Download or read book The Natural Building Companion written by Jacob Deva Racusin and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural buildings not only bring satisfaction to their makers and joy to their occupants, they also leave the gentlest footprint on the environment. In this complete reference to natural building philosophy, design, and technique, Jacob Deva Racusin and Ace McArleton walk builders through planning and construction, offering step-by-step instructions on: siting and site analysis choosing materials integrating basic structural considerations into a design strategies for heating/cooling efficiency and moisture management planning for acoustics developing an integrative design navigating budgeting, code compliance, and project management creating the foundation, wall system, roof, and floors selecting and making plasters and paints evaluating options for mechanical and utility systems protecting against fire and insects integrating structures within landscape, climate, and human communities ...and more Applicable to building in climates that are cold and wet, hot and dry, or somewhere in-between, The Natural Building Companion provides the tools necessary to understand basic principles of building science, including structural and thermal engineering, and hydrodynamics. This guide offers thorough, up-to-date, and advanced installation details and performance characteristics of straw-bale, straw-clay, woodchip-clay, and cellulose wall systems, as well as earthen and stone wall systems and a variety of framing, roofing, flooring, mechanical system, and finishing options. This fully-illustrated volume informs professionals making the transition from conventional building, homeowners embarking on their own construction, or green builders who want comprehensive guidance on natural-building options. A State-of-the-Art Resource for Natural Builders The Natural Building Companion is a part of The Yestermorrow Design/Build Library and includes an instructional DVD.
Download or read book The Art of Natural Building written by Catherine Wanek and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2015-03 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The popularity of natural building has grown by leaps and bounds, spurred by a grassroots desire for housing that is healthy, affordable and environmentally responsible. While there are many books available on specific methods such as strawbale construction, cob or timber framing, few other resources introduce the reader to the entire scope of this burgeoning field. Fully revised and updated, The Art of Natural Building is the complete and user-friendly introduction to natural building for everyone from do-it-yourselfers to architects and designers. This collection of articles from 60 leaders in the field is stunningly illustrated with over 400 photos of natural buildings from around the world. At 465 pages, this massive resource is over 50% longer than the original edition. Out of 64 chapters, 26 are new to this edition, and nearly all of the rest have been completely revised to reflect recent developments. Learn about: The case for building with natural materials, from the perspectives of sustainability, lifestyle and health What you need to know to plan and design your own beautiful and efficient natural home Explanations of thirty versatile materials and techniques, each with and up-to-date resource list of where to go for further information and training How these techniques are being used to address housing crises around the world, with 12 case studies from China to Argentina. Clearly written, logically organized and beautifully illustrated The Art of Natural Building is the encyclopedia of natural building.
Download or read book The Hand sculpted House written by Ianto Evans and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cob, a structural composite of earth, water, straw, clay, and sand, has been used for centuries, in virtually all parts of the world, to create homes ranging from mud huts in Africa to lavish adobe haciendas in Latin America. This practical and inspiring hands-on guide teaches anyone to build a cob dwelling.
Download or read book Essential Building Science written by Jacob Deva Racusin and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2016-11-28 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Down and dirty – a complete step-by-step guide to making, installing and living with beautiful, all-natural earthen floors Poor heat and moisture management are the enemies of durable, comfortable, and efficient housing, and good building design and construction starts with a solid understanding of good building science. Essential Building Science provides a highly visual and accessible introduction to the fundamentals of building science for residential construction. Part one covers the rationale behind high-performance design and the fundamentals of building physics, including thermal dynamics, moisture transfer, and hygro-thermal dynamics such as vapor drive and condensation. Part two teaches the vital critical thinking skills needed to consider buildings as whole systems and to develop thermal and moisture control strategies regardless of the specifics of the design. Case studies and examples from across North American climatic zones illuminate real-life problems and offer builders, designers, and DIYers the insights and tools required for creating better new buildings and dramatically improving old ones. Good science plus critical thinking equals high performance buildings.
