RECOMMENDED READING & RESEARCH

Book Recommendations

Recommended Websites

Technical Research

Regulations

Book Recommendations

Here are a few books recommended by our board members!

The Endeavour Centre has put together a great reading list so please visit their recommended reading page too.

ESSENTIAL SUSTAINABLE HOME DESIGN

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO GOALS, OPTIONS, AND THE DESIGN PROCESS

by Chris Magwood

ESSENTIAL BUILDING SCIENCE

UNDERSTANDING ENERGY AND MOISTURE IN HIGH PERFORMANCE HOUSE DESIGN

by Jacob Deva Racusin

ESSENTIAL HEMPCRETE CONSTRUCTION

THE COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

by Chris Magwood

The Straw Bale House

By David Bainbridge, Athena Swentzell Steen, Bill Steen

The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy-efficient, Environmental Homes

By Daniel D. Chiras

Essential Natural Plasters A Guide to Materials, Recipes, and Use

by Michael Henry & Tina Therrien

The Accessible Home:
Designing for All Ages and Abilities

by Deborah Pierce

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1, 3rd Edition

(NEW 2019)
by Brad Lancaster

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2, 2nd Edition

(NEW 2019)
by Brad Lancaster

Being Ecological

by Timothy Morton

Design of Straw Bale Buildings:
The State of the Art

by Bruce King

Prescriptions for a Healthy House, 3rd Edition. A Practical Guide for Architects, Builders & Home Owners

by Paula Baker-Laporte, John C. Banta and Erica Elliott

Recommended Websites

The California Straw Building Association
http://www.strawbuilding.org/

The California Straw Building Association (CASBA) is an all-volunteer non-profit organization committed to straw bale building.

Endeavour Centre for Sustainable Building
https://endeavourcentre.org/

Endeavour is an innovative sustainable building school based in Peterborough, Ontario offering hands-on learning opportunities.

Endeavour Centre's Sustainable Materials Encyclopedia

A free, comprehensive encyclopedia of sustainable building materials to help you choose the best sustainable housing ideas.

New Society
http://newsociety.ca/

New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books for a world of change in a way that has a minimum impact on our environment. Our vision is to provide the world with fundamental tools to help build a just and ecologically sustainable society.

Builders for Climate Action

Builders for Climate Action is growing a coalition of builders, designers, developers, policy-makers, researchers and manufacturers to tackle the serious impact of buildings on our climate and work toward climate justice for all.

CASBA

A non-profit organization whose members are designers, contractors, owner builders, and people interested in straw and natural building. We serve as a clearing house for information and as a network of resources.

The Natural Building Alliance
https://natural-building-alliance.org/

The Natural Building Alliance is committed to expanding and sharing knowledge, experience, and techniques for sustainable building. We promote quality building practices and serve as a resource for building professionals and homeowners.

Strawbale Association (France)
https://www.rfcp.fr/presentation/

Strawbale Association located in France

Eco Nest Homes
www.econesthomes.com

The name we have given to our holistically designed and hand-crafted natural homes. An EcoNest incorporates timber-frame, straw-clay walls, earth plasters and natural and non-toxic finishes. This combination of time-honored building traditions with modern innovations results in a home of unsurpassed health and comfort.

Green Building Advisor
www.greenbuildingadvisor.com

Green Building Advisor is a website dedicated to sharing accurate and complete information about designing, building, and remodeling high-performance homes. With clearly presented, professional-level information, our mission is to empower architects and designers, builders and remodelers, engineers, tradespeople, and homeowners to build more durable, energy-efficient, healthy, and climate-friendly homes.

Green Home Building.com
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com

Your hosts at greenhomebuilding.com are Kelly and Rosana Hart. We are happy to be able to provide you with the wide range of information related to sustainable architecture and natural building available at this site.

Buildability
buildability.ca and www.trainingbuilders.ca

A team of intelligent, creative, and innovative professionals who truly care about the buildings that house people. Research and Consulting; Publications and Interactive Media; Training Development and Delivery; and Program Development.

NRCan
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/20546

Find information on how to assess and improve the energy performance of old and new homes. Learn about the government programs and incentives that help Canadians consume less energy and save money.

Building Science Corporation
www.buildingscience.com

Building Science Corporation is a building science consulting firm with clients throughout North America. BSC specializes in building technology consulting for all types of buildings including commercial, institutional and residential.

Construction Instruction
constructioninstruction.com

Construction Instruction provides leading building professionals with the tools needed to apply building science principles while integrating cost-effective, practical solutions to build better, longer lasting, healthier homes.

475
foursevenfive.ca

475’s mission is to supply essential materials, building components, and knowledge that will lead a transformation of the North American construction industry toward making durable high-performance, Passive House and zero-energy buildings.

Athena Sustainable Materials Institute
www.athenasmi.org

The Athena Sustainable Materials Institute is a non-profit research collaborative bringing life cycle assessment to the construction sector.

