2 comments about Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building.

1. 
   I've always respected Jerry Yudelson. He is a fixture at USGBC and an active proponent of intelligent green building. Jerry has done the industry a service by writing his book.
   
   This book provides one page on each term so people new to the industry can follow conversations about sustainable architecture and urban planning. It decodes green building terminology. I recommend it for first year architect students or any old AIA dog trying to learn new tricks.
   
   It is even a good title for people who think they know it all, just to make sure they didn't miss anything.
   Sometimes we tend to know concepts so well that we can't explain the simplest of terms, A to Z saves the day.
   
   The appendix provides a great list of books and websites. For anyone wanting to shorten their learning curve (like the Regents of Higher Education perhaps?? or city commissioners??) this book is an easy one to flip through and is comprehensive enough to save hours and hours of fumbling around on Google. It is sort of like an abbreviated wikipedia of green building terms.
   
   -Jane Talkington
   PhD Student of Sustainability at OSU
   www.Trifecta-Consulting.com



2. As a national trainer and a former national board member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Jerry Yudelson is a nationally recognized leader and expert in green building. He summarized his many years of professional experience with green building design and renewable energy systems in "Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building."
   
   "Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building" covers the history, importance, benefits and costs of green building. It also covers some key elements of the LEED building rating system in plain English, such as water conservation, reducing energy use, solar energy, locally sourced materials, natural ventilation, zero-net-energy buildings and creating a conservation economy, etc.
   
   "Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building" has 240 pages packed with useful information. It is an indispensable and accurate guide for anyone who is interested in green building!
   
   Gang Chen, LEED AP, AIA
   Author of "Planting Design Illustrated"

5 comments about New Built-Ins Idea Book: Media Centers Nooks & Crannies Window Seats Kitchen & Dining Areas Work Centers (Idea Books).

1. To make the most of our new home, I was looking for ideas for custom made cabinetry and other storage options.
   Although the style of quite a few examples are not to my taste, I still got enough ideas and inspiration. Also a plus; the book gives you tips for matching built-ins to the rest of the room, to get a coordinated look.
   My favourite chapters: Passages (great storage options to be found there!!) Window seats (you will see small window seats as well as really large ones) Workspaces (they show you practical workspaces even in tiny closets) and Utility Areas. In the kitchen chapter I liked the small details, like the pantry and appliance garage.
   
   Petra (from the Netherlands)



2. I felt the sample of this book was not a good indication of it's contents. Most of the built-ins shown in the book are from a Room-View with the built in partially obstructed and with little detail shown. I wasn't looking for plans to build, but I would have expected more. If you like the details level shown on the cover of the book, then this will be right up your alley, other wise, the book will probably fall short of your expectations.



3. Taunton has a very good reputation for their publications so I thought this would be a great book to help me with several projects I will be undertaking. It was a disappointment. There was nothing innovative or unique about the ideas presented. The cabinet styles were either very basic or so custom they did not provide realistic options. If you are looking for innovative or creative ideas for a realistic cabinet project ... look elsewhere.



4. The description of this book is misleading. This is not a step-by-step guide to constructing built-ins, it's just a show-case of things built by master craftsmen. The so-called step-by-step part consists of the super-obvious, such as: 1st choose your design, 2nd choose your materials, 3rd choose your hardware. There is no how-to. Don't buy this book unless you already know wood-working or you'll just end up with glossy photos of spectacular built-ins you can't build yourself.



5. I own a collection of home design books and it is not easy to find a book with many great design ideas. This book is filled with great ideas and some beautiful designs. I find myself grabbing this book repeatedly. If you're thinking of creating some built ins this is a great book to own. I wish it was twice as thick!

5 comments about The Big Book of Small House Designs: 75 Award-Winning Plans for Your Dream House, All 1,250 Square Feet or Less.

1. The book have a lot of good ideaas for how to draw / design houses. There is a lack of pictures of the actual solutions, in order to give a good idea of how the the solutions actually work.
   Jan T.



2. Be warned. This book contains only 2D home plans. Their are no photos besides the one on the cover.



3. I knew the book wouldn't be a great resource but I thought it might have some reason for having been published other than the author and publisher just trying to cash in on the "not so big" / "green" trend.
   
