Books of Interest & Book Search Link

Started by glenn-k, March 23, 2005, 09:20:26 PM

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glenn kangiser

Here is the title and author of a book that Scott McGrath of the home tour found inspiring and with a quick browse through it I decided to order it also.  Published in 1974 I only saw it available used.

Handmade;: Vanishing cultures of Europe and the Near East,
by Drew Langsner

I will post more about it after I get it.  There were no Amazon reviews.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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Amanda_931

A search on the Drew Langsner was pretty interesting.  Big on country windsor chairs and green wood building, wrote a book on log houses, something about quilts.

Here's the Handmade book.  Link is to a British bookseller.  But the bookstore seems to be in Florida.

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=200398374

Alibris has a handful of Handmade, no picture of the cover, though--prices all over the place.

http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?chunk=25&mtype=&qauth=Drew%20langsner&qtit=Handmade%20Vanishing&S=R&browse=2&qsort=r&cm_re=works*intro*expand


Amanda_931

Langsner lives about an hour north of Asheville North Carolina, and here's his website;

http://www.countryworkshops.org/

Amanda_931

The Langsners' Handmade looks like a nice book.  They seem to have been interested in everything, so there are  bits on how people actually used their houses, a long section on how to make feta cheese (including how their neighbors in Greece made rennet), what the roof framing for those big tiles looked like, and so on.

It might be more inspirational for those who are homesteading than those of us just building a house, but it's very nice.

The first chapter doesn't seem particularly dated, either, which is what one wonders about with old books.

(e.g., Dan Beard talks about using white lead to waterproof one of his roofs--we don't do that anymore, and if we did we would hate to have the Boy Scouts playing with it)

glenn kangiser

Our friend on the home tour let me look at the book while I was there and it was one I thought I needed to get.  As you said, Amanda, it does go into a lot of things besides building.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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John Raabe

#30
I'm reading "The Cobber's Companion" by Michael Smith. It's a good read even if you don't plan to build using clay and straw.

Lots of good creative ideas for building any natural house.

Here is a link to photos:
http://www.cobcottage.com/pics/

Ideas galore!

For example...


(a bathtub for Glenn  :D)


(almost feels like we've entered Middle Earth)
None of us are as smart as all of us.

glenn kangiser

Sorry to disappoint you John, but I'm not due for a bath for a couple more months.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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Amanda_931

#32
Well then, you'll have time to get the tub finished before your bathtime.

 ::)

That bathtub setting is wonderful!  If probably part of a bigger bathroom than I'll ever build.

glenn kangiser

#33
I am thinking of doing a cob sun room around the hot tub some time - just waiting for the proper design to pop into my head.  That and the fact that I like to sit out there in the dark looking at the lights of the airport and valley in the distance while enjoying the faint light of the million stars in the night sky and listening to the gentle whirring of the wind generator overhead.  It makes it hard for any type of a building to be the right design. :-/

I am thinking of making a white stucco cave for my tub and shower in the second bathroom - have the stuff- now need the drive and the time. ::)
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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Amanda_931

I've seen a couple of pictures lately of huge skylights--one 6-footer in (over) a bathroom.  

Look nice, at least in the photographs (one of the vacation houses in the new Dwell magazine, for instance), but I'd guess expensive and difficult.

But it might work, with a cob bathhouse in a room that can be either a screen room or a glassed (polycarbonated?) room, depending on weather.

glenn kangiser

I've thought of several things - a tempered glass roof overhead that will completely rotate out of the way - hinged frames that open completely straight up separating at the ridge board - etc. and I could do it fairly easily, but hate to give up the totally open tub.  Next thing I can think of is to put another smaller one in the greenhouse running the hot water from the heater to it - I could also route it through my hydronic floor in the cabin doing two things at once in the winter- valves could keep it out of the floor in the summer. :)
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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Amanda_931

#36
I've just gotten copies of the newest straw bale books.  

Looked a bit at Gernot Minke's.  Lot of color pictures, a good chunk of them not in the U.S. or Canada--nice story of a student built structure that was seriously screwed up (basically they forgot to pre-stress their--all load bearing--bales) and how it was fixed.  