DCAT

www.dcat.net/about_dcat/staff.php

Founded in 1991 as a non-profit organization, DCAT draws on extensive experience in traditional and alternative building and development, providing strategic support for the shift to sustainable building practices.

Technical Research

Below is a collection of natural building and straw bale construction related documents we’ve gathered from various sources - mostly elsewhere on the web and from email lists. Some of these resources will provide you with a sense of the evolution of natural building in North America.

If you have a document related to straw bale construction or which might otherwise be of interest to the members of the ONBC please consider sending it and we will post it here for everyone.

APPENDIX R

STRAWBALE CONSTRUCTION

This appendix provides prescriptive and performance-based requirements for the use of

baled straw as a building material. Other methods of strawbale construction shall be subject to approval in accordance with Section 104.11 of the International Residential Code. Buildings using strawbale walls shall comply with the International Residential Code except as otherwise stated in this appendix.

IRC 2015 Appendix S - Strawbale Construction - pdf link

Text of the Strawbale Construction appendix as it appears in the 2015 International Residential Code (IRC).

**Support Letters for Proposed IRC Appendix R - Strawbale Construction**- pdf link

Support letters from 2 Structural Engineers, 4 Civil Engineers, 1 Professor of Civil Engineering, 5 Architects

Other supporting documentation for Straw Bale Construction from Ecological Building Network:

https://www.ecobuildnetwork.org/projects/straw-bale-construction-supporting-documents

BUILDING OFFICIALS GUIDE - 2004

Building Official guide-1.pdf.pdf

REPORT ON CARBON FROM BUILDER FOR CLIMATE ACTION

Achieving Real Net-Zero Emission Homes: Embodied carbon scenario analysis of the upper tiers of performance in the 2020 Canadian National Building Code

https://www.buildersforclimateaction.org/uploads/1/5/9/3/15931000/bfca-enercan-report-web.pdf

JOURNALS

The Last Straw 1993-2017

The Last Straw was a grassroots mainstay of information on natural building and was a quarterly publication from 1993-2017, providing news, inspiration and information on techniques, projects, issues, materials and more. Back issues are available from their website.

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY TESTING

COMPRESSIVE TESTING OF PLASTERED STRAW BALES circa 2006, by Stephen Vardy and Colin MacDougall for The Journal of Green Building

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TESTING OF EARTHEN PLASTERS FOR STRAW BALE WALL APPLICATION (ABSTRACT) circa 2006, by Brendon Taylor, Stephen Vardy, and Colin MacDougall

COMPRESSIVE TESTING AND ANALYSIS OF A TYPICAL STRAW BALL PLASTER (ABSTRACT) circa 2006, by Stephen Vardy

BUILDING ALTERNATIVES

REPORT TO THE ONTARIO BUILDING CODE COMMISSION - 2002, Request for Further Information. Application 2001-52, Seigel/Cochrane Residence. Kris Dick, Ph. D., P Eng

CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION

STRAW BALE HOUSING: A SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY - 1998

STRAW BALE MOISTURE SENSOR STUDY - 1999, Technical Series 99-206

STRAW BALE HOUSE MOISTURE SERIES - 2000, Technical Series 00-103

MOISTURE PROPERTIES OF PLASTER AND STUCCO FOR STRAW BALE BUILDINGS - 2000, Technical Series 00-132

MOISTURE PROPERTIES OF PLASTER AND STUCCO FOR STRAW BALE BUILDINGS - circa 2002, Draft Report

WOOD USAGE IN STRAW BALE HOUSE CONSTRUCTION - 2002, Technical Series 02-116

OTHER RESOURCES

SUMMARY OF NEW MEXICO ASTM E-119 SMALL SCALE FIRE TESTS ON STRAW BALE WALL ASSEMBLIES - 1993

STRAW HOUSE - 1995, Straw bale construction comes of age

PRELIMINARY TEST RESULTS STRAW BALE WALLS - circa 1999, John Carrick and John Glassford

THE STRAW BALE HOUSE - circa 1999, Not for the Eastern United States, Paul Gillimore

MISSILE PERFORATION THRESHOLD SPEEDS FOR STRAW BALE WALL CONSTRUCTION WITH A STUCCO FINISH - 1999, Joseph J. Bilello and Russle R. Carter

POLICY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURAL AND NON-STRUCTURAL STRAW BALE STRUCTURES - 2000, County of Calaveras, California Building Department

ASTM E84-98 SURFACE BURNING CHARACTERISTICS 001, Straw Bale - 2000, Report No. 16237-106770. Prepared for Katrina Hayes by Omega Point Laboratories

A PILOT STUDY EXAMINING THE STRENGTH, COMPRESSIBILITY AND SERVICEABILITY OF RENDERED STRAW BALE WALLS FOR TWO STOREY LOAD BEARING CONSTRUCTION - 2000, Michael Faine and Dr. John Shang

