Serious Straw Bale: A Home Construction Guide for All Climates

by Paul Lacinski, Michel Bergeron

In 1994, when Chelsea Green published The Straw Bale House , the response from many people was a loud, "Huh?!" Those days are gone. With more than 100,000 copies sold, and straw bale projects underway in most regions of North America, we've entered a new era. Even building-code officials and insurance companies now look favorably upon straw bale buildings, with their extraordinary energy efficiency and wise use of agricultural waste for construction materials. Bergeron and Lacinski's new book Serious Straw Bale is the first to look carefully at the specific design considerations critical to success with a straw bale building in more extreme climates-where seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity create special stresses that builders must understand and address. The authors draw upon years of experience with natural materials and experimental techniques, and present a compelling rationale for building with straw-one of nature's most resilient, available, and affordable byproducts. For skeptics and true believers, this book will prove to be the latest word. This is a second-generation straw bale book, for those seeking serious information to meet serious challenges while adventuring in the most fun form of construction to come along in several centuries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Construction, Sustainability

371 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Bear Paw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to pick up some basics in this style of building!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I use this book all the time and refer it people who are interested in building with straw. It is very helpful to the northern climates. A great deal of information is provided with many details and techniques. Highly recommend for anyone considering straw bale construction. A great alternative to "conventional" construction.

[Motorcycle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good. It had a lot of good information. Some of it seemed a little dated and Canada-centric, but it was still really useful. It would have been much better though if they had building diagrams and illustrations. The pictures that they included were not very well placed or composed for illustrating the text.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, so good. I found the section on ventilation very enlightening—a subject I had thought far too little about.

Thorough and very focused. This book is definitely a useful resource for anyone preparing to build with straw.

[Sally]

M and I are currently reading this and about to attend a workshop on solar power this month. Trying to get out of the city and "back to the land" some time soon. M is working to make straw bale building more accepted here in the midwest.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed. No book seems to contain everything you need to build you own strawbale structure, but this seems to come as close as I have seen.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm enjoying it so far. The science of moisture and air is quite intense!

[Martin Metke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much to say. It tells you how to build straw bale homes, so...