That one was at Minke's own building program in Germany--Research Laboratory for Experimental Building at Kassell University.  ;)

But, they managed a reciprocating roof in a square building (ran the figures on deflection on the rafters--a whole lot heavier than Tony Wrench's building, but Wrench's does--or did--have interior poles IIRC.)

Cover picture is of a famous house/studio/office in London--Sarah Wigglesworth's, also featured in Extreme Houses, and last time I looked there was extensive coverage on the web.

It's got walls of transparent corrugated polycarbonate roofing over the part of the bales.

Minke is kind of the God of earthen building, fine free .pdf booklet on the best ways to keep your building from falling down in an earthquake (or any other stress) expensive book on Earthen building in general.  And he lives in an underground house (living roof over at least part of it IIRC) that was the subject of a photo shoot in one of the natural building magazines.

Building with Straw  Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture, Gernot Minke and Friedemann Mahlke.

Amazon can get it, but I don't think they give a discount, maybe even add a surcharge--but you still get free shipping!

The other one is going to be easier to find--from a Canadian company--New Society Publishers that appears to be associated with Mother Earth News.  Amazon may keep this one in stock, although sometimes they're weird about Canadian books.

More Straw Bale Building, by Chris Magwood, Peter Mack, Tina Thierrien.  I think these guys are based in the North-East U.S., and adjoining parts of Canada.  Magwood and Mack have written other books, together and possibly separately.

More later.

Amanda_931

When we last saw our heroine, she had just seen the squib in More Straw Bale Building that it was a re-write of an earlier book, and was wincing.

I'm happy to say that it doesn't read like it.  It's probably one of those books that should be on a lot of people's bookshelf, whether or not they have any interest in "all natural" building.

The authors have lots of experience in SB by now, and a pretty amazing list of things that they don't do any more.  

A lot of their work is in Eastern Canada.

Which of course means they haven't a clue about cooling!  I think I have yet to read a book that DOES have a clue.

(I did follow up on Jonesey's suggestion that I look into the Solar AC list.  Strange.  The most helpful suggestion is "open up the house at night, close it up in the daytime, preferably with shutters."  Even that won't work well if we get another summer like that of 1980--All of July and into the first week of August, highs for the day over 100F, lows over 80F.  And no rain at all.)

DavidLeBlanc

A Tiny Home to Call Your Own
Living Well in Just Right Houses

by Patrica Foreman & Andy Lee

Table of Contents

About the Cover 2
Praise for a Tiny Home to Call Your Own 6
Introduction 14
Recipe for a Tiny Home 18
Chapter 1: Is a Tiny Home Right for You? 22
People Who Might be Interested in Tiny Homes 22
Uses for Tiny Homes 31
Chapter 2: Tiny Homes Can Help You Have More Time, More Freedom, and More Money 35
Ways You Can Save Money by Building a Tiny Home 38
Chapter 3: Tiny Homes and the People Who Love Them 40
Terri Bsullak's Tiny Home 40
The Lane's Shed Home 48
Ray Pealer's Tiny House Trade Station 56
The Campbell's Combined Work Shop and Garden Shed 60
Uncle Gene's Tiny Home 64
Chapter 4: Tiny Houses We Have Built 68
Andy's Weekender 68
Room for Guests 71
Sun Block House 73
Virginia Guest Cottage 74
Chapter 5: Tiny Homes to Go 76
What We Can Learn From the RV and Boating Industries 78
Park Trailer Classification 80
Copper Top Cabin 81
New England Style Tiny House 83
Small Log Cabin Homes 85
Tumbleweed Tiny Homes 88
Chapter 6: Expanding A Tiny Home with Do-It-Yourself Construction 91
Chapter 7: Clutter Control and Stuffology 110
Redundancy Causes Chaos 113
Closets and Stuff in Tiny Houses 116
Garages and Stuff 117
Ways to Find New Homes For Stuff – Profitably 126
Organizing Stuff 131
Chapter 8: Ecology and the Tiny House Movement 134
Ecological Areas of Concern 134
Ramifications of Large Houses 135
Alternatives to Building with Wood 138
Chapter 9: Conservation Subdivisions and Cottage Communities 148
Conservation Subdivision Design 149
Being a Community 155
Environmental Considerations and Home Characteristics 156
Increased Appreciation and Premium Resale Values 158
Chapter 10: Rainwater Harvesting From Your Tiny Home 159
Water Needs and Harvesting Ability 161
How Much Water Can You Harvest From Your Roof? 163
Locating Your Storage Tanks 166
Storing Harvested Water In Ponds 167
Chapter 11: Can Tiny Houses Help House the Unhoused and Inappropriately Housed? 168
Inappropriately Housed 169
Housing the Unhoused 169
Frequently Asked Tiny House Questions 175
Tiny House Glossary & Evolving Definitions 178
Resource Guide 185
Bibliography & References 187
Index 197
About the Authors 204

