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<font face="Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica">RE recent discussion about
strawbale book resources -- <i>Small Strawbale,</i> and the
<i>Building with Awareness DVD and Guidebook (BWA). <br><br>
</i>I am a fan of both of these resources. While I agree with Rob
Tom that there are improvements that could be make in the <i>BWA</i>
building, I personally feel that this DVD is the best how-to video I have
seen on strawbale -(including my own, and some broadcast TV
programs). And the accompanying <i>Guidebook</i> shows in
step-by-step detail many aspects of construction I have not seen anywhere
else. The last chapter of the Guidebook in fact does mention
several things that the owner/builder/filmmaker Ted Owens would do
differently.<br><br>
To be fair, Ted was building to New Mexico code, which was written in the
mid 1990's -- and the worldwide knowledge of SB has advanced much since
then. But the code has not. Thus Ted had to use rebar pins,
wire mesh, etc., which many experienced straw-bale builders now would
choose to avoid. Therein (I believe) lie Rob Tom's
criticisms.<br><br>
But Ted did build a small house that incorporates strawbale exterior
walls, an adobe interior wall, earth plasters, clay paints,
cellulose ceiling insulation, a rubble trench foundation, radiant floor
heat, salvaged oak flooring, double-pane low-e windows, 900-watt
photovoltaic solar panels, rainwater catchment and cistern storage, and a
greywater system. His 830 square-foot hybrid home is powered by the
sun and collects and stores its own water supply. <br><br>
<i>Small Strawbale</i>, by Athena and Bill Steen & Wayne Bingham
shows many inspiring examples of completed small strawbale homes, with
some, but not a lot of "how-to" information. The Steens
work in a region (southern Arizona) that has little or no building code
requirements. Thus they can experiment, and have come up with some
excellent ideas, which bear repeating. <br><br>
Of course, there are many ways to build, and it is smart to research many
ways before deciding on one path, with details appropriate to your
climate. Most contractors and owner-builders will face construction
codes, and will not be allowed to build in the same way that the Steens
do in Arizona. Most Europeans will probably also choose a different
approach than Ted Owens, who is also building in a dry climate in the US
Southwest. Rob Tom, a Canadian engineer, would clearly do things
differently.<br><br>
Still I think that there is much inspiration and value in Ted's
step-by-step how-to DVD and Guidebook. And the price is a bargain -
just $42 (U.S.) for both the 5 hr DVD and 152 page Guidebook (with over
300 color photos). The package is also distributed by New Society
Publishers.<br><br>
regards,<br>
Catherine Wanek<br>
Black Range Films<br><br>
<br>
At 03:56 PM 5/16/2007, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">On Wed, 16 May 2007 15:56:06
-0400, Iskon <aunkovic@inet...> wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Regarding that book "Small
Strawbale" it is a really good book</blockquote><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">But I advise you to take a look
at a small guide book "Building with <br>
awareness",which is absolutely brilliant, full of
tehnicalials, <br>
practical guides... a DVD is included</blockquote><br>
I've only seen the "Building With Awareness" DVD and I've have
to say that <br>
while it is nice to look at, many of the techniques and details
espoused <br>
therein exhibit a great deal of un-awareness as to how to make a
good <br>
building, never mind a Green building.<br><br>
In short, many of the ideas *seem* to be good ones on paper but when
those <br>
ideas confronted the Real World at the building site, too often they
ended <br>
up being unsatisfactory and in most instances, it could be chalked up
to <br>
inexperience or ignorance.<br><br>
Nothing wrong with either of those of course, but to suggest that BWA is
a <br>
guide to building well is simmply erronious. What it really should
have <br>
been called is :<br><br>
"This is how I made my first building and some of
the things that I <br>
learned not to do the next time."<br><br>
<br>
-- <br>
=== * ===<br>
Rob Tom<br>
Kanata, Ontario, Canada<br>
< A r c h i L o g i c at C h a f f Y a h o o
dot C a ><br>
(winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply)<br><br>
<br>
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