   There is really no redeeming quality in this book. Most of the houses are severely outdated and are poorly proportioned. Except for one or two, they don't even look designed by an architect, they just look like run-of the mill cracker boxes, some with poorly planned additions. There's no useful information on how to best economize space or anything. The "design" information is useless because the illustrations are so bad they are painful to look at. Some are so muddy, it looks as if the book were published using water damaged drawings and a broken Xerox machine.
   
   I apologize for not editing this review, but this book has already wasted enough of my time. If you're looking for something more current, try James Grayson Trulove's 25 Houses Under 1500 Square Feet. It's more design oriented, even if does have a lot of filler. It's not a 5 star by any stretch of the imagination. At least his illustrations are legible and the photos make the book look produced by professionals that actually care about design and architecture.



4. When I buy a book I either want to learn or relax. In this case I wanted to learn and had to really concentrate because of the lack of pictures in it. Great plans, great book but the lack of pictures makes it difficult to read.



5. The type and drawings in this book are so small you need a magnifying glass to read it. This book might be more suited to the classroom.

5 comments about The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage: The Real Goods Solar Living Book.

1. This will sound like a strange thing to say about a book on building, but I've been moved to tears reading this. One might think that the authors of such a book would be Luddites proposing a return to savagery or some such, but this is not the case. What they propose, beautifully, is a return to sanity and perspective.
   
   The subtitle of this book, "A Practical and Philosophical Guide..." is dead on accurate. This book is eminently practical and the philosophy of it one of learning to really live and love life rather than struggling to overcome the multitude of unnecessary obstacles we impose on ourselves. It talks not only about building a house from cob, but deals at length with the sort of observation of the world around us that was common in preindustrial times that has, sadly, been largely lost.
   
   Even if you have no plans at all for building your own house (from cob or any other material) read this book. If you are a teacher or parent, read this book with the children in your charge. This is a great way to help them develop an appreciation of the world around them and spark an interest in science. What could be more interesting to a child (and the child within us all) than learning from the beauty of what naturally occurs around us?
   
   A beautiful and informative book.



2. It's a guide. No matter if you will be building in cob or not, it' real pleasure to read this book. I recommend it heartfully.



3. I bought this book several years ago, when it first came out. I love it! I have yet to build anything out of cob, but hopefully that will change in the next five years. This is one of the few books I own that I would NEVER consider selling. It is chock full of information, and when I am feeling blue, I whip out the book, page through it, and fantasize about it. If you are thinking of building anything with cob, buy this book!



4. There is no better book to curl up with than this one and none more useful. Read it and, if you love it, consider taking the 10-day class in Oregon. You will learn a whole new way of living, as well as building. My only criticisms of the book are minor and things that will likely be added in a later addition, if there is one. A chapter on bale cob and similar composite materials would be helpful. I think a separate book is in the works on bale cob. The book is a masterpiece!



5. I purchased this book based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews in Amazon.com.
   
   I was looking for a practical guide on Cob building - not on living according to the new age hippie ethos of the authors.
   
   I've read the first few chapters, and there are nuggets of practical advice, but the narration keeps getting bogged down by Ianto Evans digressions on how evil humans keep screwing up the environment.
   
   It is my hope that I can finish the book, collect some useful information, and in the end, be satisfied with my purchase. I'm just finding it difficult to wallow through the enlightened philosophy.
   
   I will attempt to read it through to the end and perhaps revise my review. I've looked briefly at the sections written by the other two authors (Smith and Smiley) and they both seem, on the surface, to be a little more instructional in their writing, and less interested in teaching me about their new age voodoo.

1 comments about Basic Construction Materials (7th Edition).

1. I bought this book for a construction materials class and it has proved to be very informative and thourough.

5 comments about Earth-Sheltered Houses: How to Build an Affordable....

1. This is a great book! If you really wanted to build your own earth-sheltered home you could certainly do it using the information presented here (though a wiser course would be to pick up more sources). Thanks to this book and "The New Ecological Home", building our own home with environmentally conscious materials and possibly earth bermed or sheltered is high on our list of priorities. There is only one complaint I have about many books of this variety. They tend to cover difficulties with things like building code and location very lightly.
   
