Newly constructed steel framed super efficient straw bale house in beautiful San Carlos Sonora Mexico. Two bedrooms, 1 &1/2 bath, large open great room and kitchen. House has 10 foot ceilings, big closets, pantry, linen closet and a huge attic for additional storage. The property also has 2 rental or guest casitas along with a large storage bodega/workshop and RV Space with full hookup.
Each casita has its own seperate electric meter with shared water and septic. The property has 750 gallon underground water tank with pump to ensure plenty of water and constant water pressure. Professionally installed 2 tank septic system that works great.
The house is 1300 sf on a 1000 m2 lot. Taxes are $120 per year. Water is $24 per month and our highest electric bill running the 3.5 ton air conditioner all the time needed in the hot summer was $120 for the month.
The house was made open and easily accessable for the handicap with 3 foot doors, tall toilets and wide shower. The house construction began 2009 and is just now finishing up with a few projects still in progress as mentioned below.
The property has a chain link fence all the way around with vine growing on the fence. Nice beginning 2 year old landscaping that includes:
Palms
Fruit
Miscellanious
2 royal palms
2 coconut palms
2 date palms
6 fan palms
3 dwarf palms
12 christmas palms
various other palms
1 key lime tree
1 persian lime
2 lemon trees
1 valencia orange
1 naval orange
1 grapefruit
1 mango tree
1 banana grouping
3 organ pipe cactus
bougavanias
mimosa tree
mesquite tree
giant bamboos
oleander
ficus trees
many others
This house was built expertly with great attention to every detail. Unlike most straw bale houses our walls are very straight and proper.
This property is being offered at $189,000
email: toddsterx@yahoo.com with inquiries
New Additions Since Last Photos
* 30 x 40 foot carport
*Paved driveway
*Flagstone front yard
*Security Door
*New light fixtures, RO Unit, Bathroom Ventilator
photos coming soon of the newest additions.
All plants are on a timed drip water system
Beautiful views towards the mountains from the front porch.
San Carlos is beautiful, safe and an oasis for many many Americans and Canadians living here full time enjoying world class sportsfishing and 89 degree water for diving and dipping your toes in at the awesome beaches. Grab a fish taco and a cold one... come experience San Carlos Sonora Mexico.
Two lemon trees flank each side of the porch with a garden on the south side of the front porch area.
The entrance gate and the electrical mufas .
A nice little garden by the front gate.
The large bamboo are in a deep fully cemented cinderblock contained area to ensure they do not wander where not wanted.
A view from the living room area towards the back of the house. Currently we are adding and painting the trim around the frames of the interior doors.
A small hallway with arch off the great room that leads into the main bathroom or the front bedroom.
The front bedroom is large with a 12 foot by 3 foot deep closet along with cable tv. The bed is a full american king size and still has ample room for a sitting area.
The house is new construction and this closet is not finished. It is 12 foot long by 3 foot deep. It is planned to have a built drawers along the bottom for its entire length, 2 drawer high. All the closets are 10 foot tall where one can have lots of storage up high in the closet. Anyway as said this is new construction that is not totally finished in a few areas. This closet is one of them but it is a very nice large closet.
The main bathroom has tall toilet and a very nice furniture style vanity sink.
The extra large walk in shower is 4 foot wide and 7 feet long and has a 10 " rainfall shower head installed in the ceiling with seperate water supply from the main shower head. The shower water along with the washing machines water has seperate drainage so you can use the water for watering plants instead of wasting it to the septic system.
The master bedroom has a half bath with sink and toilet along with a walk in closet and a 6 foot by 3 foot deep closet. It was designed with plumbing in place under the tile where you could take out the walk in closet and make a full bath if wanted. Again nothing has been put on the walls so you can be the first with your decorations.
The half bath in the master bedroom is all white.
A view from the kitchen of game table towards the living room. It has an open layout that can be comfortable for larger gatherings. We have purchased a nice hanging game table light that will be delivered in February from the states.
The built in kitchen table comfortably seats 6-8 with built in cabinets for storage and was just completed December 2010.
It is custom to put a "truth window" in straw bale houses. This window allows for everyone to see the actual straw inside the walls and is always a . You can see that this house has about 3 inches of cement in casing the straw bales. With all this cement and plaster encasing the straw and the solid steel construction, this house is built solid and meant to last.
Another view from the kitchen towards the front of the house. The mini split air conditioner is located in the middle of the room and is a 3.5 ton. Our electrical bill never is more than $120 per month with us running the beast as much as we want keeping the house very cool in the hotest part of the summer. This house is very insulated as we did not want a $400 per month electricity bill as many in San Carlos complain about with their traditionally built cement/brick houses.
