About Me:
Hello, my name is Mark Tighe. I'm a sixth-generation Californian who was born in Los Angeles. One of my ancestors was a Spanish soldier assigned to guard the first Missions in California and the missionaries who served there, and my family's lived here ever since. This land and its history are in my blood, literally and figuratively. I've lived up and down the coast between Monterrey and San Diego all my life, and in San Diego County since the sixties. In my spare time, I love to make art and furniture, restore old cars, surf, hear live music, and travel.
I've been in the building trade for over forty years and have built houses, apartments, decks, winery tasting rooms, garden areas, churches, laboratories, art studios, garages, archives, libraries, one-of-a-kind doors, and custom furniture. I've remodeled or restored everything from houses, CA historic sites such as the masonry and adobe home and studio of CA artist James Hubbell, apartments, elegant Victorians and curtain-wall buildings still in use in downtown San Diego. I've taught straw bale workshops at Cal Poly Pomona and privately for many people, organizations and volunteer efforts. I built the first straw bale home issued a permit in San Diego County, CA. Over twenty years of my career have been spent building straw bale houses. I love them.
Why?
* They can be absolutely beautiful and unique. So much freedom and originality is possible in their design; they can be built to suit any taste. They can be sleek and minimalist, or softly rounded and earthy with flowing lines.
* They're a natural for the Southwest, where they can be plastered and stucco'ed to look like adobe. They work well anywhere: all over the U.S., Canada, Europe and the rest of the world.
I've been in the building trade for over forty years and have built houses, apartments, decks, winery tasting rooms, garden areas, churches, laboratories, art studios, garages, archives, libraries, one-of-a-kind doors, and custom furniture. I've remodeled or restored everything from houses, CA historic sites such as the masonry and adobe home and studio of CA artist James Hubbell, apartments, elegant Victorians and curtain-wall buildings still in use in downtown San Diego. I've taught straw bale workshops at Cal Poly Pomona and privately for many people, organizations and volunteer efforts. I built the first straw bale home issued a permit in San Diego County, CA. Over twenty years of my career have been spent building straw bale houses. I love them.
Why?
* They can be absolutely beautiful and unique. So much freedom and originality is possible in their design; they can be built to suit any taste. They can be sleek and minimalist, or softly rounded and earthy with flowing lines.
* They're a natural for the Southwest, where they can be plastered and stucco'ed to look like adobe. They work well anywhere: all over the U.S., Canada, Europe and the rest of the world.
-The straw is recycled.
-In my opinion, and in that of tests run by the University of New Mexico, the R-factor, or insulation factor, of a straw bale building runs about 55. (The state of CA officially rates it at 30, but I think your human experience and your electric bills will say something different.)
-They make it possible to live in extreme climates without extreme heating or cooling bills. In the desert, where I live with my wife Jodie, my highest cooling bill before we added solar panels to our straw bale house was less than one-third that of my neighbors. We heat with propane, and our first tank lasted four years.
* They're about the same cost to build as a stick-built house, but the savings in utilities and in the increase in your comfort level are tremendous.
* Living inside a straw bale house is a more organic and soothing experience than living in a stick-built one -- the stucco isn't perfectly flat on the walls; the softly curved corners are not a razor-sharp ninety degrees, and all the windowsills are about two feet wide: the width of a bale of straw. Niches to display your treasures, collections, candles, etc. can be carved into the inside or outside of the outer walls. Enjoy your options! Do you want window seats, with or without storage boxes carved into them? Reading nooks? Lookout posts deep and wide enough to hold cushions for your cats? See the photos below.
Want to stay in a straw bale house and see what's it like? Want a Borrego Springs, CA, desert vacation? September through May are gorgeous there, and the summer's very quiet. Finishing a book or other project and need a quiet spot to work? Check out this link: http://www.vrbo.com/762773
1. Our cats like to climb their cat trees to lofty perches in our upstairs windows. That's Cato looking at you from behind the crook of his scrub oak cat tree. I build cat trees, ramps and discs, too, and can design them right into your home.
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| 2. Scrub oak wrapped in sisal and bolted to the floor as a cat tree. |
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| 3. View of upper window, cat tree, 2 cat discs and ramp. It's a long way down, 18'. |
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| 4. The upstairs cat tree and window, seen from below. |
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| 5. View of cat ramp on the first story, and coveted cat disc (it's defendable against other cats). |
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| 6. Territory negotiations between Clouseau and Cato on cat ramp, with the defendable cat disc in picture 5 in the foreground |
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| 7. Manda lounging on upper cat disc, accessible from upper window in pictures 1, 3 and 4. |
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| 8. Clouseau defending the uppermost of 3 tiered cat discs on the first story from Cato. Passageway holes were cut through the cat discs for access. |
