Customer Reviews

Builder's Guide to Cold Climates: Details for Design and Construction

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have reviewed lots of books and magazines on residential building techniques for energy and resource efficieny. There is a lot of confusion and misinformation out there. This book clears it up in one authoritative and concise guide to building techniques. For those who want to know how and why to build it right. Best source available on moisture control and insulation applications. Challenges some conventional wisdom. Concepts demonstrated in great graphics. Listiburek is a respected expert.

Well focused and aimed at the home builder in 6500 degree-day and colder climes, e.g. Minnesota, it contains a complete roundup of insulation, ventilation, and moisture-proofing problems. The basic format consists of a text discussion of a topic, followed by a section containing numerous architectural drawings that illustrate the material. These subjects are misunderstood by many, so it's good to have a book that covers the material in easy-to-understand language and drawings.

"Builder's Guide To Cold Climates" is packed with great details, usefull to anyone building today. This reader/Builder found it pricy, and thought that more explanitory material should be included.
I recommend "The JLC Guide To Moisture Control". It's a fourth of the price, offers fewer construction details, but includes tons of photos and explanations based on forensic repair data.

This book is well written with lots of diagrams and practical building information. I rate a book's value by how long I take to read it (if it's interesting and has good information, I read more slowly and carefully) this book took a few days! I refer to it often. Example - how to insulate a crawl space - there is information and diagrams covering almost any situation - vented crawl, un-vented, insulate outside the foundation or inside - take your pick!

I highly recommend this reference to architects, builders and anyone planning to build north of the mason-dixon line.

When I initially flipped through this book, I figured it would be worth having for the bountiful diagrams and appendices alone. It turned out that these are indeed the best part of the book -- Lstiburek's choppy writing becomes annoying quickly, and even confrontational (i.e. "...for those who may not get it, [rant excluded] Get it?")

But it may be the most comprehensive book on this subject at the moment, and the various construction details make it worth the price of admission.