Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide to Alternative Building Methods : Earth Plaster, Straw Bale, Cordwood, Cob, Living RoofsClarke 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. |
Contents
BASICS | 12 |
STRUCTURE | 99 |
TEMPERATURE | 215 |
Part | 298 |
CONNECTION | 465 |
Inside Outside Transitions and Systems | 533 |
The Completed Cottage | 562 |
Common terms and phrases
adobe allow attached basic beam blocks bottom bricks building's cellulose chapter clay clay-slip straw climate coat cob building cob wall concrete connection cordwood construction cordwood wall corner covered cracks create drainage plane drip edge earth plaster Earthship embodied energy energy example exterior fiberglass finished flashing floor footers foundation framing gravel green building heat hygroscopic inches infill inside installed insulation interior lath little building living roof load-bearing materials metal modern monolithic mortar move outdoor passive solar pattern language piece piers plywood porch Portland cement post-and-beam posts protect R-value rain rammed earth rebar roof overhangs salvage sand side sill simple situation skeletal skin soil space stacked stem wall Step stick-frame wall straw bale construction straw bale wall structure surface techniques temperature termites there's thermal mass trim truss vermiculite window buck winter wood wooden