 $23.95

Good Earth Publications, LLC
20 GreenWay Place
Buena Vista, VA 24416

http://www.tinyhousecompany.com/TH%20Book.html


Scott Fike

Books I own (I recommend them all or I wouldn't have bought them!):

-Alex Wade's Guide to Affordable Houses by Alex Wade
-30 Energy-Efficient Houses You Can Build by Alex Wade
-A Design and Construction Handbook for Energy-Saving Houses by Alex Wade
-The Complete Book of Underground Houses by Rob Roy
-Mini House by Alejandro Bahamon
-Country Property Dirt Cheap by Ralph C. Turner
-The New Cottage Home by Jim Tolpin
-The Cabin by Dale Mulfinger and Susan E. Davis
-Mortgage Free! By Rob Roy
-A Little House of My Own by Lester Walker
-Finding and buying your place in the Country by Les and Carol Scher
-The $50 and up underground house book Mike Oehler
-The Small House book by Jay Shafer
-Discover the good life in Rural America by Bob Bone
-Reader's Digest New Complete Do-it-yourself Manual (a book no one should be without!)
Smaller is better!

Amanda_931

Hmmmm.  I've got some of those, and what I hope are decent substitutes for some of the others.

In another topic the conversation was about using waste spaces.  Thought I'd post this pair of books here, one's already in the other topic, one isn't.   Brown is an American architect living Japan who has writte a couple of books about the gorgeous as well as the weird in the way of Japanese houses, a lot of the ideas are interesting, a fair number probably useful.  

Here's the new one--I haven't seen it yet, but the earlier one is pretty wonderful:

Azby Brown The Very Small Home

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4770029993/qid=1123129872/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-2081348-2872731?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Here's the older one:

Azby Brown Small Spaces

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4770020848/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/104-2081348-2872731?v=glance

Amanda_931

This might not be the right place to mention this, but Amazon is getting [glb]phished[/glb]  Or is it I'm getting phished with what purports to be a letter from Amazon asking for my identification, passwords, and credit card numbers.

Paypal  (alleged) letters are by now almost routine in hotmail--my ISP always lets in the rolex picture, but this was the first time I've seen one from Amazon.

glenn kangiser

I find that nearly all credit cards - PayPal - Ebay and nearly anyplace you may have money is being attacked.

I don't ever give out information to any of the unsolicited requests for changes or ID and nearly all of them look very believable including official logos and fake fraud alert warning letters.  Some of their ploys include telling you your account is in danger of being closed if not updated.  

DON'T BELIEVE IT-- AND DON'T FALL FOR IT.   Don't become their next victim.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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NELELGNE

FREE
SHELTER, SHACKS and SHANTIES
http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/shelter/index.htm

Type "KEN KERN" in "SEARCH" box at:
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also MOTHER EARTH NEWS archive at:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/mothers_library/
by SUBJECT at left side of page.

"HUMANURE HANDBOOK"
http://www.weblife.org/humanure/

Many books to download at:
http://journeytoforever.org/

Roberts, Rex. "Your Engineered House", "POSSUM LIVING" and other books at:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/030206possum/030206toc.html

"BACKWOODS HOME" article index at:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/article_index.html

"COUNTRYSIDE" past issues at:
http://www.countrysidemag.com/past.htm


Bart_Cubbins

A copy of Lloyd Kahn's "Home Work" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0936070331/countryplanscom
arrived from John yesterday and I soon found myself completely immersed in it. If you've seen the photos of Glenn's cabin, just imagine a book filled with hundreds of likewise owner-built, handcrafted and one-of-a-kind homes. Now I can't wait to start building something...anything!!

Thanks John!!