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Build High-performance, Low-impact Walls with Light Straw Clay
Part of the Sustainable Building Essentials series, Essential Light Straw Clay Construction is the first fully illustrated, step-by-step guide to using light straw clay—a durable, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly wall material. Learn how to create beautiful, code-compliant walls that combine centuries-old wisdom with modern high-performance building science.
What You'll Learn
- Sustainable, Low-carbon Construction: Uses straw "waste" mixed with clay for a high-insulation, low-impact material that reduces embodied energy.
- Thermally Efficient and Moisture-resistant: Naturally regulates indoor humidity, buffers temperature swings, and improves comfort year-round.
- Durable and Code-compliant: Proven long-lasting in historical and modern buildings, meeting US building codes for safety and performance.
- Step-by-step Guidance: Illustrated instructions for mixing, installation, and variations such as slip-chip, plus detail drawings for stud, timber, pole framing, Larsen trusses, and retrofits.
- Project Planning Made Simple: Material selection, quantity estimation, budgeting, sourcing, and best practices for a successful build.
- Finishing and Maintenance: Learn techniques to ensure long-term durability, aesthetics, and minimal upkeep.
Written by Lydia Doleman, licensed contractor and natural building expert, this guide combines hands-on experience, practical instruction, and building science to give DIYers and professionals the confidence to use light straw clay in a variety of construction and renovation projects.
Explore the full Sustainable Building Essentials series for practical, illustrated guidance on natural building techniques, sustainable wall systems, and high-performance construction
"Light straw-clay is one of the most versatile natural wall systems around, combining straw's insulation value with clay's thermal mass and preservative qualities for excellent performance in almost any climate. Why is it so little known? Partly due to a shortage of reliable how-to information in English. Lydia Doleman has solved that problem once and for all with this brilliantly written and illustrated guidebook. Absolutely the most useful book on the topic."
— Michael G. Smith, co-editor, The Art of Natural Building and co-author, The Hand-Sculpted House
"Lydia Doleman is the best, and this book is the best. It is the book that Lydia would have liked to have had at the start of her journey to become one of the most talented, experienced, and professional natural builders in North America. Instead, after half a lifetime of designing and building and building and building, she has gathered it all together for us to have and use. This book really is for all of us, so we can go forth and use our own hands to build a better, more healthful and beautiful world."
— Mark Lakeman, Founder and sustainer of communitecture and City Repair
"Lydia Doleman has written a "must have" resource on the multiple techniques for Light Straw Clay construction. Well researched and grounded in her own 20 years of hands-on natural building experience, her love of the craft, and her attention to detail shine through in every page."
— Robert Laporte and Paula Baker-Laporte, authors, The EcoNest Home
"Essential Light Straw Clay Construction gives building professionals and owner-builders the knowledge and an array of options to design and construct a durable, resource-efficient, and high-performance home with the simple materials of earth, straw, and wood."
— Martin Hammer, architect, co-author of the Light Straw-Clay appendix in the International Residential Code
"For thousands of years, straw and clay formed the bedrock of human habitat. The natural building revolution brought us many books on strawbale, cob, rammed earth, earthbags, hempcrete and adobe, but until now almost nothing on my favorite recommended style for ecovillages in every climate - light clay straw. Thanks to Lydia Doleman for the giving the world this comprehensive construction companion."
— Albert Bates, author, The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide, The Biochar Solution, and The Paris Agreement
"We have been teaching natural building techniques since constructing our first Honey House earthbag dome in 1996. Yet in 2014 we chose the Light Straw Clay system to build a 300 square foot kitchen addition onto our existing stick frame house. We are living proof that Lydia's prescriptions and precautions will prepare you for a positively playful, pleasantly proficient workplace designed to produce a prize winning project. All presented in Ms Doleman's heartfelt pragmatic pioneering spirit that personifies the joy of natural building. Thank you Lydia, for providing a neat package of protocols that promote the virtues of light straw clay into our modern day perception."
— Kaki Hunter and Doni Kiffmeyer, authors, Earthbag Building
"Having constructed several strawbale homes I found this book very informative comparing the similarities and differences to light straw clay."
— Matt Bostwick
Lydia Doleman is a licensed contractor with two decades of experience as a natural and sustainable builder, cabinet maker, and trainer. She has taught carpentry and natural building at Solar Energy International in Colorado and was lead ecological builder for Portland's City Repair project from 2002-09. Aiming to merge three converging passions in her life - art, ecology and social justice - Lydia has created beautiful, high-performance, low-impact buildings across Oregon and Washington, including Portland's first permitted straw bale home, The Rebuilding Center's cob entryway, and a 3,300-sq.f light straw clay brewery. She's written articles for The Last Straw Journal and Permaculture Design and appeared on NBC News and HGTV's Off Beat America on the topic of tiny homes, featuring a small-scale light straw clay timber frame home. Lydia lives in southern Oregon.
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Rationale
Chapter 3: Appropriate Use
Chapter 4: Building Science Notes
Chapter 5 : Material Specifications
Chapter 6: Design Options: Framing Systems and Form Options
Chapter 7: Design Notes, Details, and Budgeting
Chapter 8: Construction Procedures
Chapter 9: Finishes
Chapter 10: Maintenance and Renovation
Chapter 11: Building Codes
Chapter 12: Tools
Appendix 1: APPENDIX R – Light Straw Clay Construction, from 2015 IRC
Index
About the Author