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DVD/Video Reviews

The Comprehensive Guide to Building with Straw Bales (post and beam infill) – THE MOVIE.

Andrew Morrison's (of the Straw Bale Village in Jacksonville in Oregon, USA) great instructional DVD covering all aspects of building a post and beam type Straw Bale building.

I’m not going to harp on about the whys and wherefores of what this DVD contains. You can thoroughly check it out here. But I will say that from a return on investment basis this DVD beats any SB book several times over, hands down!

When you take into consideration the cost of SB books and then add the extensive time needed to read them, try to make sense of the diagrams and descriptions, its easy to see how still small investment on this DVD is a great deal either as a starting point to learn about SB building or as an extension to your existing reading. Even if you have some practical experience its unlikely that Andrew’s DVD isn’t going to pay for itself several times over. He even makes a guarantee to this effect. See his site for more info about this.

Books Reviews

Serious Straw Bale - Lacinski & Bergeron

This is a thick "how to" with lots of examples and details. It's subtitled "A Home Construction Guide for All Climates" and that's pretty much what it does. Don't expect to become an expert overnight, there is too much of it, however its not heavy reading and is delivered in bite sized pieces. Do expect to be ready to move onto some serious practical experience.

The Straw Bale House - Steen & Bainbridge

Inspirational guide to the Straw Bale enthusiast with lots of pictures, ideas however it does seem to target those who wish to build in warm climes that usually available in Northern Europe. A good starting point for newbies and will work well with the above book to consolidate your desire and confidence in moving from theory to practice.

Building with Straw Bales - Barbara Jones

Easily the best starting point for any SB enthusiast, it cuts the waffle and in the least amount of words will tell you what you should and shouldn't be doing. This book is sub titled "A practical guide for the UK and Ireland" and details Barbara's own experiences with some the climatic planning and regulatory concerns. Its not only good value for money but even better value for your "reading time" investment.

Small Strawbale - Steen, Steen and Bingham

This book is all about inspiration, whilst it does go into some pros and cons of various aspect of different straw bale building elements the book's strength is in it massive coverage of the uses and styles of small straw bale building. If you are look at building in your garden a studio, play room, guest room, office etc them this is a must. A lot of the designs have a strong western US feel but at the very least it illustrates how flexible straw bale buildings are. Lots of colour pictures and not too light on the descriptive texts.

Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook - Corum

This is a great combination of how to with illustration. The aforementioned Serious Straw Bale and Straw Bale House may go into more depth with regards the nitty gritty of building but this book does better with the illustrations. Every other page is packed with colour photos, 3d renderings and plans. One downfall is that it focuses on rendering with Stucco. Other Straw bale books do much better with the other options of lime or clay/cob style render.