Living Homes: Stone Masonry, Log, and Strawbale Construction
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.84 (771 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1892784327 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-11-08 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
How much a house costs, how it looks, how comfortable it is, how energy-efficient it is - all these things occur on paper before you pick up even one tool. That is time well spent!Living Homes takes you through the planning process to design an energy and resource efficient home that won't break the bank. Preparing for the Inevitable Building Codes, Permits and Inspections: Exceed the Minimum Standards! Defining Your Goals: A Blueprint is the Sum of the Criteria Part II: Principles of Energy Efficiency Warm Houses for Cold Climates: Insulation, Thermal Mass, Solar Gain, and Air Locks Insulation and Insulation Systems Many Choices, Most of Them Bad Air Quality: Finding Fresh Air in a High-Efficiency Ho
Entertaining and a good source of ideas but needs refinement. A fair amount of dated material which leads to inaccuracies, as well as some errors (which may be typos?)- there is definitely a lack of proofreading evident.All in all an interesting book, lots of ideas to consider, which would need to be researched more fully before implementing. "Helpful for building a masonry heater and other green projects." according to freudhawk. Bought this book for research on building a masonry heater. While it did provide plans and some guidance, the addition of the DVD (sold separately) really helped round out the words on the page. There's just something about seeing a person lay mortar or how they operated around a . Good practical guide for green do-it-yourselfers Shanti This is one of the few books that I've come across about alternative building methods that is truly catered towards how to build it yourself on a budget. He doesn't cover every possible green building technology, but he covers the ones he knows and has worked with in great detail,
The spaces between the logs are eventually insulated and chinked to make the wall air tight.The basics of strawbale building are presented in one chapter, detailing how a large load-bearing strawbale shop was built. He starts with how to choose an appropriate location, then proceeds to describe strategies for disaster-proofing your home. In order to present a thorough overview of all of the basics of house building, the author also has surprisingly comprehensive chapters on plumbing and electrical wiring. This leads to a primer about the properties of concrete and how to mix and pour it. The information about strawbale is not as thorough as it is with the previous chapters on stone and log building, but there is enough of an overview to give the reader an idea of what is involved.All of the wall-building techniques described so far require a framed roof of some sort, and the author goes into some detail about the possibilities for doing this. Thoma