Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide To Alternative Building Methods - Earth Plaster, Straw Bale, Cordwood, Cob, Living Roofs

by Clarke Snell, Tim Callahan

Clarke Snell and Timothy L. Callahan, whose popular Good House Book helped environmentally-minded readers create an earth-friendly home, have returned with a photo-packed, amazingly complete, start-to-finish guide to "green" housebuilding.

This absolutely groundbreaking manual doesn't just talk about eco-friendly building techniques, but actually shows every step! More than 1,200 close-up photographs, along with in-depth descriptions, follow the real construction of an alternative house from site selection to the addition of final-touch interior details. Co-authors Clarke Snell and Timothy Callahan (a professional builder and contractor) provide thorough discussions of the fundamental concepts of construction, substitutes for conventional approaches, and planning a home that's not only comfortable and beautiful, but environmentally responsible. Then, they roll up their sleeves and get to work assembling a guest house that incorporates four different alternative building straw bale, cob, cordwood, and modified stick frame. The images show every how the site is cleared, the basic structure put together, the cob wall sculpted, the bales and cordwood stacked, a living roof created, and more. Most important, the manual conveys real-world challenges and processes, and offers dozens of sidebars with invaluable advice. It's head and shoulders above all others in the field.

Genres: Nonfiction, Construction, Sustainability, Architecture, Green, Reference, Environment

615 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2005

About the author

I never intended to have a career in building. I became interested in construction because I wanted to build my own house. Now, many years later, I’ve built that house and along the way learned a brainfull of useful information that I'm dedicated to sharing with anyone who cares to listen, discuss, watch, or participate. I do that by writing, lecturing, consulting, designing, and, if the project is just right, building. In addition to a number of articles, I’ve written two books on “green building” techniques, “The Good House Book: A Common Sense Guide to Alternative Homebuilding” and (with Tim Callahan) “Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide to Guide to Alternative Building Methods”.

Reviews

[Mara Elwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a massive book, but well worth it to investigate the process of four different construction systems. The authors give huge amounts of information about each of them and connect the information to the project of building a cabin with a green roof and four different wall systems (cob, strawbale, cordwood, and modified stick frame). They also talk about design and siting. There were several places where both authors had sidebars to check in with reality, and this brings a good does of realism to what could have ended up just being a book hyping green building techniques with no thought to the fact that people reading it are not skilled construction experts such as they are. I mainly read it for the cob building and it showed me that this technique is much more difficult than some websites and information pamphlets I had read made it out to be. Still, a small cob project may still be something I would try, or cob as a sculpture technique.....

[Robert Bagnall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit too wordy and too detailed - an idiot's guide to waters that an idiot probably wouldn't steer himself into - and, as the epilogue makes clear, 'how to' is very much dependent on your context, so all this book claims, in the end, is to map one particular green building journey. So not really a 'complete how-to guide' at all.

[Koen Crolla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stereotypically insufferable. Snell's concept of ``green'' is incoherent, informed by a kindergarten-level understanding of environmental impact and identity-based bullshit. He sure loves typing words, though.
There are a lot of pictures in this book and some of them are alright if you ignore the accompanying words, and the occasional Tim's Take sections, while not always containing information, often aren't actively wrong (Tim Callahan, the second author, being a contractor instead of a shit-for-brains hippie). Apart from those, there is absolutely nothing of value in this book, especially for anyone living within view of other people.
If you just want to build a mud hut in an American desert that will last for the five to ten years it will take you to die of pneumonia in it and no longer, on the other hand, this is the book for you.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As odd as it may seem, I think I've made my peace with conventional building. Our affinity to build large boxes out of cardboard, glue and matchsticks in car dependent suburbs is still bad in many ways of course, but that's not in itself and indictment of stick frame construction, or even using modern insulation materials. For me I think the priority is to try and find a place to live that's as small as possible for my actual lifestyle, and provides enough access to space for me to grow all of my plants.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Great book, but it was I felt it was VERY nuanced to the exact building the authors were making—which is entirely their choice and building on their experience; I just expected a more general “textbook” approach of many varied building experiences based on the cover/description of the book. I had different expectations, but situationally this book was VERY informative.