   Building code and location are going to be huge factors in building an earth sheltered structure, especially one made with fewer traditional modern building materials. Difficulties with local regulations or inflexible inspectors/building comissions may prevent you from being able to build in the area you want. This may drive an individual to build in locations further away from urban centers where they might work. Commuting is no fun; and if you wanted to look at it from an environmental standpoint commuting a greater distance to work, grocery market or schools has just raised your carbon footprint and negated some of the savings your earth sheltered home has created.
   
   I would highly recommend that individuals check local code thoroughly and choose a location suitable to their daily needs such as work or other social necessities before building. One need not build out of logs and plaster to have an earth sheltered home, though I understand that the point of this book is to have an affordable home and avoiding expensive modern materials. Take a bigger picture of what you are trying to accomplish; if you are purchasing this book it is somewhat safe to assume you are concerned about the environment. Please also consider materials used. Rob Roy's excellent use of modern materials such as rubber membranes and concrete block are high in initial cost to produce, environmentally speaking, but last longer and provide more benefit to long term savings such as insulative qualities and maintenance costs than lesser materials might. A lot of other earth-sheltered builders advocate natural materials to a fault, they have people using composting toilets and straw-bale homes. While effective in an environmental sense, they are not attractive to the average person. Rob Roy's book moves in a positive direction by using modern materials with environmentally conscious construction to create a home that just about anybody would like to live in.



2. I thought the book was a very informative and practical account as well as very well produced and edited.
   
   Thanks!



3. This is the so called "holy book" for building an earth sheltered home. Definitely should have started 20 years ago but it is needed for today's building needs. Energy efficient - low cost ( pretty labor intensive ) Awesome to build. Have a five year plan.



4. This is where I started when I began exploring of building my house underground. What bothers me is so much cement. I like Mike Oehler better. Check him out too and decide for yourself.



5. An excellent reference for those who are interested in Earth Bermed and Earth Sheltered houses. His attention to detail in the excavation and foundation chapters is worth the price of the book alone. Especially when there is a lack of in depth internet resources available for those wishing to build their own earth sheltered house. Although this book deserves the 5 stars for fulfilling its basic promise, I wish he had devoted some time to discussing plumbing for a simple structure. But overall, he gives this reader 90% of the information necessary to start a small sized earth bermed house.
   
   If you are looking to have an earth roof, you will need to purchase his other book "Timber Framing" where he goes into rich detail the structural engineering requirements of load and tension and compression. With these 2 books, you should be able to complete rough plans for a structural engineer to review and stamp with little or none modifications.
   
   Also, for those searching for energy efficient stoves, I recommend aprovecho.org's institutional rocket stove or Ianto Evans Rocket Stove which are both 300% more efficient than traditional wood stoves.
   
   On a conclusionary note. I priced out timber framing members for the roof section of a square 30'x30' roof and it came out to over $9000 in timber alone ( not including the tongue & groove planking). Compare that to a traditional 8/12 pitch roof somewhere in the $3000 price range for rafters, ridge, and plywood. Put a metal roof on that and you should be good for over 30 years atleast. Sure the earth roof is better for the ecosystem and eye but a regular roof allows placement of rainwater collection, solartubes and solar heaters/panels as well. For the cost conscious, I have come to the conclusion that a traditional roof that is superinsulated along with the earth berming techniques in this book will allow people to have their own energy efficient house for less than they think.

No comments about Domino: The Book of Decorating: A room-by-room guide to creating a home that makes you happy.

5 comments about Building Your Own Home For Dummies.

1. I had never purchased a book from this series because I knew I wasn't a dummy and figured them to have little useful advice. But I decided to take a chance on this one since I know nothing about building a home. Big mistake.
   
   This book is a waste of money for anyone who is seriously thinking about hiring a contractor to build a home. There is no useful advice, but rather obvious suggestions such as "you will pay a higher rate on a loan if you don't have a high down payment" etc. - information that any 12-year old could find by searching the web. Save you money and instead purchase one of the many other books written on this subject by architects, contractors, etc.. Trust me, a book like this which is written for a "dummy" isn't one that will be useful to anyone with half a brain.
   
   It was so bad I'm doing something I've never done before - I'm returning it.



