The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy-Efficient, Environmental Homes

by Daniel D. Chiras

The Natural House is a tour of the construction, costs, and pros and cons of fourteen natural building methods. Straw Bale, Rammed Earth, Cob, Cordwood, Adobe, Earthbags, Papercrete, Earthships…whatever the method, the common goal is to create a house that is economical, energy efficient, nontoxic, soothing to the soul, kind to the environment, and pleasing to behold. This comprehensive sourcebook offers in-depth information that will guide your search for the perfect sustainable dream home. It is a must for home builders, contractors, and architects.
Author Dan Chiras shows how you can gain energy independence and reduce your environmental impact through passive solar heating and cooling techniques, solar electricity, wind power, and micro-hydropower. He also explains safe, economical ways to obtain clean drinking water and treat wastewater, and discusses affordable green products.
While he's an unabashed advocate of natural building techniques, Chiras takes care not to romanticize and to alert readers to avoidable pitfalls. His detailed, practical, and ecologically sound advice can save tens of thousands of dollars, whether you are buying, building, or renovating a natural home.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sustainability, Construction, Architecture

468 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Dan has spent much of the past 30 years studying sustainability and applying what he has learned in solar energy, natural building, and green building to his residences, and most of the last ten plus years sharing the practical knowledge he has gained through writing, lectures, slide shows, and workshops.
Dan Chiras paid his last electric bill in June of 1996. It is not that he has disavowed the use of electricity and modern conveniences, but rather that he has turned to the sun and wind to meet his family's needs.

Reviews

[Leonardo Etcheto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. Touches on a lot of subjects, some in more depth than others but all very clear and interesting explanations. Does a really good job of laying out the evaluation criteria and then showing the wide range of available materials and techniques.
A little hippy-dippy but not too bad. Gave me a lot of valuable information. Highly recomended as an overview of the area. Good resource section.

[Colette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed some sections and read others. I found it interesting and would be helpful in planning a house. I am interested in building a wall fence and an outbuilding. I got some good ideas.

[Suman Pant · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who are interested in sustainable living or living off-grid, this is a good start. But this is not a book for someone who already knows these concepts. The book is basic, and mostly designed for people wanting to live in North America or places where transportation is easy- a lot of materials for the construction will require good transport for materials. The part on building passive solar house is the best part- and quite interesting.

Good beginners book.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great ref for natual building alternatives. It's very easy to navigate adn get right to the information you want. It covers construction processes, benefis, drawbacks. There are lots of other sources offered, in case something is of particular interest.

[PJ]

Flipping through this one it seems pretty solid, glad to have it in my library and will refer back to it later as I get closer to building a place.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information here on alternative building styles. If we had more homes like this our world would be a much better place for sure.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should probably be called something like The Less Destructive House. This stuff isn't really natural or sustainable. It is a good summary of the less destructive building options though.