Straw Bale Building: How to Plan, Design, and Build with Straw.

by Chris Magwood and Peter Mack

Book Overview

For those who do not see their lives and their values reflected in 'standard' homes, Straw Bale Building offers a wide variety of aesthetic and building options, from multi-storey luxury to elegant... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865714037
• ISBN13: 9780865714038
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: New Society Publishers
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Simply the Best!

This book is the BEST on the market for straw building - clear, comprehensive, unbiased and loaded with references.

Dynamite book, full of useful information

Straw Bale Building contains a gold mine of information for future straw bale builders. It is extremely well written, superbly illustrated, and altogther a delight to read. The authors have done a remarkable job. Read this book along with other important straw bale building books to see a variety of approaches to this innovative, environmentally friendly building technique.

Balefull

This is probably the best book yet for builders. Of particular interest is the fact that as a Canadian publication the subject is covered from a cold climate perspective. These aren't southwest styled adobelite homes, but homes from the snow zone. Which is a useful addition to the literature.The book covers both load and non-load bearing bale walls. Most of the previous books I have read have given structural details for load bearing walls more so than non-load bearing. This makes sense since non-load are basically just post and beam structures, which are covered elsewere. But putting the information in a straw bale book, and integrating it is a big convenience. To get up to speed before this book, I ended up reading all the other bale books, plus all the back-issues of Fine Homebuilding I could find, all the pole building books, timber framing, and post and beam books... This book is a big time saver.

Straw bales for dummies

Easy read, everything you need to know to build it yourself. Very thorough and informative.

An unique and welcome contribution to architectural studies.

Straw Bale Building: How To Plan, Design & Build With Straw is unique in that it does a great deal more than just tout the benefits, economies, and aesthetics of straw bale buildings. Chris Magwood and Peter Mack collaborate to instruct the reader in the nitty gritty, "nuts and bolts" of the actual construction techniques for building with straw bales. This practical, detailed, step-by-step "how to" instructional guide covers how to find and choose bales; developing sound building plans and budgets; roofing; electric, plumbing, and heating systems; building code compliance and working with building inspectors; and special concerns for builders in northern climates. From multi-story luxury dwellings to homes of elegant simplicity, architectural students and do-it-yourself home builders will find Straw Bale Building an indispensable "must" that is wonderfully enhanced throughout with photos, illustrations and diagrams.