Image: front cover
  • CDN $34.95
  • USD $34.95
Buy Now
ShareThis

Paperback – 288 pages
8 Inches × 10 Inches (w × h)

Weight: 800 Grams
BISAC: ARCHITECTURE / Sustainability & Green Design
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 9780865715189
Pub. Date: 2005-03-20

About the Authors

Chris Magwood

Chris Magwood is a professional straw bale builder and consultant who has constructed over 40 straw bale buildings, and consulted on many more. He has taught workshops and seminars across the continent and overseas, co-authored one of the first straw bale how-to books, Straw Bale Building (New Society, Publishers, 2000) and edited The Last Straw Journal, an international quarterly devoted to straw bale building, since 2001. Check out his website at www.chrismagwood.ca.

view author profile

Tina Therrien

Tina Therrien began building with straw bales 10 years ago when she became a partner in Camel's Back Construction, Ontario's first straw bale construction company. She continues to build, plaster, teach workshops, and do presentations across the province with a team of experienced builders.

view author profile

Peter Mack

Peter Mack has been building and inventing for most of his life. A founder of Camel's Back Construction, he has helped refine bale building into a fine art and has provided guidance to other builders and homeowners on countless projects. An inventor, instrument maker,machinist, fitter welder, and avid mountain biker,Pete brings diverse skills and ideas to the straw bale community.

view author profile

More Straw Bale Building

How to Plan, Design and Build with Straw

by Chris Magwood, Tina Therrien & Peter Mack



Straw bale houses are easy to build, affordable, super energy efficient, environmentally friendly, attractive, and can be designed to match the builder's personal space needs, esthetics, and budget. Despite mushrooming interest in the technique, however, most straw bale books focus on "selling" the dream of straw-bale building, but don't adequately address the most critical issues faced by bale house builders. Moreover, since many developments in this field are recent, few books are completely up to date with the latest techniques.

More Straw Bale Building is designed to fill this gap. A completely rewritten edition of the 20,000-copy best-selling original, it leads the potential builder through the entire process of building a bale structure, tackling all the practical issues: finding and choosing bales; developing sound building plans; roofing; electrical, plumbing, and heating systems; building code compliance; and special concerns for builders in northern climates. New material includes:

  • more extensive sections on electric wiring and plumbing
  • updated sections on bale finishes and finishing
  • a section on prefabricated straw bale walls
  • a wider selection of case studies, photographs and illustrations
  • a section on common mistakes
  • budgeting for low-, medium- and high-cost projects, and
  • new testing data that is in no other straw bale book.

Down-to earth and complete, More Straw Bale Building makes the remarkable benefits of straw bale building available in the most comprehensive and practical book on the subject to date.

Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series

You might also enjoy

Earthbag Building

Earthbag Building

The Tools, Tricks and Techniques

Over seventy percent of Americans cannot afford to own a code-enforced, contractor-built home. This has led to widespread interest in using natural …

view title info
Stoneview

Stoneview

How to Build an Eco-Friendly Little Guesthouse

Stoneview is an octagonal cordwood masonry timber-framed guesthouse with a living roof, located in upstate New York, fully constructed and finished …

view title info
The Art of Natural Building

The Art of Natural Building

Design, Construction, Resources

The search for housing that is healthy, affordable, and environmentally responsible is leading a growing number of people to take a fresh look at …

view title info
Timber Framing for the Rest of Us

Timber Framing for the Rest of Us

A Guide to Contemporary Post and Beam Construction

Many natural building methods rely upon the use of post and beam frame structures that are then in-filled with straw, cob, cordwood, or more …

view title info
Cordwood Building

Cordwood Building

The State of the Art

Cordwood masonry is an ancient building technique whereby walls are constructed from "log ends" laid transversely in the wall. It is easy, …

view title info