Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs [Paperback]

Clarke Snell (Author), Tim Callahan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative | Publication Date: December 15, 2005

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This large, generously illustrated manual is an excellent primer on owner-designed and site-inspired building. Snell, who wrote the eco-friendly The Good House Book, and Callahan, a more conventional but highly experienced builder and contractor, take readers step-by-step through the creation of a charming little guesthouse, demonstrating a variety of "green" techniques along the way. They start with an introduction to building fundamentals and how alternative materials can provide the necessities of housing: structure, climate-control and separation from as well as connection to the outer world. Next comes a mini-course in design. But the bulk of the book is hands-on: the nuts-and-bolts of siting; foundations; flooring; living (plant-covered) roofs; and cob, cordwood, straw-bale and modified stick frame walls—although the book's minimal treatment of electricity and plumbing, and how to integrate them with unfamiliar materials like cob or straw-bale, disappoints. Snell's tendency to decry the sins of modern architectural practice can become exasperating, but doesn't diminish the value of his extensive experience-derived knowledge; and the grace and beauty of the authors' building project, featuring Callahan's fine finish work, is inspiring. The abundance of color photos detailing the construction process, supplemented by examples from indigenous buildings around the world, is particularly helpful. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Clarke Snell is an expert in the field of green building and self-sufficiency. Author of The Good House Book (Lark, 2004), he lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina with his wife in a partially-bermed, passive-solar house in a small intentional community they helped create.

Tim Callahan is a practicing general contractor. An experienced timber-frame builder, Tim is currently focused on residential projects of unique character.

Product Details

• Paperback: 616 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579905323
• ISBN-13: 978-1579905323
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Design > Energy Efficient Design

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Comprehensive Intro and Education., April 28, 2006

By 

Pio (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs (Paperback)

I have been looking for a book that would educate me on exactly what green building is, whether it is actually practical and what it would take to achieve it. This book answered all those questions. I think it has filled a void in the information market. So many people are not satisfied with current building practices especially in the US yet finding one comprehensive source for reliable answers is extremely difficult. There is lots of experience bound up in the very well-written, easy flowing text. The mass of photos is extremely instructive and attractive. This book is not clouds-in-the-sky, blindly pro-environment babble. Neither is it full of the marketing lies that exploit the "green" movement. It is useful for normal people who are interesting in trying to build earth-friendly but practical, efficient and affordable homes. The writers are very honest in their educated opinions and recommendations. And they actually built a small green building in order to write this book. So you get the useful, hands-on advice that they learned themselves the hard way even with their past, extensive building experience in the US. I appreciate their effort and book very much, and can't recommend it highly enough as one every non-expert should read if they have a possible interest in green building in the future or even in just building a marginally more efficient home.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential natural/alternative building manual!, February 25, 2006

By 

M. Oliver (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs (Paperback)

At last - a comprehensive and attractive manual that clearly shows us how to employ 4 different natural building methods; cob, straw bale, cordwood and modified stick frame.

The book is filled with full-color photos and clear explanations of the processes involved in constructing a small building from start to finish using all four techniques. That would be a worthy accomplishment in itself, but the authors go further, presenting vital information and concepts in a logical and engaging manner. The Building Fundamentals section discusses the workings of foundations and roofs as well as the effect of moisture and air quality on buildings (and their inhabitants) and more. The chapter on Design explains how to make the most of a particular site as well as how to properly orient your structure to account for climate, exposure, vegetation and terrain. The book does not attempt electrical or indoor plumbing instruction, subjects worthy of their own manual.

The fact that one of the authors is a licensed building contractor lends more credibility to the entire process, not because the methods are not sound, but because owner-builders must often cope with restrictive building codes and uninitiated inspectors who also require some education in these techniques within a familiar context. It's worth noting that the diminutive size of the project (100 square feet) may exempt it from permitting requirements in many jurisdictions, if built as a potting shed or similar auxiliary structure. An extremely useful and enlightening read for novices and experts alike.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nicely presented intoduction to several green techniques, February 27, 2006

By 

GormanStudio (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs (Paperback)

A very nicely presented 'survey' of several green building techniques with a practical and mainstream perspective. Less inspiring and holistic (in terms of presenting an overall philosophy of building AND living) than the likes of The Hand-Sculpted House (Evans, Smiley and Smith), etc. but the beautiful photography and clear writing is a powerful tool to use in convincing the skeptical that green building is a legitimate and aesthetically pleasing option in construction. Really more of a 'complete introduction' than a 'complete how-to guide' in my estimation- if you are really going to build you'll need to suppliment your knowledge with additional in depth books on the particular system(s) you choose to use, but this book will expose you to some of the options and provide you with an informational foundation to 'build' on (pun intended).