Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs | 
|  | | | Title: | Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs | | Author: | Clarke Snell
Tim Callahan | | Publisher: | Lark Books | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 15 December, 2005 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 1579905323 / 9781579905323 | | List Price: | $29.95 | | You Save: | $10.18 | | Amazon Price: | $19.77 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Clarke Snell and Timothy L. Callahan, whose popular Good House Book helped environmentally-minded readers create an earth-friendly home, have returned with a photo-packed, amazingly complete, start-to-finish guide to "green" housebuilding.
This absolutely groundbreaking manual doesn't just talk about eco-friendly building techniques, but actually shows every step! More than 1,200 close-up photographs, along with in-depth descriptions, follow the real construction of an alternative house from site selection to the addition of final-touch interior details. Co-authors Clarke Snell and Timothy Callahan (a professional builder and contractor) provide thorough discussions of the fundamental concepts of construction, substitutes for conventional approaches, and planning a home that's not only comfortable and beautiful, but environmentally responsible. Then, they roll up their sleeves and get to work assembling a guest house that incorporates four different alternative building methods: straw bale, cob, cordwood, and modified stick frame. The images show every move: how the site is cleared, the basic structure put together, the cob wall sculpted, the bales and cordwood stacked, a living roof created, and more. Most important, the manual conveys real-world challenges and processes, and offers dozens of sidebars with invaluable advice. It's head and shoulders above all others in the field.
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Customer Reviews:
• Realistic Green Building For The Long Haul 15 February, 2008
This book is an excellent reference on how to build while taking the environment into consideration. I was really impressed with how they integrated traditional building techniques with Green Building techniques. The book covers what to think about before you even break ground, site work, foundation work, non chemical termite prevention, walls, windows, doors, roofing, flooring, and landscaping considerations. Where Green products make the most sense, they are used. In places where the authors chose a more traditional method (concrete in the foundation, small amounts of rebar, a mass produced new door, and timber roof trusses) they go into detail about why they chose that method (long term energy efficiency outweighing the initial energy cost of the raw materials). While grey water systems, rain catchment systems, composting toilets, and solar power systems are encouraged, they are not covered in any detail in this book. The demo house being built throughout the book is a tiny one room guest cottage, instead of a home that a family could live in (composting toilet outside) so that's why I only gave 4 stars. I would have loved to have seen a whole family home built, but maybe that would be several books.
Not everyone can move to an ecovillage and live in a 200 sq ft cob home (even if they dream about it). This book brings green building into the reach of many more people and shows how to build a home that is much more likely to pass code and be a real possibility in today's society. I plan to use it as a guide when I build my own home in the future.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3AGRXY3JYCIJ3
• Building Green 06 May, 2008
What a wonderful book! I love the way it is set out in two sections... the theory and the practical. The conversational style of writing means that I feel like I have a friend on hand, ready to talk me through the whole process, explaining terms, concepts and methods in a clear, concise way.
I'd say if you are only planning to buy one book on alternative building methods, this should be the one.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AZ3HL81O01QY3
• Building Green 12 May, 2008
My daughter and I purchased this wonderfully complete volume for a granddaughter who with her husband is moving to Oregon to build an eco-friendly home on a plot of land. This well-illustrated handbook should help a lot.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AV5J1FASXJWVS
• Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide To Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roo 21 September, 2008
Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs
I've been collecting books on alternative building styles for a couple of years. I have to admit a fondness for those with a lot of glossy color photos, but I've got a few with pages & pages of how to, as well. Building Green, though, has the best of both. The author's style of writing is so easy to read and understand. It's a big book. He takes you through every step of building a sweet little green guest house. His sidekick, Tim, the conventional contractor turned green builder adds in his two bits to give you confidence that Clarke isn't just a dreamer. Start with this book and you might not need all the others!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A5RF628VTPQWT
• Finally A Book That Is Useful 12 November, 2007
Myself, being in the building industry, really appreciated that there was a believer and a skeptic to write this book and build the house using the thoughts they had. I like the honesty of the authors and how they worked thru to a common goal, and shared each step along the way. I even found it to be a great book on general engineering, helpful in reminding me of things I already know, and reinforcing them in less conventional ways.
This is a very hand's on book with loads of pictures and illustrations and for all of us with "pie in the sky" ideals, there is the balance of reality in time, costs, and functionality of green building.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3MSB96N5TYC2B
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