Building with Straw Bales

An updated, fully revised, full-colour edition of the definitive manual on building with straw bales, described by Grand Designs as an ‘essential guide’.

Straw-bale buildings are cost-effective, easy to build and highly energy efficient, enabling you to design and build beautiful, environmentally friendly buildings. Written with non-experts in mind, Barbara Jones uses her years of experience in natural building methods to guide self-builders and architects building with straw as a sustainable material for a diverse range of comfortable and environmentally friendly buildings.

Building with Straw Bales takes you through everything you need to know in an easy, accessible way. This includes design principles, the different types of foundations, how to raise and stabilise walls and protect them from the weather, including a detailed analysis of how straw performs with humidity and how straw bale buildings can easily meet building regulation requirements, as well as detailed information on lime and clay plaster finishes.

Now in full colour for the first time, the beautiful photographs throughout this practical guide illustrate the design and build techniques described and showcase the diverse possibilities of straw bale building. The fully revised text includes step-by-step illustrations of key techniques, and also looks at the full international context of building with straw bales.

This book is ideal for anyone looking to build more sustainably and integrate straw bales into their design.

Author Biography

Barbara Jones is well known internationally as a pioneer of straw bale building, and has been designing and building with natural materials for more than 20 years. Barbara was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Women in Construction in 2011, and a Woman of Outstanding Achievement Award in 2009. She runs her own company designing and building, as well as training people to build with straw bales, both in the UK and Abroad.