More Straw Bale Building: How to Plan, Design and Build with Straw

by Chris Magwood, Peter Mack, Tina Therrien

Overview

A completely rewritten and updated edition of this straw building classic.

Straw bale houses are easy to build, affordable, super energy efficient, environmentally friendly, attractive, and can be designed to match the builder's personal space needs, esthetics, and budget. Despite mushrooming interest in the technique, however, most straw bale books focus on "selling" the dream of straw-bale building, but don't adequately address the most critical issues faced by bale house builders. Moreover, since many developments in this field are recent, few books are completely up to date with the latest techniques.

More Straw Bale Building is designed to fill this gap. A completely rewritten edition of the 20,000-copy best-selling original, it leads the potential builder through the entire process of building a bale structure, tackling all the practical issues: finding and choosing bales; developing sound building plans; roofing; electrical, plumbing, and heating systems; building code compliance; and special concerns for builders in northern climates. New material includes: 

• more extensive sections on electric wiring and plumbing
• updated sections on bale finishes and finishing
• a section on prefabricated straw bale walls
• a wider selection of case studies, photographs and illustrations
• a section on common mistakes
• budgeting for low-, medium- and high-cost projects, and
• new testing data that is in no other straw bale book.

Down-to earth and complete, More Straw Bale Building makes the remarkable benefits of straw bale building available in the most comprehensive and practical book on the subject to date.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781550923223
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	03/20/2005
Series:	Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series , #7
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Chris Magwood is a professional straw bale builder and consultant who has constructed over 40 straw bale buildings, and consulted on many more. He has taught workshops and seminars across the continent and overseas, co-authored one of the first straw bale how-to books, Straw Bale Building (New Society, Publishers, 2000) and edited The Last Straw Journal, an international quarterly devoted to straw bale building, since 2001. Check out his website at www.chrismagwood.ca.

Peter Mack has been building and inventing for most of his life. A founder of Camel's Back Construction, he has helped refine bale building into a fine art and has provided guidance to other builders and homeowners on countless projects. An inventor, instrument maker,machinist, fitter welder, and avid mountain biker,Pete brings diverse skills and ideas to the straw bale community.

Tina Therrien began building with straw bales 10 years ago when she became a partner in Camel's Back Construction, Ontario's first straw bale construction company. She continues to build, plaster, teach workshops, and do presentations across the province with a team of experienced builders.

Chris Magwood has designed and built some of the most innovative buildings in North America, including the first off-grid, straw bale home in Ontario which became a fifteen-year research project into the implementation of sustainable building materials and technologies. Chris Magwood lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

Peter Mack has been building and inventing for most of his life. A founder of Camel's Back Construction, he has helped refine bale building into a fine art and has provided guidance to other builders and homeowners on countless projects. An inventor, instrument maker, machinist, fitter welder, and avid mountain biker, Pete brings diverse skills and ideas to the straw bale community.

Tina Therrien started plastering in 1997 as part of Camel's Back Construction, the first straw bale building company in Ontario. Tina lives in a modest timber frame home with her spouse, daughter, their flock of chickens, and their slowly expanding gardens. She lives in Low, Quebec.

Table of Contents

Note from the Authors
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Chapter 1: Why Build with Straw?
Chapter 2: Other Natural Building Materials
Chapter 3: What Are Straw Bales?
Chapter 4: The Red Flag Questions
Chapter 5: The Hotly Debated Often - Distorted Question of Cost
Chapter 6: Getting Focused
Chapter 7: Design Considerations
Chapter 8: The Many Styles of Bale Building
Chapter 9: Structural Design Options: Foundations, Roofs and Partition Walls
Chapter 10: More Design Options: Mechanical Systems
Chapter 11: From Designer to Draftsperson
Chapter 12: Straw Bale Construction Plans
Chapter 13: Building Permits
Chapter 14: Do-It-yourself (DIY) and Building Professionals
Chapter 15: Budgeting
Chapter 16: Going Shopping: Materials
Chapter 17: Construction: Before the Bales
Chapter 18: Raising Bale Walls
Chapter 19: Plastering Your Bale Walls
Chapter 20: Bale Wall Finishes
Chapter 21: Common Mistakes
Chapter 22: Constructing with Work Parties
Chapter 23: Other Straw Bale Projects
Chapter 24: The Challenge

Appendix: The California Building Code
Index
About the Authors

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In More Straw Bale Building , we see once again the combination of experience, knowledge, thoughtfulness, and friendly style that made Straw Bale Building such a useful book. The evolution of straw bale construction toward more widespread and dependable use will be given yet another boost by this book and from all those who will benefit from having read it."
— David Eisenberg, co-author of The Straw Bale House , and director of the Development Center for Appropriate Technology

" More Straw Bale Building contains a wealth of the latest information on planning and building with straw, and is an excellent guide to sustainable construction in general. Magwood and Mack are two of the most knowledgeable and experienced bale builders in North America, and it shows.Their practical treatise is a recommended must-read for anyone considering a straw bale building project."
— Mark Hoberecht, president, HarvestBuild Associates, Inc.

"The "Ontario Three" have struck again — with an important contribution to the planning and completion of a straw bale home.This practical book will keep paying for itself each step of the owner-builder's way. My thanks to the authors for the extensive research and insights collected into this "must have" book for my clients."
— Habib John Gonzalez, Habib John Gonzalez, Sustainable Works; builder, educator, researcher

"The straw bale movement has grown and evolved—and so has this book. In this updated and expanded second edition, the authors provide the latest understandings and techniques to build smarter, better, and more simply."
— Mark Piepkorn, co-editor of Green Building Products ; former editor of The Last Straw

"By weaving in comments from others along with their own, Chris, Pete and Tina provide an in-depth overview of building with straw.There is no substitute for hands-on experience, which the authors clearly demonstrate throughout the text."
— Kris J. Dick, Ph.D., P.Eng., Principal, Building Alternatives Inc., Adjunct Professor, Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba

"Times — and everything in the straw bale world — are changing, and so are our building methods.With More Straw Bale Building , the authors have taken an old standard and brought it up to date by adding new sections and revising the old. This excellent book will provide guidance to a new generation wanting to build a straw bale structure. Straw Bale Building has long been a planning, job site and coffee table volume, and now there will be a revised companion setting there along side of the original."
— Gerald Goodman,Arctic Building Consultants, straw bale building consultant, designer, and owner

"With extensive hands-on experience backing them up, Magwood, Mack and Therrien once again share the most up-to-date information in the field of straw bale construction. By outlining lessons learned, comparing techniques, and highlighting the latest & greatest approaches, More Straw Bale Building will help the newcomer build a dream with more confidence, while giving the veteran straw baler new ideas, methods and techniques to chew on."
— Rachel Connor, Sustainable Building Instructor, Solar Energy International

"In More Straw Bale Building , the authors detail with humour and clarity the challenges and benefits of numerous straw bale systems they have explored both as owner/builders and as contracters.The fact that more than half the book addresses issues that come up before actually installing any straw provides a realistic picture of the preparation needed for the execution of a successful building — and the chapter on common mistakes is worth the price of the book in itself! As important resources like More Straw Bale Building become available, straw bale construction edges its way closer to being a significant mainstream alternative."
— Kim Thompson, Straw Bale Projects