Recommended Reading: General Construction
|
If you are planning on building or remodeling your home, look no further-save hours of homework by using House About It, the all-in-one guide to turning your dream into a well-designed reality. Get detailed information on what to look for in all the elements of creating a beautiful home like roofs, siding, windows, interior and exterior doors, garage doors, flooring, lighting, fireplaces, staircases and elevators, mechanicals, trim, health and safety, and more. Equipped with a handy workbook for keeping organized notes, House About It will empower you to make smart choices about the details involved in designing your most valuable asset. |
|
Not only does the book provide you with the big-picture overview of contracting, it also supplies detailed procedures, forms, and contracts to give you a solid foundation and clarity on what to expect from and how to deal with your contractor professionals. This book is your personal coach ready to lead you through all the nooks and crannies. Working "with" point of view: The author shares with you a team-effort point of view that has proven effective for all types of projects. You will see the importance of everyone interacting as a unit to achieve a common goal. This is a more contemporary project management approach as opposed to the traditional strategy of "hiring" a contractor.
|
|
The Self-Build Book: How to EnjoyDesigning and Building Your Own Home
by: Jon Broome and Brian Richardson (Revised & updated)
Architects Jon Broome and Brian Richardson recognize that professional advice sometimes undermines the emotional satisfaction that motivates people to build their own homes. The Self-Build Book encourages and teaches the individual how to maintain control of the designing and building process, thereby maximizing effectiveness and pleasure. |
|
The Kitchen Idea Book
To many families, the kitchen is more than a place where food is cooked and eaten. It's where parties begin and end, homework is done, pets are fed, bills are paid, and secrets are told over endless cups of coffee. |
|
The Bathroom Idea Book
As its name suggests, The Bathroom Idea Book is all about ideas. In fact, anyone who views the book's 400 color photos will have clearer ideas about what they absolutely love, simply appreciate and definitely detest in |
Recommended Reading: Other Alternative Building Resources
|
The Straw Bale House (A Real Goods Independent Living Book)
by: Athena Swentzell Steen, Bill Steen, David Bainbridge, David Eisenberg (Contributor)
Imagine building a house with superior seismic stability, fire resistance, and thermal insulation, using an annually renewable resource, for the cost of a comparable conventional home. Welcome to the straw bale house! "This is the book we’ve been waiting for . . . The authors have done a superb job of providing enough basics to make the book understandable to homeowners, yet enough specifics to make it highly useful to designers and professional builders." --Alex Wilson, editor, Environmental Building News |
|
Buildings of Earth and Straw
by: Bruce King, P. E
Straw bale and rammed earth construction techniques are enjoying a fantastic growth in interest in the United States and worldwide. When the interest converts to action, however, builders and homeowners can encounter resistance from mainstream construction and lending communities unfamiliar with these techniques and materials. This book is the essential companion to The Straw Bale House and The Rammed Earth House, providing technical data from an engineer’s perspective. |
|
The Rammed Earth House (Real Goods Independent Living Book)
by: David Easton & Cynthia Wright (Photographer)
Humans have been using earth as a primary building material for more than ten thousand years. Rammed earth, as practiced today, involves tamping a mixture of earth, water, and a little cement into wooden forms to create thick, sturdy masonry walls. Earthbuilt homes offer their inhabitants a powerful sense of security and well-being and have a permanence and solidity altogether lacking in so many of today’s modular, prefab houses. |
|
The Natural House: A Complete Guide to...
by Daniel D. Chiras
This sourcebook examines the options for building a house that is economical, energy-efficient, nontoxic, kind to the environment, and pleasurable to inhabit. Explores the pros and cons of 14 natural building methods, ... |
|
The Alternative Building Sourcebook :...
by Steve K. Chappell(Editor)
Environmental Building News, April 1998
The SOURCEBOOK is unique among green building guides in its exclusive focus on natural building methods, such as strawbale, clay infill, cob, thatch and timber framing. Useful information on associated products, services, and... |
|
Alternative Construction: Contemporary...
by Lynne Elizabeth(Editor), Cassandra Adams(Editor)
This is the first comprehensive guide to the "natural" construction practices that are gaining popularity within the sustainable design community and mainstream construction throughout the world. Each chapter covers a.. |
|
Alternative Housebuilding
by Michael McClintock, Mike McClintock
A detailed explanation of non-stick-frame house building The author explains building with logs, timbers, pole-frames, cordwood and mortar, and stone and mortar. |
|
Complete Book of Cordwood Masonry...
by Rob Roy Combining the techniques of the author's previous two classic books, CORDWOOD MASONRY HOMES and EARTHWOOD, plus a decade of new information, new lessons to avoid pitfalls, and new ideas, this book offers a complete update on..
|
|
The Passive Solar House (Real Goods Independent Living Books)
by James Kachadorian
This book offers a technique for building homes that heat and cool themselves in a wide range of different climates, using ordinary building materials available anywhere and with methods familiar to all building contractors. |
|
