Minneapolis couple building Uptown straw house

A home that’s being built in Minneapolis is unconventional because of what the owners are putting in its walls.

Peter Schmitt and his wife, Katie, are building a home with straw inside the walls. They even call it the "Uptown Straw House."

The walls are about 20 inches thick.

Schmitt says it costs more to build a house like this but they’ll save cash in heating and cooling bills along with cutting their carbon footprint.

"It’s mainly one using a waste product helping push the climate fight forward and using innovative building styles and also getting a really comfortable home as an end result," Schmitt said. "It looks very much built like a barn and we’re using straw bales as the insulation for that structure. So the straw bales are not supporting any weight. They are functioning solely as insulation and sound dampening."

[KSTP]

The couple hopes to move into the home next spring.