href="#litres_trial_promo">Index
Advance Praise
More Straw Bale Building
In More Straw Bale Building, we see once again the combination of experience, knowledge, thoughtfulness, and friendly style that made Straw Bale Building such a useful book. The evolution of straw bale construction toward more widespread and dependable use will be given yet another boost by this book and from all those who will benefit from having read it.
— David Eisenberg, co-author of The Straw Bale House, and director of the Development Center for Appropriate Technology
More Straw Bale Building contains a wealth of the latest information on planning and building with straw, and is an excellent guide to sustainable construction in general. Magwood and Mack are two of the most knowledgeable and experienced bale builders in North America, and it shows.Their practical treatise is a recommended must-read for anyone considering a straw bale building project.
— Mark Hoberecht, president, HarvestBuild Associates, Inc.
The “Ontario Three” have struck again — with an important contribution to the planning and completion of a straw bale home.This practical book will keep paying for itself each step of the owner-builder’s way. My thanks to the authors for the extensive research and insights collected into this “must have” book for my clients!
— Habib John Gonzalez, Habib John Gonzalez, Sustainable Works; builder, educator, researcher
The straw bale movement has grown and evolved — and so has this book. In this updated and expanded second edition, the authors provide the latest understandings and techniques to build smarter, better, and more simply.
— Mark Piepkorn, co-editor of Green Building Products; former editor of The Last Straw
By weaving in comments from others along with their own, Chris, Pete and Tina provide an in-depth overview of building with straw.There is no substitute for hands-on experience, which the authors clearly demonstrate throughout the text.
— Kris J. Dick, Ph.D., P.Eng., Principal, Building Alternatives Inc., Adjunct Professor, Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba
Times — and everything in the straw bale world — are changing, and so are our building methods.With More Straw Bale Building, the authors have taken an old standard and brought it up to date by adding new sections and revising the old. This excellent book will provide guidance to a new generation wanting to build a straw bale structure. Straw Bale Building has long been a planning, job site and coffee table volume, and now there will be a revised companion setting there along side of the original.
— Gerald Goodman,Arctic Building Consultants,
straw bale building consultant, designer, and owner
With extensive hands-on experience backing them up, Magwood, Mack and Therrien once again share the most up-to-date information in the field of straw bale construction. By outlining lessons learned, comparing techniques, and highlighting the latest & greatest approaches, More Straw Bale Building will help the newcomer build a dream with more confidence, while giving the veteran straw baler new ideas, methods and techniques to chew on.
— Rachel Connor, Sustainable Building Instructor, Solar Energy International
In More Straw Bale Building, the authors detail with humour and clarity the challenges nd benefits of numerous straw bale systems they have explored both as owner/builders and as contracters.The fact that more than half the book addresses issues that come up before actually installing any straw provides a realistic picture of the preparation needed for the execution of a successful building — and the chapter on common mistakes is worth the price of the book in itself! As important resources like More Straw Bale Building become available, straw bale construction edges its way closer to being a significant mainstream alternative.
— Kim Thompson, Straw Bale Projects
First comes knowledge, then the doing of the job.
And much later, perhaps after you’re dead,
something grows from what you’ve done.
— Rumi, Mathnawi, V, 1053
Books for Wiser Living from Mother Earth News
Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, New Society Publishers has joined forces with Mother Earth News. For more than 30 years, Mother Earth News has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature. Across the countryside and in our cities, New Society Publishers and Mother Earth News are leading the way to a wiser, more sustainable world.
A Note from the Authors
In our note to the first edition of this book, we expressed our surprise at having become professional straw bale builders. Those are four words that would have been unthinkable together a decade ago, and yet we are now joined by many others who have the same job description. In our province alone there are numerous builders and companies specializing in straw bale structures, and around the world the number has grown so that it’s no longer possible for all of us to know each other.
And yet, among the many people who now make these buildings, live in these buildings, or aspire to make and live in them, we continue to find a unique kinship and understanding. The term “straw bale movement” sometimes gets bandied about. Though it’s far from an organized, cohesive movement, there is no doubt that it is growing quickly, and that many of us involved have the same goals.
Our society is heading toward a new understanding of our built environment. For centuries, people were always closely involved with, and responsible for, the buildings they inhabited. Now we spend even more of our time in buildings, many of which are extremely unhealthy, but have lost the connection between ourselves and the places in which we live, learn, and work. As we learn ever more about how buildings work (and, just as importantly, don’t work), we understand the importance of creating buildings that are healthy, unique, beautiful, and well suited to their inhabitants.
Learning about straw bales has been a motivating factor in this education, for us and for many others. But straw bales alone are not a solution; they are part of an answer that will take more than the rest of our lives to figure out. Everybody who takes a step in this direction is merely adding to a pool of knowledge that, someday, will see the widespread creation of buildings that meet high ideals of performance, aesthetics, and environmental appropriateness.
Please accept this book as part of our ongoing contribution to this
