Building With Awareness:
The Construction of a Hybrid Home

The Three-TIme Award-Winning DVD Video
On Building Elegant and Energy-Efficient
Straw Bale Homes

This beautifully photographed how-to DVD will show you how to build straw bale walls for insulation, adobe walls for interior thermal mass (which greatly increases the efficiency of a straw bale home), earth plasters for a beautiful finish, 100% electrical generation by sunlight, and passive solar heating and cooling. Beautiful aesthetics and energy-efficiency can both come from the same materials. It is how the structure is designed as a whole that makes the difference. Follow the design and construction of one code-approved house - from start to finish - and see how aesthetics, comfort, and energy efficiency can all come from the same materials and design parameters. This video is jam-packed with green design and construction techniques from professionals working in the cutting edge of home building and design. Although the video emphasizes the idea of building small, the concepts can be scaled to any size structure. Whether you are a novice builder or a professional, you will learn about rubble-trench foundations, post-and-beam framing for straw bale walls, step-by-step straw bale building techniques, adobe wall construction, roof framing, roof insulation, acid-stained concrete floors, rainwater cisterns, graywater plumbing, photovoltaic electrical systems, wiring for straw bale and adobe, radiant floor heat, window placement & installation, green materials, earth plaster mixes and techniques, and much more. Includes a full-color, 8 page quick-reference booklet with a floor plan of the home, plus a 16 minute narrated slide show of construction details. A second audio track, that doubles the design and construction information to over 5 hours, covers the pros and cons of various materials, construction costs, and discusses the experience of building your own home. We are the publisher of this DVD video.

Price: $35.00

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Serious Straw BaleMost other books on straw bale tend to focus on construction in the desert Southwest. This book balances out the library with techniques and considerations to keep in mind when building in colder and wetter climates. It is a solid, well-researched and illustrated manual geared towards both the professional builder and the do-it-yourselfer.

The Beauty of Straw Bale Homes
This is an inspirational book showing many completed straw bale homes with different wall finishes, materials, and ambience. Nicely photographed and a good visual companion to The Straw Bale House book.

Straw Bale Details is the perfect companion for those who are serious about building with straw. It focuses entirely on the specific design theories and practices that result in well-built, long-lasting bale structures. It extends the range of books like Straw Bale Building through large, easy-to-read architectural drawings rendered for a wide variety of building options, including load-bearing and post-and-beam designs. A range of foundation, wall, door and window, and roof-plate scenarios is presented, along with notes and possible modifications. Also included are the most recent testing data to help base designer and builder decisions on sound science.