Serious Straw Bale: A Home Construction Guide for All Climates (Real Goods Solar Living Book)

Excellent book! I am glad I bought it.Title of book is really correct! This book is serious about building straw bale house - anyplace and from many construction approaches!The thing that I like about it is explained in this example...*other books that I read give you instruction just to build this that way and it will work...*Authors of Serious Straw Bale tell you that you may build this that way and that it will probbaly work... BUT in the same time they let you aware of MANY detailes that might make that not working... PLUS a few ideas of how else you can achieve this.Do you have questions about Straw bale buildings?Can pests live in a straw wall? Can I build it safe if I live in wet, windy and cold location? And how about earthquakes?... I found answers to them (from real buildings and experience of many ownes)Summed up;Topics explained are written from actual experience and thoroughly thought up. Authors also give more than one solution to same problem - each with its own strong and weak points. Writing is engeneerly systematic and detailed, but very easy to read and understand.I honestly reccomend it

Best book for a serious builder!This book gives comprehensive information and instruction for the construction of a straw bale structure. Best for giving you what you must know to start and complete construction. This is my 2nd volume as the first was loaned out and forgot to whom.

This is a good overview of straw bale construction and the extra considerations required to be successful in wet and cold climates. It did not get that last star because most of the visual aides for the solution to problems were dated photographs; where an illustration or architectural type drawing would be more useful for me to apply the concepts to my situation.

This is a great book and for anyone thinking of building in a damp climate a must have. Great information about the various ways of doing things, allowing the reader to make the best choice for their site, budget and level of skill. Covers wet weather considerations better than most other books. A good addition to your straw bale library.One warning, in this book the straw bale slab system is detailed but has since been shown to be a not so good idea so I would reccommend separate research on that subject.

I really began to admire the book after the author gave a long list or reasons of why you probably __don't want to build a straw bale home__. Then, when the author went into the science of moisture and air flow, I was hooked. He wasn't trying to sell a belief system, he was trying to pass on the 'nuts and bolts' of building your own straw bale home. Sadly, the last part of the book was given over to an article written by someone who was clearly more in the clouds than on the ground building stuff, but all in all worth the money spent.

Very thorough book on strawbale construction from Nebraska style to convention stick frame. It covers all the topics you need to know in order to get started with planning for construction. It is advisable that basic construction knowledge be attained prior to reading this book, but either way this is a beneficial read.

Let me just say that if you are going to buy only one book on straw bale home construction, this is the one. It is very comprehensive and enlightening. I am very happy with this purchase. This book is written for us who plan to build our own homes, step by step, begining to end it is all here. Not just a collection of pretty pictures but the real deal. Also I think the price very reasonable considering the amount of information, insight, tutorials pictures, advice and encouragement given. Delivery from Amazon, as always, was fast.

I've been a builder for a number of years, albeit with mostly traditional skills and experience. This book is a good overview of different methods for each of the main parts of building a straw bale house (i.e., foundation, walls, framing, and finishes). There is a lot of description and many references made to houses built all over the US and Canada (and some other countries). There are also many references to other authors and builders. I'm not sure what use all of these references are except to assure the reader that people do actually build straw bale houses.I'm looking for more of a reference book with solid details and exact, dimensional drawings of methods that are sometimes only loosely described in the book. It is possible to combine this book with some traditional knowledge and reference books on traditional building methods to fill in the gaps. I was hoping for an all-in-one book.

Having bought a few strawbale books and found them long on ideology, photos, and anecdotes, and short on detailed advice, I kind of gave up and got on with working out how to do it with local and often conflicting advice. This is the book I was looking for! Trade terms are (mostly) explained sufficiently for the non expert but there is plenty of detail and the pros and cons of alternative ways to deal with the problems every straw bale build presents. It's well written too; I find myself reading even the bits we already did because it really expands my understanding of why we did the things we were advised to do for apparently sound but ultimately incomprehensible reasons.

Thanks to Paul Lacinski for this extraordinary and superlative information in his book described in word and pictures of straw bale construction.

Very good book that covers EVERYTHING