The Natural Plaster Book: Earth, Lime, and Gypsum Plasters for Natural Homes (Natural Building Series) (Paperback)

~ Cedar Rose Guelberth (Author), Dan Chiras (Author), Deanne Bednar (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For builders of natural homes (straw bale, cob, adobe, rammed earth, and other natural materials), this unique step-by-step guide takes the confusion out of choosing, mixing, and applying natural plasters. From principles to practicalities, and with every stage of the process illustrated, The Natural Plaster Book details the entire process of plastering with earth, lime, and gypsum for a long-lasting and durable finish.

About the Author

Cedar Rose Guelberth has studied architecture, design and construction for 30 years. A nationally recognized green and natural building educator and consultant, her business provides one-stop shopping for thousands of products nation-wide. Dan Chiras has several years experience of natural building and is the author of over 17 books including The Natural House (Chelsea Green, 2000).

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865714495
• ISBN-13: 978-0865714496
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,164 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible on Natural Plasters, November 20, 2003

By A Customer

This book was late in coming, but the wait was well worth it! There's nothing like this book on the market today...not even close!

I especially like how thorough this book is. I really appreciated the clear and detailed explanations of all aspects of plastering -- from the design of homes (so they will be suitable for natural plasters) to wall preparation to testing, mixing, and applying plasters.

The authors skillfully walk the reader through all of the steps required to plaster a natural home, anticipating mistakes you might make -- and telling you how to avoid them. Although the book focuses on plastering strawbale buildings, there's lots of good advice for plastering numerous other natural homes.

This book attempts to develop a deep understanding of plasters. To do so, the authors begin by describing the components of plasters -- and what each one does. Knowing that subsoils are different at each building site, the authors give general guidelines for making plasters. They tell you how to test your soils and potential plaster mixes. No, you won't find recipes for plasters...that would be fruitless due to the variability of subsoils. But you will find some examples you can start with and good, solid explanations of the steps you have to take to make plasters using the dirt you have at your site!

I was also very impressed by the extensive coverage of finish plasters and alises as well as the detailed resource guide and the excellent photos and drawings, although some were a bit small. Sometimes the text seemed a bit repetitive, but in retrospect that helped me memorize the details.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost Worth the Wait, August 13, 2003

By	"building_my_own_house" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

I had been waiting for this book from the publisher for over half a year. While it has many helpful details on the nature of additives and why they would be used, and the application of plasters to different substrates, with emphasis on covering straw bale homes, there are no recipes. This really disappointed me, as I believe I could have figured out how to hold a hawk and trowel, and really, anyone building all or part of their house will likely have passed the point of getting useful information out of the first 84 pages by the time they get to need some eductation on plasters. Hopefully, a saving grace will be the resource guide in the back, but access to that could have been obtained by borrowing it from the library.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good starter book, not enough detail for a really good how to guide, December 27, 2005

By	A. Burchfield (Conway, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In reading this book you'll find descriptions of the various types of building materials, not just straw bales, these plasters are used on (it is not really a build yourself a house book) and a pretty good overview of the types of plasters themselves.
I'm not done reading it but don't find enough information to consider it a complete how to guide, more of a starter book. You get some recipes for pigments/ plasters but not much detail about applying the stuff. I've found nothing about measuring the walls to determine just how much material you'll need and I don't think it really tells thickness, just how many coats to apply (not really detailed about that).
There's an extensive resource guide at the end of the book, you'll need it if you're actually going to build a house of some sort. If you are collecting a set of books on building and finishing a home this one is all right as a starter book. You'll learn just enough to know whether or not this is something you want to be getting yourself into.