Download or read book Adobe Homes for All Climates written by Lisa Schroder and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09-06 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lay-up of adobe bricks is an easy, forgiving way to achieve a solid masonry-wall system. Contrary to stereotypes, adobe is perfectly adaptable for use in cold, wet climates as well as hot and dry ones, and for areas prone to earthquakes. With its efficient use of energy, natural resources for construction, and minimal effort for long-term maintenance, it’s clear that the humble adobe brick is an ideal option for constructing eco-friendly structures throughout the world. The book is ideal both for first-time do-it-yourselfers and for experienced adobe builders seeking to improve their craft. Drawing on the experience of more than fifty major adobe projects since 1993, Adobe Homes for All Climates describes Adobe Building Systems’ patented reinforcement and scaffolding systems, showing readers how to construct adobe homes more easily and safely, and with superior strength, durability, structural integrity, and aesthetic appeal, as compared to earthen homes of the past. All aspects of adobe construction are covered, including making and laying adobe bricks, installing lintels and arches, conduits and pipes, doors and windows, top plates and bondbeams, ideal wall dimensions, adobe finishes, and other adobe construction components, such as the inexpensive use of scaffolding. These methods will produce a premium product that will meet and often exceed inspection standards. Equipped with this manual, you will be able to obtain a building permit, make adobe bricks swiftly, and confidently lay them up. You will be able to beautifully finish your adobe walls with earth plasters creating stunning colors and outstanding light effects and create a beautiful, energy-efficient home that will last for generations to come.
Download or read book Alternative Construction written by Lynne Elizabeth and published by Wiley. This book was released on 2000-05-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive guide to combining traditional natural materials and modern construction methods. From adobe to straw bales, traditional building materials are being adapted to meet code-required standards for health and safety in contemporary buildings around the world. Not only are they cost effective and environmentally friendly, but, when used correctly, these natural alternatives match the strength and durability of many mainstream construction materials. This book examines a broad range of traditional and modern natural construction methods, including straw-bale, light-clay, cob, adobe, rammed earth and pise, earthbag, earth-sheltered, bamboo, and hybrid systems. It also covers key ecological design principles, as well as current engineering and building code requirements. Experts on each building system have contributed core chapters that explore the history, development, climatic appropriateness, environmental benefits, performance characteristics, construction techniques, and structural design principles for each method. More than 200 visuals depict both construction processes and completed structures. An extensive resource guide shows where to go for further information, training, and research. In an increasingly resource-conscious era, alternative construction is truly an idea whose time has come. Whether you're an architect, designer, student, or homeowner, this book will help you to combine indigenous building materials with modern construction systems and design standards to create low-impact, high-quality buildings that meet the highest levels of comfort, health, and safety.
Download or read book Essential Natural Plasters written by Michael Henry and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A veritable cookbook of natural plaster recipes and techniques for beautiful, durable finishes Natural plasters made of clay, lime, and other materials mixed with sand are beautiful building finishes. Fun to work with, low-impact, and allowing infinite creativity, they are high performance and provide proven, centuries-long durability. Yet until now there's been no resource that has pulled together the best North American plaster recipes and how-to into one place. Essential Natural Plasters covers it all: Sourcing and selecting materials, including site-soils Clay, lime, and gypsum plasters as well as fibers and amendments Interior and exterior use and specialty plasters such as tadelakt for bathrooms Preparing substrates, from straw bales and cob to lath and Sheetrock How to set up a safe, efficient worksite Mixing, testing, tinting, repairing, and applying plasters Coveted recipes from leading plasterers in Ontario, Vermont, New Mexico, France, and New Zealand. Richly illustrated and deeply researched, Essential Natural Plasters is the must-have resource for owner-builders and professionals alike.
Download or read book Building Without Borders written by Joseph F. Kennedy and published by New Society Pub. This book was released on 2004 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In cities and countries around the world, billions of people live in slums and shanty towns, doomed by ongoing poverty to grossly inadequate shelter. Solving the global housing crisis has become one of the most urgent imperatives of our time, but doing so without creating problems of ecological degradation and lack of empowerment is a major challenge. Building Without Borders describes the pioneering efforts of those who have taken up this challenge to great effect. It surveys numerous projects that are housing the homeless without destroying natural habitats to do so, by drawing upon local traditions. The book travels from Africa and Latin America, through India, China, and Thailand - as well as Poland and the Southwest of the United States. Including contributions from over thirty experienced practitioners, its focus is upon locally sustainable building, covering aspects of international development, appropriate technology, technology transfer, and teacher training, and a special focus on the use of natural building for displaced populations, refugees and in disaster mitigation. Highly illustrated and popular in style, it includes case studies, technical information, and the latest thinking on truly sustainable construction. With an appendix that outlines the remarkable work of Builders Without Borders as well as a complete listing of further resources, Building Without Borders will find an eager readership among development professionals, affordable housing groups and appropriate technologists as well as architects, designers, natural builders and housing advocates.
Download or read book Fracture and Failure of Natural Building Stones written by Stavros K. Kourkoulis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-06-17 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume scientists from different disciplines present their experience and their scientific work in progress. These concern the properties of a series of stones that have been used for the erection of some of the most important stone monuments of international cultural heritage and are also used today for substitution of missing parts or completion of damaged ones. It deals with the subject globally and contains unpublished research results.
