Strawbale Construction

Guided Tour

2010-10-20T04:57:00.001-07:00

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Shipping Container Home Design & Construction

2010-10-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

This 200 page illustrated manual and the included Cad software will teach you how to design and build your own shipping container homes. Hot worldwide market for green construction and sustainable housing as well as Diy market!!

Check it out!

Energy Efficient Homes - Build Your Dream Home

2010-10-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

We've all heard the urge to "go green." But what does it mean exactly? Is it really possible to build an energy efficient home that does not rely on coal energy or chemical energy? Is is possible to rely solely on alternative energy sources for our everyday needs? If you want to know the answers to these questions, just look at today's retirees.

There is a lot to be said for the new crop of environmental-friendly, retiring Baby Boomers who are refusing the canned retirement solutions that are out there aplenty. Many have had to live in the cities that created their employment...complete with smog and crime. Years have gone by, the kids have been protected as much as possible in gated communities and the day has finally dawned when it's time to take a look at "what's next."

The idea of travel that so held the attention of their elders has less appeal to our Baby Boomers. Cruise ship horror stories and the risks that have become part of RVing have taken the shine off of what their parents were satisfied with. Also, many have traveled extensively in their work and have added expensive vacations to far away places with strange sounding names to the mix.

Freedom doesn't even have the draw that it had for earlier generations. Many Baby Boomers have been connected with web-oriented businesses and have been able to work at home some of the time, following their own pace. This usually meant longer hours for most of them, but more personal freedom was involved.

As a result this new breed wants to get the heck out of Dodge and do some kind of physical work. That's right, they don't want to be taken care of or sit around the campfire, they want to address the challenges that correspond with their ideals.

Peace and quiet rate high on many Baby Boomers' lists of priorities. Living more simply calls to them. "Off the grid" was not a phrase most of us were familiar with even ten years ago. If we had heard it, it would have been with fear and loathing that we would have considered living without being connected to a reliable power source. However, these up and coming retirees are often extremely interested in solar panels and battery banks. Conservation and personal independence rank high.

In addition, unique designs for homes that circumvent the need for central heating and air conditioning are coming to the fore. The strawbale house is a wonder in temperature economy. Thick walls of dry bales of straw are covered with a "skin". The one I recently viewed was plastered with a mixture of adobe mud and cement.

Contractors and architects are getting on the bandwagon as this trend spreads. Books and seminars on strawbale building are in heavy demand. And then there are the Earth Ships. These are energy-efficient homes dug into hillsides and constructed with great care to offer shelter without messing with the environment. The one I visited looked amazingly cozy.

Our Baby Boomers want a new kind of challenge and most of them are extending it into organic gardening, another science that offers them simplicity and increased wellness. They want to grow what they eat to a great extent. There's usually plenty of room to do this because they buy acreage not a lot. This movement toward healthy living isn't carefree, but that's not what most of them are about. They are willing to work long and hard.

You will find, in their strange residences, battery-run, laptop computers! After all, email, like life, must go on! Boomers are making sure that the things that matter to them are included. It's never been about denial. For lack of a better description, I would call their evolving ethic "creating a challenging simplicity."

If you get a chance to read up on this movement and/or have an opportunity to visit someone who is immersed in it, don't pass it up. Rome is being rebuilt, yet again.

www.tellmeaboutalternateenergy.com [http://www.tellmeaboutalternateenergy.com] brings you thought provoking information about alternate energy. There's nothing to buy, just really helpful information. Be sure to check out all the pages and decide for yourself. © 2007 copyright by DSquare Marketing and Della Franklin.

Green Building And Home Improvement

2010-10-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

When building a new home, adding on an extension or even just a simple remodel within your home, you should always consider your local environment to maximize the efficiency of every aspect of your project.

There are four main areas that need to be focused on when planning your building project. They include:

- Water

- Energy

- Building materials

Each of these areas contain specific products and methods that can really benefit your home lifestyle and increase the capital on your house to.

The first area to cover is water, which may or may not be relevant to your project. However, where ever there is plumbing or an outside wall where gutters can be fixed the optimal water conservation methods should be utilized where possible. There are many interior products that can really help to reduce water wastage and improve efficiency which include:

- water saving taps

- water efficient shower heads

- composting toilets

- water diverters (diverters which hold the water while the hot water reaches your tap to save wasting all that water whilst waiting for the hot water to arrive)

Furthermore, by installing a Greywater system you can use all the water that usually runs down your drain, on your garden or lawn.

