#reference: books

[strawbaleramblynn]

book notes: More Straw Bale Building

by Chris Magwood, Peter Mack and Tina Therrien

With notes on Essential Sustainable Home Design by Chris Magwood

Somehow, early in my mission to read every book on strawbale construction ever published (......I’m joking. Mostly) I got the weird impression that the Chris Magwood books were not good. I have no idea where this idea came from, but I might have deprived myself forever if Andrew hadn’t thrown his name out there as a good reference source during our workshop. This book was great!

This is probably the single most comprehensive book on strawbale construction I’ve read so far. It was, like many reference books, published prior to the strawbale code going into effect, but thankfully after people stopped embedding rebar in their bales. It covers both loadbearing and non-loadbearing buildings, though you can see the author’s preference for loadbearing throughout.

There’s so many topics in this book that I’m going to go ahead and just share the index rather than list them:

The sections on design I really loved, and the actual construction sections were also pretty great (though there was a little less attention paid to the challenges of framed strawbale than I’d have liked in spots). There’s almost no stone unturned on the topic of strawbale building here, and even better: they provide reading lists of more books at the end of every chapter! Wahoo!

This book is much more open to the idea of you completing a build yourself, or with friends and family than the Morrison book. It still acknowledges you’ll likely need a contractor to get a bank loan, but that I’ve already heard from everyone.

And now I’d like to make a sidebar on a different book - Essential Sustainable Home Design, also by Chris Magwood. This book I did not especially like. It covers briefly almost every form of natural building, but not in very much detail. The takeaways I got from the book were pretty much “Chris Magwood thinks you should not build a basement (because concrete is bad) or use foam insulation (okay I agree there).” There was much less on actually designing a home than I expected and, lo and behold, not only is there more on design in this book, many of the same paragraphs appear in both books.

Now, am I salty about this book because I know building a basement is bad from an embodied carbon standpoint but I intend to do it anyway? Maybe so, maybe so...but if we’re talking about things in construction bad for the environment that require further contemplation so is building single-family homes in general, and Mr. Magwood didn’t ask his readers to think twice about that. Anyway, it was fine but not a resource I intend to pick up again. If you weren’t broadly familiar with different sustainable building techniques it’d be worth a read for that.

Things I want to follow up on from this book:

Many! The entire design process proposed in here seems solid.

Checking through the reading lists to update my own

Use of silicate paints over clay plasters as an alternative to using lime plaster for water resistance while still keeping permeability

The possibility of renting the delivery trailer from the straw to keep them in storage until the bales are stacked

Blocking between joists under the toe-ups for a framed floor (this book does include basement hallelujah)

I-beam roof framing as an option?

They suggest using just plywood as the top plate for framed designs to minimize lumber, but then how where would you staple your mesh? Building some sort of box beam seems the only way to get  sufficient nailing surface.

Plaster-wood interface. The book recommends not using roofing felt over wood framing for fear of trapping moisture next to the framing, but instead using a slip coat of plaster and straw stuffed behind the the plaster mesh to bridge the gap.

Using vapor barriers at ceiling, floor and post intersections. Not elaborated on in detail, but repeatedly mentioned as locations to seal air gaps.

Plastering tips (many)

[strawbaleramblynn]

Straw Bale Construction Manual

by Benjamin Krick and Gernot Minke

Here's another book I found very intriguing but (after getting it via interlibrary loan) decided I wouldn't recommend.

This book is written by a german author, which I blatantly stereotyped into assuming would make it more technically rigorous than the books I've already read. I was also intrigued by how things might be done differently in Europe.

Overall, the English translation was clumsy (could have used proofreading by someone who's familiar with the english-speaking strawbale scene because many terms were used differently) and the things that were unfamiliar were unapplicable. The translation is from 2020 but the book itself is from 2015 and only references the New Mexico building codes. There were several references to things I consider dubious - putting bales in roofs/floors, steel pinning of bales, using steel plates to anchor bales to the framing. The actual sections on construction were pretty short and the technical stuff overlapped with things I'd already read.

Good things about the book/my takeaways:

The idea of making a bent, two pronged baling needle for resizing bales was intriguing. Definitely worth a shot.

Lots of discussion of using jacks or ratchet straps to pre-tension your walls before placing the last course, further evidence that it can be done.

An interesting discussion of the german/european strawbale building scene

Another vote in favor of using stabilized earth plaster; makes the reasonable point that the silane coatings that can be applied over earth plaster are fragile.

Lots of discussion of rain screening, I'm curious if that's a regulatory directed push or a climate one.

[strawbaleramblynn]

book notes: How Buildings Learn

by Stewart Brand

This book was recommended in Serious Strawbale and the concept was very intriguing to me, so I finally requested it via interlibrary loan. And now I am here to save you the trouble!