Download or read book Building The Classic Physique written by Steve Reeves and published by Little Wolff Publishing Group. This book was released on 1995-12-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Natural Building written by Tom Woolley and published by Crowood Press (UK). This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describing the many materials and methods that have been used by the pioneers of natural building, this book discusses the reasons why various materials have been chosen. Illustrated with over 220 colour photographs and diagrams, it is aimed at architects, self-builders, environmental groups, and at those interested in green issues.
Download or read book The New Carbon Architecture written by Bruce King and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soak up carbon into beautiful, healthy buildings that heal the climate "Green buildings" that slash energy use and carbon emissions are all the rage, but they aren't enough. The hidden culprit is embodied carbon — the carbon emitted when materials are mined, manufactured, and transported — comprising some 10% of global emissions. With the built environment doubling by 2030, buildings are a carbon juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the climate. It doesn't have to be this way. Like never before in history, buildings can become part of the climate solution. With biomimicry and innovation, we can pull huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it up as walls, roofs, foundations, and insulation. We can literally make buildings out of the sky with a massive positive impact. The New Carbon Architecture is a paradigm-shifting tour of the innovations in architecture and construction that are making this happen. Office towers built from advanced wood products; affordable, low-carbon concrete alternatives; plastic cleaned from the oceans and turned into building blocks. We can even grow insulation from mycelium. A tour de force by the leaders in the field, The New Carbon Architecture will fire the imagination of architects, engineers, builders, policy makers, and everyone else captivated by the possibility of architecture to heal the climate and produce safer, healthier, and more beautiful buildings.
Download or read book Building with Cob written by Adam Weismann and published by Uit Cambridge Limited. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building with Cob shows how to apply this ancient technique in a wide variety of contemporary situations, covering everything from design and siting, mixing, building walls, fireplaces, ovens and floors, lime and other natural finishes, and gaining planning permission and building regulation approval.
Download or read book Building Natural Ponds written by Robert Pavlis and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2017-04-07 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Build a natural pond for wildlife, beauty, and quiet contemplation Typical backyard ponds are a complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters, and nasty chemicals designed to adjust pH and keep algae at bay. Hardly the bucolic, natural ecosystem beloved by dragonflies, frogs, and songbirds. The antidote is a natural pond, free of hassle, cost, and complexity and designed as a fully functional ecosystem, ideal for biodiversity, swimming, irrigation, and quiet contemplation. Building Natural Ponds is the first step-by-step guide to designing and building natural ponds that use no pumps, filters, chemicals, or electricity and mimic native ponds in both aesthetics and functionality. Highly illustrated with how-to drawings and photographs, coverage includes: Understanding pond ecosystems and natural algae control Planning, design, siting, and pond aesthetics Step-by-step guidance for construction, plants and fish, and maintenance and trouble shooting Scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs, and rain gardens. Whether you're a backyard gardener looking to add a small serene natural water feature or a homesteader with visions of a large pond for fish, swimming, and irrigation, Building Natural Ponds is the complete guide to building ponds in tune with nature, where plants, insects, and amphibians thrive in blissful serenity. Robert Pavlis , a Master Gardener with over 40 years of gardening experience, is owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden featuring over 2,500 varieties of plants. A well-respected speaker and teacher, Robert has published articles in Mother Earth News , Ontario Gardening magazine, the widely read blog GardenMyths.com, which explodes common gardening myths and gardening information site GardenFundamentals.com.
Download or read book The Weathering of Natural Building Stones written by R.J. Schaffer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-20 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a general account of the factors which cause decay of building stones and a summary of the best methods to reduce the incidence of decay. It discusses weathering associated with natural defects inherent in stone and examines issues of weathering caused by bad workmanship or errors in the selection of material. Decay through chemical and natural physical phenomena are discussed in detail. The final sections offer useful advice on how to prevent long term decay through appropriate repair, replacement and cleaning of stone.
Download or read book Built by Hand written by Athena Swentzell Steen and published by Gibbs Smith. This book was released on 2003 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built by Hand is a celebration of what is so uniquely diverse and yet similar in the buildings of different cultures around the world. Beginning with the most basic ways that human beings have sought shelter-beneath the trees and stars, under the protection of a rock cliff or cave-this book traces the transformation of materials such as earth, stone, wood or bamboo into shelters that are both stationary and moveable.
Download or read book Building Green written by Clarke Snell and published by Lark Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clarke Snell & Timothy L. Callahan have returned with a photo-packed, amazingly complete, start-to-finish guide to "green" housebuilding.