For the exterior, high quality gutters and water storage devices such as water tanks are ideal for harvesting hundreds of litres of water that can be used for a variety of applications.

A strong water budget mixed with an overall highly efficient water system can save you heaps of money on water bills and reduce the impact on your local catchment system.

The second part of this article focuses on energy. Most people immediately think solar and then think "I can't afford it!" but there is much more that can be done to improve the efficiency of the energy usage in your home.

If you are doing large scale renovations, the position of your home / room in regards to sun direction is vitally important. A north-south facing house is much more energy efficient in terms of temperature control as the sun has less direct focus on the rooms.

Many different products exist to generate energy or improve the energy usage and overall efficiency of your home. Some of these include:

- a solar panel system, either stand alone, grid connect or hybrid with wind turbines to generate electricity

- high quality insulation, including batts and foil boards

- solar hot water systems

- ventilation and extraction fans

- energy efficient appliances and white goods

- lighting, including CFL's (compact fluorescent lamp)

- hydronic heating

- air conditioners with inverter technology

All of these products will either generate free electricity, use much less energy than other products on the market, or control the temperature of your home to save on running costs to maintain comfort.

Building materials is another important consideration when starting your project. Many materials have good qualities, while others can contain harmful chemicals which can be dangerous for your health. Knowing all these risks is almost impossible, but there are certain things to look for when making these decisions.

- Use as much untreated materials as possible. Most treated materials use very harsh chemicals which contain volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and formaldehyde. Over time, these compounds break down and become part of your indoor breathing space.

- These VOC's can also be found in conventional paints and finishes. Always ask your supplier for brands which use little or no VOC's in their products.

- Concrete that contains high levels of flyash are much better for the environment and lower the use of the toxic concrete powder in construction

- Conventional termite control utilizes the harshest of all chemicals and can be extremely carcinogenic. However, there are many new products that can remove termite problems without the use of harmful chemicals. Always ask your provider about their environmental policy and research the chemical they use

- Many insulation companies still use the resin based fiberglass insulation which contains high levels of formaldehyde and are damaging to your health. Look for insulation that is glass wool or made from cellulose fibre is your best bet for your families health and the environments.

- Double glazed windows and the utilization of roller shutters and blinds is the best way to reduce heat build up within your home.

- Strawbale and compressed earth homes are becoming more and more popular due to their constant interior comfort levels, and no they don't look like "mud huts", in fact, they are fast becoming a distinguished and stylish home design

- Finally, cabinets and draws often use the cheap particle board over the solid wood varieties to save money. However, the particle board contains formaldehyde to bind the particles together.

Building and home improvement can be very satisfying when the job is complete. However, it becomes even better if taking into consideration these factors mentioned above to make your home comfortable all year round for you and your family.

Environmental Scientist, Rob Barton author of "The Sustainable Path" showcases sustainable products and services at http://www.onlife.com.au

Building With Awareness: The Construction of a Hybrid Home DVD and Guidebook

2010-10-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Constructing a straw bale solar home requires the merging of solar design with alternative building techniques. Books are useful for accessing information on these topics quickly and easily, while videos are a great way to show actual building methods and techniques firsthand.

The Building with Awareness DVD/guidebook combination brings you the best of both worlds. The award-winning DVD is inspiring and informative, with over five hours of material on every aspect of building a green home. The handy reference guidebook complements the DVD, with color photographs, diagrams, suggestions, and step-by-step methods, all condensed into a nuts-and-bolts format. Used together, these two valuable resources provide a visually dynamic and easy-to--understand library of information.

• Take a front-row seat on the work site, learning from the experts as they notch and stack the straw bales and mix the mud.
• Learn about foundations, post-and-beam wall framing, roof construction and insulation, interior thermal mass walls for improved efficiency, rain-water cisterns, electrical wiring, and photovoltaic systems.
• Learn earth-plastering techniques that create beautiful wall finishes.
• Understand how window placement and other structural elements can help to heat and cool your home and lower your energy bills.
• See how the structure works as a whole and how both energy efficiency and superb aesthetics can come from the same materials.