The living room area with the blinds closed offers superior privacy but still allows for the beauty of the thickness of the wall to seen. We have put up very few things on the wall to keep the place as new.
The washer and dryer are conveniently located inside the house with great storage for you cleaning supplies. There is also a marine base radio here. Everything is nicely hidden behind the folding doors to keep things out of sight from visitors. The electrical panels are here also. We have run seperate breakers to the air conditioner, stove and refrigerator. We also put in place seperate electrical lines and breakers in place to each bedroom incase a small mini split was needed in the bedrooms. Now that we have stayed in the house this summer we have determined that little mini splits are not needed with the 3.5 ton main air conditioner. We have left the wiring in the attic and the fuses connected for future use if needed.
A view from the kitchen into the master bedroom. The door you see partially on the left is the pantry.
The linen closet.
The kitchen has black appliances. We just installed the $1400 Braun Stove Canopy Hood. The side by side refridgerator has an ice maker. This stove vent was just installed (March 18, 2011) and might not show up in some of the other older pictures.
The kitchen has a reverse osmosis water unit. All the walls have wood attached behind the cement for support in hanging cabinets or heavy pictures in the living areas.
The pantry has plenty of space for storing your food and kitchen items.
A view out the front window. There are beautiful sunsets and nice landscaping and big palm trees to enjoy from the front porch or out the front window. The house has good quality windows throughout to help ensure great insulation.
A view from bedside the house looking towards the back. The RV spot has a covered bodgega for the electrical plugin, water and drainage and also houses the water pump. The RV parks nicely to share the sidewalk that leads to the back yard. On the right of this picture you will see a raised cement area that has the on demand hot water heater, the 3.5 ton mini split compressor, the propane tanks along with a large freezer and built in double outside cement sink. The double sink is a great place to clean fish or wash the dog. It has seperate drainage where you can use the waste water for the plants or have it go to the septic system.
This secure area was just completed which makes it where your air conditioner and propane tanks are locked up and secured. Completed March 22, 2011 and might not show up on some of the other older pictures.
A view from at the back of the house.
This guest casita was lowered and the axils removed. It was hard plumbed into the properties septic system and a normal toilet was installed. The cement patio is 30 x 15 feet. All the metal roofing has special insulation attached beneath the sheets of metal to stop the heat. It stays cool and does not cook you even on the hotest days while under the metal roofing. Each guest casita has satellite TV and telephone service.
The back yard has some nice red pavers flowing through it.
The backdoor is entered using this ramp.
The second guest casita is a park model with bay windows and 2 tip outs. The windows face towards a back corner garden with organ pipe cactus, banana trees, a mango tree along with a date palm. The lot behind is a private garden with no construction.
The second guest casita has nice cement patios and decking.
A pic inside the 2nd guest casita.
Another view inside the 2nd guest casita showing the living area and bay windows.
A picture of the back side of the house. This is where one will continue to build the roof margarita deck. As planned, the ramp at the back door will continue up to the roof.
A view from the planned roof margarita deck. It is an exceptional view of the Sea Of Cortez. There are metal beams coming through the roof to attach the flooring of the roof margarita deck to the steel structure of the house.
Another view from the planned rooftop margarita deck. You can see the neighbors rooftop margarita deck in this photo.
Another view towards Guaymas where you can see parts of the estuary from the planned rooftop deck.
The wide open view of the ocean from your roof margarita deck. The lot between you and the ocean is a garden for the main house. Nothing will be built there to block your view.
The view away from the ocean is towards the magnificant mountains towards Nacapule Canyon.
The nice garden in the back corner of the house
The storage bodega/workshop is in the back corner of the lot and is 10 x 20 feet. The two lids you see are for the septic system.
A pic inside the storage bodega. Lots of nice shelves on the left side that do not show up in this picture. All the other shelving are made to hold plastic tubs for lots of great storage. There is a big locked secure steel container for your nicer tools to be locked safely up inside. The bodega has a big work table and a wielders steel table for all your handyman needs.
I have old photos of the strawbale being built. If interested I'd be glad to show them to you. Here is one
Good strong steel construction with the beams every 4 feet along the exterior wall and every 2 feet on the interior load bearing walls. You can see the special insulation that was placed under the metal roofing to keep everything cool. Other insulation was added in the attic as well but the insulation under the metal roof is amazing stuff that really works great.
The cement foundation is 3 feet above ground level to ensure the house will never be flooded by a hurricaine. The house is about 80 feet above sea level.
Thank you for looking and remember the virtues of INSULATION when living in San Carlos not to mention how charming a straw bale house is.
Another view inside the 2nd guest casita showing the living area and bay windows. 
Another view towards Guaymas where you can see parts of the estuary from the planned rooftop deck. 