A PILOT STUDY EXAMINING AND COMPARING THE LOAD BEARING CAPACITY AND BEHAVIOR OF AN EARTH RENDERED STRAW BALE WALL TO CEMENT RENDERED STRAW BALE WALL - 2002, Michael Faine and Dr. John Zhang

HEAT INSULATION PERFORMANCE OF STRAW BALES AND STRAW BALE WALLS - circa 2002, R. Wimmer, H. Hohensinner, L. Janisch, and M. Drack

SASKATOON CITY COUNCIL MEETING CONDENSED AGENDA - February 25, 2002

LOAD-BEARING STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION - 2003, A summary of worldwide testing and experience. Bruce King, PE

STRAW BALE FIRE SAFETY - 2003. A review of testing and experience to date, Bob Theis, US Department of Energy

HOW STRAW DECOMPOSES - 2003, Implications for Straw Bale Construction. Mathew D. Summers, Sherry L. Blunk, Bryan M. Jenkins

TESTING OF STRAW BALE WALLS WITH OUT OF PLANE LOADS - 2003, Kevin Donahue, SE

THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF STRAW BALE WALL SYSTEMS - circa 2003, Nehemiah Stone

STRUCTURAL TESTING OF PLASTERS FOR STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION - 2003, Kelley Lerner and Kevin Donahue

SASKATCHEWAN BUILDING OFFICIALS NEWSLETTER - January 2004, Building Standards

COMPRESSION LOAD TESTING STRAW BALE WALLS - 2004, Peter Walker

STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION IN CHINA -2004, A comparison of obstacles between Northern and Southern rural areas for the use of Straw Bale Construction as an energy efficient building alternative, Linh Vuong

INCENTIVES AND IMPEDIMENTS TO THE ADOPTION OF GREEN BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES - circa 2004, Why Straw Materials have not Penetrated the Mainstream, Jay Ruskey

THE EFFECTS OF PLASTER SKIN CONFINEMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF STRAW BALE WALL SYSTEMS - 2004

S-HOUSE – SUSTAINABLE BUILDING DEMONSTRATED BY A PASSIVE HOUSE MADE OF

RENEWABLE RESOURCES - 2005, R. Wimmer, H. Hohensinner, and M. Drack

INITIAL MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF STRAW LIGHT CLAY (ABSTRACT) - 2005, Joshua Thornton

CASE STUDY – WEONA FARMSTAY - circa 2005, Adrianne Wheeler, David Riley, and Thomas Boothby

STRAW BALE ECOLOGICAL HOUSING PROGRAM - circa 2005, Linda Zhu

STRUCTURAL TESTING OF STRAW BALES IN AXIAL COMPRESSION - 2005, Kirstin Field, James Woods, and Claudia Fedrigo

OTHER - CONVENTIONAL BUILDING REFERENCES

THE CANADIAN WOOD COUNCIL - Effective R Calculator - http://effectiver.ca/calculator/search-go-to-the-calculator.php

List of ENERGY STAR certified products

High efficiency products available in Canada

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-star-canada/energy-star-products/list-energy-star-certified-products/13631

Energy Efficiency Publications https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/maps-tools-and-publications/publications/energy-publications/energy-efficiency-publications/17756

DESIGN GUIDE FOR FROST-PROTECTED SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS - 1994, NAHB Research Center

FASTENER GUIDE - 2004, City of Hopkins, MN

Regulations

These regulations and rulings are based on an early understanding of how the straw bale wall system works (much of which has now been proven incorrect through testing by accredited laboratories and academic research here in Canada.) We provide these regulations only as examples of how other jurisdictions have handled straw bale construction, be it good or far more often bad.

Early regulatory resistance and a confrontational atmosphere caused a number of state and local straw bale movements to push for early code acceptance of straw bale construction. The result was several local and state building codes which included and continue to include methods which not only do not add to the strength of the straw bale wall assembly but which result in a great deal more effort to build the wall system and the use of unnecessary components with high embodied energy. The Ontario straw bale movement decided early on that educating and cooperating with our building officials would do much more for straw bale construction in the province and would allow for more flexibility and greater advances in the methods and materials used than having straw bale construction added to the building code.

AUSTIN, TX CITY CODE – VOLUME II – CHAPTER 36 STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION - Date unknown

BOULDER, CO BUILDING CODE – CHAPTER 98 – BALED STRAW STRUCTURES - 1981

TAOS COUNTY, NM POLICY FOR EXPERIMENTAL PERMITS – JULY 13, 1993 - 1993

BCC Ruling No. 99-56-712 - 1999, Martin Liefhebber Mississauga Co-Housing

DESCRIPTIVE GUIDELINES FOR LOAD BEARING AND NON-LOAD BEARING STRAW

BALE CONSTRUCTION - 2003, Clark County, Nevada Department of Development Services

BCC Ruling No. 07-24-1153 - 2007, Mika Jantunen Oro-Medonte