Price: $39.00

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Buildings of Earth and Straw: Structural Design for Rammed Earth and Straw-Bale Architecture

2010-10-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

Straw bale and rammed earth construction are enjoying a fantastic growth spurt in the United States and abroad. When interest turns to action, however, builders can encounter resistance from mainstream construction and lending communities unfamiliar with these materials. Buildings of Earth and Straw is written by structural engineer Bruce King, and provides technical data from an engineer?s perspective. Information includes: special construction requirements of earth and straw; design capabilities and limitations of these materials; and most importantly, the documentation of testing that building officials often require.

Price: $25.00

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Living Homes: Stone Masonry, Log, and Strawbale Construction

2010-10-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

The house of your Dreams does not have to be expensive. The key is all in the planning. How much a house costs, how it looks, how comfortable it is, how energy-efficient it is - all these things occur on paper before you pick up even one tool. A little extra time in the planning process can save you tens of thousands of dollars in construction and maintenance. That is time well spent!

Living Homes takes you through the planning process to design an energy and resource efficient home that won't break the bank. Then, from the footings on up to the roof, author Thomas J. Elpel guides you through the nuts and bolts of construction for slipform stone masonry, tilt-up stone walls, log home construction, building with strawbales, making your own terra tile floors, concrete countertops, windows and doors, solar water heaters, masonry heaters, framing, plumbing, greywater, septic systems, swamp filters, painting and more!

Table of Contents

Introduction:
Building a House on Limited Means: The Elimination of all that is Unnecessary to Achieve a Dream
Part I: Dreams, Goals and Ecology
Integrated Design and Construction: Homesteading in the Twenty-first Century
Choosing a Location: Planning a Thousand Years into the Future
Disaster-Proofing Your Home: Preventing the Obvious. Preparing for the Inevitable
Building Codes, Permits and Inspections: Exceed the Minimum Standards!
Defining Your Goals: A Blueprint is the Sum of the Criteria

Part II: Principles of Energy Efficiency
Warm Houses for Cold Climates: Insulation, Thermal Mass, Solar Gain, and Air Locks
Insulation and Insulation Systems Many Choices, Most of Them Bad
Air Quality: Finding Fresh Air in a High-Efficiency House

Part III: Building the Walls
Footings, Foundations and Floors: Starting from the Bottom Up
Cement Mixing & Measuring: Aggregates, Admixtures, Substitutes, and Reinforcement
Slipform Stone Masonry: A Stone Masonry Primer
Tilt-up Construction: A New Lift to the Ancient Art of Stonework
Log Building Basics: For Builders with Little Time or Experience
Building with Bales: It's Fast, Inexpensive, and Energy Efficient

Part IV: Closing It In
Putting the Roof On: The Search for Better Solutions
Terra Tiles: Hand-Made Tile Floors from Sand, Cement, Dirt, and Dye
Wood Frame Construction: Building Interior Floors and Walls
Windows and Doors: Putting a Plug in the Thermos

Part V: Plumbing, Heating, and Wiring
Water Supply, Management, and Recycling Squeezing More Use out of Less Water
Practical Plumbing: Important Tips I Could Have Used
Heating Systems: For Backup Heat & Hot Water
Revival of the Masonry Stove: An Old, but Efficient Heating System
Electricity: Wiring the Alternative Home
Rethinking Appliances: Energy Efficiency is the Path to Independence

Part VI: Finishing Details
Concrete and Fly Ash Countertops: A Nice Kitchen Doesn't have to Be Expensive
A Primer on Paint: Reusing and Recycling

Conclusion - Reinventing Housing: The Road to Sustainability
Bibliography
Index

Price: $30.00

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Straw-bale Construction: Straw Bale, Building Insulation, Natural Building, Smithsonian Institution, Foundation (Architecture)

2010-10-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw (commonly wheat, rice, rye and oats straw) as structural elements, insulation, or both. This construction method is commonly used in natural building or "green" construction projects. Straw-bale construction has some advantages over conventional building systems because of the renewable nature of straw, its cost, easy availability, and its high insulation value.

Price: $46.00

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Strawbale Home Plans

2010-10-02T09:03:00.001-07:00

30 Plans to inspire you to build your strawbale dream home.

Price: $24.99

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