2. This book has exhaustive information about building a home employing a general constructor and sub-contractors. It's more useful as a reference. I say that because of the way it's organized. It's not a sequential read, and has no logical beginning or ending. I bought this book hoping to understand each step that goes into building a home. However, this book is NOT about that. It's more about effectively dealing with things that come along in each step.



3. I am always a fan of anything that puts the complexities of the world back into your hands. That Rocket Science for Dummies was totally awesome! LOL!
   
   This is one of many that better be on your shelf as a beginnig research tool, if you are planning on building a home. It tends to be repetitious about needing massive amounts of money though. It is not that creative about any of processes. It is very straight to the point.
   
   I do own it and it is a great reference that I had to MAKE myself read.



4. Very complete and logical in total scope of the custom home building process. Eye opener to a number of potential pitfalls in the custom home building process. wrgBuilding Your Own Home For Dummies



5. Alot of information packed into this one. Very practical, detailed, useful information. Recommend for anyone buying land or a lot, and building a custom home. Read this before you do...

5 comments about House Framing: Plan, Design, Build (Ultimate Guide).

1. This book provides good and valuable advice for those who, like me, have zero knowledge about the involved techniques for building a framed house. From beginning to the very last page, the book is full of color pictures and didatic explanations that help the reader feel confident enough to get started. As wood frame houses are not common in my country (it's pratically non existent) and as I am thinking of starting a business based on such construction technique, I am sure this material is providing me with the most important information. Strongly recommended!



2. Lots og information in an easy to read layout. Well written and easy to flow. I plan on using the inforation to build my own cabin in northern Wisonsin.



3. I have a ton of home improvement type books, since I am a pro handyman - largely self taught. This book is hard to get through. It is cumbersome and poorly organized. Not recommended.



4. I thought that this was a very good book especially for the novice carpenter or do-it-yourselfer. This book is very informative with easy to understand pictures and drawings. It does not go too in depth on certain subjects, but it is still everything you need to at least get started on a project. The only thing that I noticed as I was reading, was that a couple of the roof rafter calculations were incorrect, but they were not hard to figure out.



5. I am not a carpenter nor in the building industry. I have built decks, but a building (shed) was beyond my ability. This book made it easy and I was able to understand all of the construction concepts presented. A very good resource for the money.

5 comments about Building a Shed: Siting and Planning a Shed, Building Shed Foundations, Adding Custom Details (Build Like a Pro Series).

1. After reading through this book, I had the confidence to build my own 10 by 10 outdoor shed.
   
   This book does not contain blueprints for building sheds form start to finish. However, it does have a lot of pictures and informative tips to get you started. Often times I was able to simply look at the pictures to see how they did things.
   
   It contains good step-by-step instructions for setting up various types of bases, and the section on roofing really helped me out.
   
   Overall, I would recommend it if you need some ideas or some tips on how to get started or what to watch out for.



2. Having ordered 3 books on sheds based on the on-line reviews, this book along with Barns, Sheds and Outbuildings: Plan, Design, Build (Ultimate Guide To... [Paperback] The Ultimate Guide to Yard and Garden Sheds: Plan, Design, Build.... this is the only book you will need. The other two, while they show up under, "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." pale in comparison to the information contained in this book. In addition, the two I listed above are almost identical in content, same photos, diagrams etc. I have reviewed a couple of other offerings while at Home Depot and Lowes and while they may be good for ideas on style this book is all you need for construction. Enjoy it.



3. This book has far exceeded my expectations! I feel confident that I can plan and build my own shed (suited to my needs and budget) and do it for far less money than a chintzy pre-fab one from a DIY store. This book has a great format and loads of helpful information, things only someone who builds sheds for a living would know. I can't wait for the ground to dry a bit so I can get started building!



4. The shed on the cover is the best one. If you want that specific one buy it, but if your looking for ideas find another book.



5. Glad I bought this one. I had a customer looking for a shed that didn't look 'prefab' and was rustic, but "cute" (her term). I showed her the cover of the book and, with a few modifications, she was sold.
   
   I've never built a shed but I do have some framing knowledge The info on roofing is very helpful to me. I was also psyched the section for the shed on the cover had measured drawings for the trim boards and keystone pieces for the gable ends and over the windows. Should make life a little easier for me.