Building with Awareness: The Construction of a Hybrid Home: DVD & Guidebook [With DVD]

This is one of the TOP 2-3 resources I have come across for an owner/builder that wants to see ALL STEPS of the construction of a house using adobe and/or straw. While the primary envelope of this small house is straw bale, it includes a mass wall of adobe and the project included a workshop built with adobe. It is disappointing that they did not include the construction of this workshop from the ground up in the detailed video presentation. The video and the small format book (the size of a DVD case) are packed with information and detail. From the layout of the foundation, digging, forming and pouring of the grade beam and ALL other parts of the construction of the house this is a great way to get a complete understanding of all the parts of building a house. Straw bale builders will probably get more info from this since you see the post and beam structure of the house raised and framed the infill of the walls with bales, wiring, and scratch and finishing color plaster ideas. They show the construction of a rain collection system using a buried plastic septic tank for non-potable use (don't know why this limitation). For the price ($24 at the time of this writing) this is better than 99% of other resources I've come across. For adobe construction, Tibbets' Earthbuilders Encyclopedia CD has much more detail on adobe construction, but does not have any video like this item. FIVE STARS only because I can't award six!

I watched the video last night and it was excellent - very professional production and content. I don't normally write reviews but was inspired to do so on this occasion since my expectations were far exceeded.

DVD shows how to build a straw bale house step by step. This DVD and guidebook make me easier to understand the process of the building.

It was so helpful to be able to see how to build a green home from start to finish. It gave me so much hope that I will be able to do this for myself one day. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is something everyone should see.

The pairing of the excellent dvd and a companion guidebook. The book shares the same high-quality production as the dvd, and goes into a bit more detail here and there on topics that the dvd doesn't. Worth a few extra dollars.