27 December 2009Note: I just updated this page with a few more details about the heating system and such, so if you looked at it before this evening, you might want to look it over again.
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I have been renting this little straw bale house in downtown Bend since July 2004. This was the place that finally ended the 14 months of looking for a safe place--during which I rented seven different places and had to move out again, and spent a lot of time camping. It has been a godsend.
This house will be coming up for rent sometime in the latter half of 2010, when I will be moving into the tiny house I've built. Though I don't own the house and won't have the final say, I'd like to see it go to someone who is chemically sensitive, since it is such a rare find. Since the landlord lives far away, she would be happy if I found someone to take my place (which won't be hard--this place is really cool, and would rent in about 10 minutes on the open market).
However, I want to caution chemically sensitive people that, though the house itself is about one in a thousand as far as being chemically clean, the neighborhood has gotten pretty bad in the last year. (Note--it actually improved again somewhat when my next door neighbor moved. She had been doing laundry nearly every day witht he stinkiest stuff made!) There's frequent laundry fumage, and a number of houses in the neighborhood use wood heat, at least supplementally. (I tend to smell smoke about 2 out of 3 nights in the winter, almost never during the day. My air filter does a good job of removing the wood smoke, so it's not such a big deal--but, between smoke and laundry, it's rare that I can take a walk in the neighborhoo--especially on a winter evening--without feeling neurological effects.) Also, while it's not on a high-volume street, the house is only about 15 feet back from the curb, and Bend does not have emissions regulations. I am able to recover from exposures here, so in that sense it certainly feels like a sanctuary; if you don't have a safe house, this might constitute a considerable improvement in your circumstances. However, I am beginning to feel very hemmed in here, and really miss some of the simple joys, such as sitting on the porch, or going for a walk without getting in the car first, that will be available in the country.
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It is a one-bedroom house, approx. 450-500 sq. ft. The rent is $650/month, which includes water and sewer. The place is small and very well insulated, so heat bills are low--only about $50 in the coldest months. The lease is month-to-month (or, at least it has been the whole time I've lived here). The address and a map of the location can be found on the "Contact Me" page of this website.
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The house has cement floors (except for one 10 x10 raised area where they are very well-off-gassed plywood, which I have covered with foil and tyvec; they do not seem to harm the indoor air quaility), in-floor heating, no carpet, and stucco walls that have never been painted. As stated above, t's in a somewhat congested neighorhood (not in the sense of being on a big road, but in the sense that the houses are packed in pretty tight), but the indoor air quality is good, and there's pristine mountain air a 10 minute drive from the house.
It's kind of a cross between a one-bedroom and a studio. That is, the bedroom (approx 10 x10) is walled off from the rest of the space, but the wall doesn't go all the way to the ceiling.
The bathroom (which does have a door!) has an opening window and a claw-foot tub, with a shower in the tub.
There is a washing machine that's never been used by anyone but me, so it's not stinky. The drier was gas, so I took it out and put it in the shed, to free up space for storage. (Didn't want to tempt fate by using an appliance that used that much gas.) I just hang my clothes up to dry. I did have a 220 outlet wired to the shed outside, so an electric drier could go there, if a drier is important to you. (Note: I was planning to take that outlet out and take it with me, because I can use the materials--which cost about $100--in my tiny house. However, the labor to install it was more than that, so if you want me to leave it let me know and we can work something out.)
The water for the floors and the shower is heated with a natural gas hot water heater. It's located in a utility closet that does have a vent to the outside, but also opens into the house. (I have not ever smelled gas, or had a problem with the gas that I am aware of. I did turn the gas stove off at the wall, and use an electric cooktop and toaster oven rather than the gas stove/oven.) You can easily heat the house with electricity, if you prefer. (There's one space heater built into the wall. Add one free-standing one, and you'll be able to heat the house even on the coldest days..Personally, I use a combination of space heater and floor heat.)
As you can see from the pictures, I've lived there with my dog, so it could prove problematic for someone with a dog allergy. (However, all the surfaces are non-porous, so it should clean up exceptionally well.)
If you needed to stay in it a night or two to see if it works for you, that could be arranged, since I could go stay in my tiny house. I've had six friends with chemical sensitivity visit here. Four of them did fine. One felt that she was reacting to a spice in the kitchen, but we never figured out which one. Another could only be in here for about an hour at a time (she is unable to tolerate other straw bale houses, as well. I'm not sure if it was more of an MCS-type reaction or an allergic reaction). I consider myself to be very sensitive (can't go in any store at all--even food stores--without reacting, and an't wear a mask because I don't tolerate the mask material), and I do just fine with the house. So, that's all the data I have on how EI's do in this house--it's an individual thing. It's just so hard to find a rental that's fragrance free (which this one is, completely), and formaldahyde free (which I'm pretty sure is the case here, too--or very, very close).
