The Sauna

Cover, The SaunaAuthor(s): Rob Roy

Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co

ISBN: 0930031873

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Paperback, 208 pages
Publication date: March 1997

How-To Editor’s Recommended Book, 03/01/97:
This book could be called Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Saunas and Then Some! It is replete with sauna history; tradition; health benefits; a complete, detailed guide to building one for yourself, along with resources for equipment and supplies; and instructions on the proper use and maintenance of saunas. You name it, it’s here!

Customer Comments

koralglo@netrom.com from Bloomingdale, New Jersey , 11/03/97, rating=5:
It is a book about rather specific sauna I ordered that book because I wanted to construct a sauna in my basement. Based on the publisher’s recommendation I felt very confident that I will find all the necesseary information to help me with my project. To my deepest disappointment this book deals only with a very specific type of a sauna: one that is constructed from logs in a cement base.

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. About Saunas
2. Cordwood Masonry
3. The Post-and-Beam Log End Sauna
4. The Earthwood (Round) Sauna
5. The Sauna Stove
6. Variations on the Theme
7. Taking a Sauna
App. 1. Sauna Equipment Manufacturers and Distributors
App. 2. Sauna Societies
App. 3: Annotated Bibliography
App. 4. Glossary of Finnish Sauna Terms
Index

Complete Book of Cordwood Masonry Housebuilding; The Earthwood Method

Complete Book of Cordwood Masonry Housebuilding; The Earthwood Method

Author(s): Rob Roy

Publisher: Sterling Publishing

ISBN: 0806985909

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Build a low-cost, energy-efficient home! Rob Roy, cordwood’s most famous builder, with the help of nearly 300 photos and how-to illustrations with easy-to-follow directions, shows how and how not to build your very own stunning log-end home. Full-color photos throughout. 264 pages (8 in color), 290 b/w illus., 8 x 10.

Complete Book of Underground Houses : How to Build a Low-Cost Home

Complete Book of Underground Houses : How to Build a Low-Cost HomeAuthor(s): Robert L. Roy, Rob Roy

Publisher: Sterling Publications

ISBN: 0806907282

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Complete Book of Underground Houses : How to Build a Low-Cost Home

Paperback, 144 pages
Publication date: November 1994

From Booklist , 03/01/95:
According to Roy, underground or earth-sheltered houses are unexpectedly livable. Judging by his book’s attractive pictures, that’s easy to believe. The house he bases his point-by-point guide on is indeed a showplace. Its homey touches are just that, though, and Roy’s main concern is creating such a house, from drawing up the plans to surveying the site to the actual building. Roy’s instruction is insightful and comprehensive; for example, he writes that he has poured the four-inch cement floor over the waste plumbing in all the houses he has built and has had no trouble yet, but he also suggests another strategy for those leery of not being able to get at the pipes in an emergency. Throughout, he covers construction and installation details that are extremely important for nonprofessionals brave enough to undertake building their own homes. Copyright© 1995, American Library Association. All rights reserved

Booknews, Inc. , 06/01/95:
Instead of marring a grassy knoll or field with the construction of a conventional house, you could design and build an environmentally sound underground or earth-sheltered home. Roy, director of the Earthwood Building School, provides detailed instructions, from choosing a piece of property to excavating and building a home from top to bottom, with case studies, photos and diagrams, and further resources. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Mortgage-Free: Off-The-$$$-Grid

Mortgage-Free: Off-The-$$$-Grid

Mortgage-Free: Off-The-$$$-GridAuthor(s): Rob Roy, Malcolm Wells

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company

Paperback: 225 pages

ISBN: 0930031989

ISBN-13: 978-0930031985

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

June 1998

This is a banker’s worst nightmarea book that tells you how to live without being enslaved to financial institutions.Chelsea Green has produced a formidable series of books on innovative shelter. But every alternative building strategy, no matter how low-cost or environmentally benign, requires a complementary financial strategy. the accepted path is to go hat-in-hand to a big financial institution, such as a bank, to borrow a lump sum that is repaid over many years. By the time the loan is repaid, the homeowner will have paid several times the original amount in interest.The literal meaning of “mortgage” is “death pledge.” Author Rob Roy is offering an escape route from a lifetime of indentured servitude. “Mortgage-Free! Radical Strategies for Home Ownership” is a complete guide to strategies that allow you to own your land and home, free and clear, without the bank. Included is detailed advice about: Clarifying and simplifying your notions of what’s necessaryFinding land that you love and can affordTaking control of the house-building process, for the sake of sanity and pleasureLearning to take a long-term perspective on your family’s crucial economic decisions, avoiding debt and modern-day serfdom.

MJ Epko:
A helluva good’n, mostly applicable to a rural-U.S. scenario, but full of usable info and musings about lifestyle and living.

Amazon.com Review

The origins of the word “mortgage” are Old French and translate roughly to “death pledge.” Rob Roy takes a radical approach here to help the reader understand how mortgages work; explains clearly how, if you have a mortgage already, you can maximize your equity sooner and save tons of money; and how, if just starting the process of acquiring a home for yourself, there are clear alternatives to a standard bank mortgage that will save you massive amounts of money, time, and financial headaches.Roy covers the following subjects in detail: the grubstake–the essential financial asset that will stay with you for life; how to find land that you love and can afford; how to seize control of the house-building process; how to clarify and simplify your ideas of what you really need; and how to construct a low-cost home. Included in the book is Roy’s own personal story of mortgage-free living, as well as those of others. His wry humor makes for an entertaining read, and his ideas, examples, and advice are clear-headed, logical, and hopeful. His financial calculations and charts are clear and imminently sensible while being real eye-openers. Your banker may not want you to read this radical book, but it amounts to a guided, rational plan for home ownership and financial liberation, and will no doubt soon be considered a classic. –Mark A. Hetts

From Library Journal

In this updated version of Money-Saving Strategies for the Owner/Builder (1981), Roy offers his personal experiences and those of others who have successfully achieved the status of living mortgage-free. It is obvious that he has been greatly influenced by Henry David Thoreau, whom he refers to as “the father of the owner/builder movement in America.” Roy stresses that to become an owner/ builder requires a high energy level, good health, and the motivation to educate oneself about home building. In addition, he instructs readers in acquiring a “grubstake” (his term for accumulating enough savings to purchase land and build on it), constructing a temporary shelter near the site of the permanent home, becoming one’s own contractor, using alternative building materials, and building small. Roy’s ideas are radical but worth investigating if your desire is to live mortgage-free. His book is clearly written and offers an extensive annotated bibliography of numerous resources and amortization tables.ABellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY