you can feel how quiet it is for yourself.
Teagan Adams, REALTOR®
Born and raised in Kelowna. I write these to answer the questions I get asked every week: one question per post, answered properly.
