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

Clarke Snell , Tim Callahan
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 4, 2009 Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative

The best-selling and highly regarded reference to sustainable construction gets an update! It’s refreshed with a completely revised introduction, a bright new cover, and extensive online resource tie-ins. Plus, it’s now printed on recycled paper with agri-based inks, so it’s greener than ever!

This groundbreaking book doesn’t just tell you about “green” house-building techniques: it actually shows you, with more than 1,200 step-by-step photographs that follow the actual erection of an alternative building from site selection to final-touch interior details. Readers will get a clear sense of the real world challenges as Snell and Callahan create a lovely country cottage using four methods: straw bale, cob, cordwood, and modified stick-frame.

Along with sidebars throughout, there’s a thorough discussion of the fundamentals of building construction, alternative approaches, and designing a beautiful yet environmentally responsible home. Building Green was the first book of its kind—and it remains heads and shoulders above other titles in this field.  

 


Frequently Bought Together

Building Green, New Edition: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs (Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative) + Green from the Ground Up: Sustainable, Healthy, and Energy-Efficient Home Construction (Builder's Guide) + The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling
Price for all three: $57.49

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Building Green:
"Building Green chronicles the project from start to finish, combining the gorgeous photography of an architecture coffee-table book with the detailed instructions of a building manual." ­ ReadyMade
 
"This large, generously illustrated manual is an excellent primer on owner-designed and site-inspired building." ­ Publishers Weekly
 
"The most comprehensive and reader-friendly green building book...It's great for both the green building novice and expert." ­ Builders Booksource
 
"This book is a must read for architects, builders, and all people who want to create a healthy home." ­ Helmut Ziehe, Founder, International Institute for Bau-Biologie & Ecology, Inc.
 
"Well-written and understandable with wonderful illustrations." ­ Pliny Fisk & Gail Vittori, Co-Directors, The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems

About the Author

CLARKE SNELL has decades of experience in green building, sustainability, and low impact living. 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 designer, inventor, and “recovering general contractor” with over 30 years of experience in a broad range of design and building projects. Together, Clarke and Tim run a design, consulting, research, and rabble-rousing network dedicated to the development of high-performance natural building systems. For more information, see their Web site at www.thinkgreenbuilding.com.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 616 pages
  • Publisher: Lark Crafts; 2 Ill edition (August 4, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1600595340
  • ISBN-13: 978-1600595349
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1.7 x 10 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
(20)
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is the best book on green and natural building that I've come across. In fact it's a solid source for building knowledge in general. Many of the books out there give you a focused look at one building type or another (say strawbale) and these are great if you have already chosen that one building type. It's much more common though, to come across hybrid situations, where a broad variety of techniques or building challenges are at play. An earthship might be your best best - if you live in the southwest, but maybe not in the southeast. Each building is unique, from the site to the nearby structures and environment, the potential future inhabitants, the usage, etc.
This book gives a very grounded and informed perspective on residential building, not limited to any one form or another, but seeking only to inform the reader of the dangers and best possibilities in each situation. Snell and Callahan recognize that there is no one best or "greenest" practice. Their book educates and empowers the reader to approach each unique building as it's own challenge.
Their research into and command of the building field is a boon to anyone looking to build wisely, be that person a builder with 25 years in the field, a potential do-it-yourself homebuilder, or even someone with no building experience looking to have a home built for them who is interested in having things done right.
Also, PHOTOS PHOTOS PHOTOS! They didn't skimp in this department. This book has hundreds (thousands?) of pictures. Nearly every key point has a diagram or a photo to bring the message home. It makes the material extremely clear and easy to grasp, as well as being a valuable resource for inspiration and ideas.
Everyone has something to gain from this book, and for the price there's no excuse not to own a reference copy.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars How to build green--or not November 1, 2009
By V. Sims
Format:Paperback
Although I have wanted to build my own green home for several years, I have no construction skills. This book brought me back down to earth gently by teaching me much more than I would imagine one book could teach while helping me realize that I should not do this myself. In guiding capable(others)and incompetent(me)starry-eyed builders, the authors generously admit to their own errors despite years of experience and concede that in some aspects of home-building, conventional is the best route at this time. Through the book, one follows the construction using alternative building methods of a small guest house from the conception to the finish and plans for future additions.The photos themselves would make the book worthwhile, but the text is lively, straightforward, and encompasses all phases of the process.In addition to being some of the best reading and gazing that I have had in awhile, I now know what to seek in the professionals who will build my house--and use this resource, I hope.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable resource! July 13, 2009
Format:Paperback
This has become one of the most important books on my shelf. I became interested in green building, then natural building, for professional and personal reasons. As a result of prior research, I thought I was quite knowledgeable. Then I got my mitts on this book! Wow, this is by far the clearest, most useful building book I have ever found. The text itself is fantastic, but what sets this book apart are the hundreds of detailed photos and instructions that illustrate techniques and solutions with incredible clarity.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing value
I love this book! The amount of photos is amazing and if you want to build your own green building, this is a very good guide to do so. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Marianne Vetterli
5.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedic in scope
Covers the gamut of green home building with lots of photos and walk-throughs. Pushes the envelope in the way we currently think about building and gives insight into smarter,... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Patti L. Rennekamp
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
The main reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it doesn't give enough examples or how tos for other projects. The authors focus mostly on one building project the whole time. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Stewie
5.0 out of 5 stars wow, what a reference book!
This book features all the best sustainable building techniques in one easy to use book! I'm going to use this til' the day I die!
Published 1 month ago by Allie Dickson
5.0 out of 5 stars concise
A comprehensive building guide for the environmentally conscious builder. Good photos and references. Appropriate for the contractor and do-it-your-selfer. A nice gift.
Published 1 month ago by christine exford
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is very comprehensive.
A+ We are building a star bale house and I found this book to be very helpful. A MUST buy if you plan on building an alternative house!
Published 2 months ago by Wadepy
5.0 out of 5 stars Building Green - Building Awesome
This book can keep me entertained for hours - I absolutely love it. I have always wanted to build a cordwood masonry home, but this book offers many other possibilities too. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Debra Leija
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on alternative building
This is definitely one of my favorite books on alternative building. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about a variety of building alternatives.
Published 3 months ago by carmin
5.0 out of 5 stars A good resource
While the wife and I have moved to other techniques than the ones outlined here, this was a valuable tool in our quest to begin planning a green, low-energy, off-grid home. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Moving Pictures
3.0 out of 5 stars Building Green, New Edition:A Complete How-To Guide To Alternative
This book deals with a whole series of alternative building styles and I am mainly interested in stack wall do cordwood.
Published 3 months ago by David Wisthoff
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