[Marisa]

Holy Jesus. I skimmed through this entire thing and am completely impressed. I'm also still smarting from the in-your-face reality slap I recieved. This book really brought it in terms of step-by-step, thorough, pragmatic instructions for building a green home from start to finish. Various construction techniques for various materials were presented with a relatively unbiased look at the pros and cons of each. I honestly feel that I'm likely to never build my own house now and that's a testament to how good this book is. What, you mean I can't just draw up a rough plan, grab some materials, slap it together with some nails, a little glue, and a wish and a prayer and SHABAM have a completely habitable and ascetically pleasing place to call my own?? Forget my intellectual high horse. I grovel at the feet of these and other like-minded masters who deal with things in the real world and produce results.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed this book, rather than read it cover to cover, as I have no immediate plans to buy or build a house. Rather, this book gave me some insight on alternate building materials, as well as the huge amount of work that goes into planning for and building a house. I appreciated the no nonsense and sometimes tongue-in-cheek advice that the authors gave. Too many "green" guides these days are so airy-fairy that it appears as if building an eco-friendly dwelling is as easy as wishing for one. Not so with these authors. They provide photographs and commentary on the various stages of the processes they go through. The test house that they built was intended to be completed in 2 months but ended up taking them 6 months.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent reference book for those who are interested in "building green", i.e., building with minimal impact to the environment due to the types of materials used and the ways the construction process is facilitated. Although I didn't actually read this book from cover-to-cover, I found that it had excellent and easy-to-understand descriptions of various types of "green building". The authors were not afraid to admit when they had made mistakes, and also pointed out both benefits and drawbacks of each methodology used. When and if I ever have money to build my own "green" home, this would definitely be a reference starting point for me.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent book. It truly is a complete how-to guide. The first part of the book is a review of why one builds really making you think about what you want in a building; in the second,the authors build a multi-material building. Each step of the building (and, to be fair, part 1) is beautifully photographed with diagrams, honesty about what worked well for them, and what didn't. Strongly recommend this book for those wanting to build and those curious about what's out there that's eco friendly.

[PJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've become quite interested in natural building and aspire to build my own little house in the country someday in the not-so-distant future...this book is 600 pages full of beautiful photographs and conversational-but-concise show-how tips. Enjoying it very much as a primer on the subject, though it's not as low-impact as it could be (using more conventional materials and tools than I would've expected, and water and electricity from the grid).

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned that building "green" is not just complicated by the fact that many of the methods considered green are works in progress. But it seems that you're faced with either doing or contracting it all yourself, or dealing with a contractor, even if willing, that will likely have *not nearly enough* "green building" experience to make a smooth go of it.

Good food for thought, though. Like I'll be building a house anytime soon!

[Reed Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very interested in the whole green building movement. I think that it's great that we have more and more information on the subject, and I found this particular book helpful in showing specifics on a few different types of home construction. One thing that I would have liked to see is a cost analysis comparative to conventional construction. This would give those really serious about green building a better view of the project.

[Julie Armes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book details the advantages and disadvantages of various green building strategies, and explains the entire process of building with each element thoroughly and with photos and diagrams. Their conclusion? There is no perfect, one size fits all solution, just a variety of criteria that each individual should examine to decide what options make the most sense given their own location, needs, preferences, and constraints.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It provided an excellent overview of many different alternative building techniques by allowing us to follow the authors through the process of building their little cottage, warts and all. Deffinately an excellent resource for those considering building without using stadard stick-framing methods.

[Mathew Carruthers · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource to keep in your DIY library. I've been looking for a used copy since I returned the copy I read to my local library. It is nice to see that traditional construction techniques are making a resurgence - build a better house with available resources for less money than a typical McMansion that has a two year engineered obsolecsence built into it.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of green building techniques through the lens of building a single, small, free-standing guest-house. You can use it to go in depth on how to build foundations, walls, etc. You can also skim it and enjoy the photos to get a loose sense of how the processes work.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My textbook to how to build my dream house. Now I just need to find the land and capital!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book will prove an excellent resource. I like the idea that it is written by both a dreamer and someone who has experience in the field.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photos are great and plentiful. So much information...they even tell you what went wrong.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a resource book. Something you read and read again. Maybe one of the most comprehensive? Great photos and an inspiration to building green and out of the box!

[Kami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. When I need to build my next home out of cob I will buy it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is chock full of info. I was mostly interested in the section on building with cob and found it to be very useable information.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wide and interesting overview of green building techniques. A very thick book and goes into more practical detail than most green building books. Great photography too.

[Genabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really great photography in this comprehensive book. Follows two guys as they build a house with one cob wall, one straw bale wall, one cordwood wall, and one wood wall. Really cool info.

[Dustin Reimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good hands on guide to green building techniques... anyone thinking of attempting to try any of these methods would find this book extremly useful

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um, I've been living in houses all my life, but I don't know much about building them.

[Aaron]

I am diggin' this book. I blame my Dad for the 'Build your own home' bug and this is/will be a great resource.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pictures and descriptions and full of inspiration.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent overview of alternative home building methods. Great look into how to design a home and keeping things practical.

[Colin Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've skimmed this more than read it from cover to cover. I will be coming back to it as a go-to reference guide when I begin experimenting with some of the methods covered in the book, however.