How Buildings Learn is mainly an investigation of commercial and institutional buildings & how architects fail to deliver on buildings that work for their inhabitants*. There's very little on residential structures in here and I can probably summarize most of it for you right now:

Don't follow trends because they go out of date.

Make the services of your building (wiring, HVAC, etc.) as accessible as possible.

If you do not plan a space for "low road" space storage and services, one will be planned for you. Attics, basements, sheds, garages...something is going to be taken over so plan for it.

Flat roofs suck.

When designing a house, contemplate various scenarios and how the building would work in those scenarios. (Two people living alone: What if there were children? What if your parents moved in? What if you started working from home? What if you took up woodworking? etc)

Go Read Chris Alexander's A Pattern Language (which comes up at least once a chapter, Mr. Brand is in love with this book)

*On the subject of architects, if you're curious, his claim is basically that fragmentation of the building industry such that most of the important elements of a building's interior/services/engineering are handled by outside parties gives the architect only one realm to win awards and be recognized: doing things that look cool in magazines. This is, obviously, mainly a critique of commercial/institutional architects.

[strawbaleramblynn]

book notes: Musings of an Energy Nerd

by Martin Holladay

This book is a collection of essays by Martin Holladay originally posted on the Green Building Advisor website. It acts as a general overview of energy efficiency topics & also a preview of his articles there. I think I'm definitely intrigued enough to subscribe for a month at some point (when I have fewer books out from the library!) and read more of his articles on topics I still feel undereducated in.

Now, Mr. Holladay is not into natural building, he's into energy efficient building. He's not about using local/natural materials and I don't think he's very impressed by straw bale construction. nonetheless, a lot of the advice is applicable to natural building projects bc physics works the same everywhere.

The book is a solid intro on:

Air sealing buildings

Basements :D

Insulated ceilings

Basic HVAC decision making

Pros/cons for cost effective green building

Things I learned about/want to follow up on:

Pros/cons of HRV vs exhaust only vs intake only ventilation. For cost reasons (and avoiding ductwork!) I'm really starting to think about exhaust only ventilation. I need to follow up on passive vents and whether they can be used effectively.

Drainpipe heat recovery devices - recover heat from the hot water being used in showers to heat up incoming water! A reasonably low cost investment with a reasonable return if the design works to have a vertical drainpipe down from the shower (potential with a basement).

How to properly insulate an attic if it's site-built instead of build with trusses. If the rafters come down to nothing at the corners of the wall there won't be sufficient space for insulation 🤔 should the walls be raised up slightly over the level of the ceiling?

Testing air sealing via theatrical fog machines (and obviously blower doors) - I'm not sure when in the process you should test a strawbale house. Presumably after the first coat of plaster on the interior and exterior? After which point fixing things will be a pain so DETAIL AIR SEALING PROPERLY

Using a small mini-split system (with only one or two units) to heat/cool a 1 story house seems to be plausible and lower cost than most of the alternatives. While I think I could live without air conditioning, it does have the benefit of decreasing humidity in the house.

[strawbaleramblynn]

book notes: Building with Lime; A Practical Introduction

by Stafford Holmes and Michael Wingate

This book had shown up in recommended reading lists of several other natural building books I read; it's basically the first book of the lime revival, attempting to put into writing a lot of older cultural knowledge.

I read most of this book, and then went and referenced all the other plastering books I could fine and just read through their lime plaster sections to get a good grounding on the topic. Here's my overall takeaways.

The good:

This book is extremely detail oriented. It's basically a textbook. It has an authoritative, fact-based intro which really helped me finally comprehend the difference between the types of limes. The combined powers of lots of internet quasi-experts had managed to confuse the hell out of me on this topic.

There are tons of illustrations, which are all great

If you're curious about any aspect of lime building, it's in here. Plaster? Mortar? Limewashes? Decorative plaster elements? Lining canals? Assessing limestone you found in a field for kilning and turning into lime? It's all in here

The less-good (for my purposes):

The book is very British. The terms used for types of limes and tools and plaster coats are all different than I'm used to as an American.

On that same note - this book is of the opinion the only acceptable limes for plastering are lime putty, quicklime or hydraulic lime. From my American-sourced reading, our S-type hydrated lime is fine to use as a plaster (if not quite as good as a putty type lime) and is vastly superior to the bagged hydrated limes they sell in the UK. The cost difference in using hydrated lime vs putty/hydraulic would be enough to make me hesitate on using lime at all.

The book didn't include guidance on the one topic I was most curious about - drying times and how to avoid burn marks/seams if you're plastering a large surface with a smaller team than can finish in a day.

This book is very much about how to do fine lime finishes. The assumption is that you want a traditional finish done to the best of historic restoration standards

I think my overall takeaway from this book is that I'm leaning harder towards a clay plaster finish, inside and out. Clay plaster is cheaper, easier to work with, and infinitely workable so you don't have to race the clock to get your plaster finished. It's also much less weather resistant, obviously, but I think with a silica paint/waterglass top coat it could work fine. Maybe even with a limewash overtop?

I am still very confused why limewashes over clay plasters are apparently acceptable but lime plaster over clay plaster is not. Makes my head hurt.

I would still (probably) like to use a lime plaster over my exposed foundation; I'm envisioning exterior insulation so a protective plaster topcoat of some sort will be needful. I kinda like the idea of embedding rocks/pebbles in the foundation plaster.

[strawbaleramblynn]

book notes: A Modern Look at Straw Bale Construction

by Andrew Morrison with Chris Keefe

A Modern Book on Straw Bale Construction was self-published by Andrew Morrison’s company, Straw Bale Innovations, in January 2012. It was written as an accompanying written guide to his hands-on workshops on strawbale construction. This does mean it was published prior to the 2013 finalization of the IRC Appendix S, but since Andrew’s design method is fairly code-conservative I didn’t notice anything that stood out as not matching the current building code.

He’s collaborated on this book with Chris Keefe of Organicforms Design to present a number of detailed, labeled engineering drawings of possible wall and foundation schematics. These really add to the quality of the book.

The majority of strawbale books have some fraction of convincing you to build with strawbales, the history of bale houses, practical considerations, design considerations, general building advice and hands-on building advice. This book is one of the first I’ve read that is majority hands-on building advice, which makes sense given that it’s structured around his workshop building method.

The method Andrew focuses on is based upon post-and beam framing with strawbale infill, where the bales are then covered by welded wire mesh and plastered with lime plaster. He presents both the reasoning for why he has chosen this method throughout the book as well as lots of advice on how to implement it.

There’s also a not-insubstantial section in the beginning of the book on how to get code or bank loan approval of your strawbale project. The biggest advice he has is not doing the work yourself and relying on expert subcontractors for the non-baling work, which is obviously inconvenient for me personally, who’s been starting with the assumption I would need to do as much as possible by hand to ever afford this project 😉. I’m sure he’s correct, I’m just not sure the advice is possible for me to implement.

The only two things I was disappointed on in the book was the lack of details on how to commission or create the two DIY tools needed for baling under this method (stretching forks and bale needles), and the decision not to hyphenate the typesetting. (I dabble in bookbinding in my spare time and have become a complete snob about type spacing)

[strawbaleramblynn]

book notes: Earthen Floors

by Sukita Reay Crimmel and James Thomson

This book was recommended to me during my strawbale workshop while we were discussing concrete slabs. Foundations are the one place it is very hard to avoid using concrete, which sucks. Concrete is a huge source of CO2 emissions (about 8% of worldwide emissions, from what I saw online); there are lower emission concrete mixes but that gets expensive and probably out of reach for a normal homebuilder. So then the question becomes: how little concrete can you get away with?

Personally, I have always wanted a basement under my home. It would give me a place for food storage, utilities and hobby space without needing another finished floor. I’d been imagining if you did a basement that you’d need to have a concrete slab for the floor, but folks at the workshop suggested you could do a compacted gravel slab topped with an earthen floor, so I checked out this book.

(fair warning the book does not *specifically* talk about basement floors, only slab-on-grade earthen floors and over-wood-framing floors. but based on what’s inside, I’ve extrapolated that you could totally pull this off in a basement).

I cannot remember where I’d first read about earthen floors, but whatever book that was had a very different approach - they were making a mostly dry mixture and then laboriously tamping it into place. Sukita’s book outlines a much friendlier sounding method - making a stiff earthen plaster mix and screeding and troweling it into place. The floor is then allowed to dry and then sealed with several coats of linseed oil. There are additional steps outlined for an even more polished floor: sanding, waxing and buffing the floor to get it super soft and smooth underfoot.

This book provides good explanations of:

Testing soil for use in earthen floors

Making test mixtures for earthen floors from your local materials

Prepping substrates (including tamped gravel slabs)

Installing earthen floors

Finishing earthen floors to varying levels of polished

It has definitely left me wanting to experiment with these methods, especially if my site ends up having a good clay subsoil. There aren’t a lot of other books on this topic so it’ll be difficult to do additional research. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for workshops.

Things I want to follow up on/think about:

Engineering requirements for a concrete slab floor in a basement?

Relative cost of earthen vs concrete floor

Weight calculations on earthen floors for over a wood subfloor...the method mentioned using burlap for tensile strength was intriguing and I’d like to hear if that installation remained solid longterm

Logistics for moving the earthen plaster into a basement (ramp with a plastic sled maybe, then transfer to a wheelbarrow at the bottom?)