Bookstore. Tropical Building Home Page

Mary Ann's Tropical Building Page

Bookstore

We are building on a Caribbean island. Although we learned a great deal on our previous island building in British Columbia, we did not feel it prepared us completely for building on an island in the tropics. Research is essential.

Recommended Books

There aren't many current construction or architecture books about the tropics, but here are the ones we found. I've rated them according to how useful I found them to my project on Anguilla, zero to 5 stars. If the book is a highlighted link, you can click on it and go directly to that book's page on Amazon.com where you can read more about it or buy it.

Design Guide for Building A House on a Tropical Island. Robert and Dalia Fleming have produced an excellent new book
Caribbean Style ***** by Slesin et al (1985).
Tropical Style. Since I can find only one book devoted to (and called) "Caribbean Style", I've looked for books on architecture from other tropical regions. They were all good books.
- Bali Modern, The Art of Tropical Living ***, by Tettoni and Francione.
- Pacific Island World Design ***, by Herbert Ypma (I especially liked the house on the cover).
- Bermuda Gardens and Houses ***, by Ian Macdonald-Smith and Sylvia Shorto.
- Casa Mexicana The Architecture, Design and Style of Mexico **, by Tim Street-Porter.
- Living in The Sun: Spanish Mediterranean Islands *, by Melba Levic and Colman Andrews
- Bali Style by Rio Helmi and Barbara Walker
- Tropical Architecture and Interiors * by Tan Hock Beng. Tradition-based building design in southeast asia. Very lush! Book may be hard to find - ours was a gift!
- Architectural Design for Tropical Regions by Cleveland Salmon.
How to Live in the Caribbean by Sydney Hunt (Copyright 1989, but much information is more dated). You can buy this at the National Bookstore in Anguilla.
Blueprint for Paradise by Ross Norgrove (1989). Moon Publications. Click link for only place we know of that sells it.
Books on masonry construction:
- Modern Masonry by Clois Kickligher (1991, Goodheart-Willcox).
- Masonry Design and Detailing for Architects, Engineers and Contractors by Christine Beall (1993, McGraw-Hill).
Books on energy efficiency usually focus on heating, but these books have some information on cooling (basic conclusion is that in a climate like Anguilla you cool with the breeze, due to lack of temperature drop at night):
- Energy-Efficient Houses by Fine Homebuilding (1993, Taunton Press)
- Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture, Principles and Examples with Reference to Hot Arid Climates by Hassan Fathy (1986, Univ of Chicago). Fascinating book but Anguilla is not an arid climate so many of these ideas don't work.
- Passive and Low Energy Cooling of Buildings by Baruch Givoni (1994, Van Nostrand Reinhold). Great book. Gets pretty technical.
Books on architecture and building:
- Places of the Soul * by Christopher Day. Good ideas but hard to implement. The Aquarian Press, An Imprint of HarperCollins.
- A Pattern Language ***** by Chris Alexandar, et al. My design bible. Full of insights about what makes houses "feel" right. Oxford University Press. 1977.
- Structures, Or Why Things Don't Fall Down ** by J.E. Gordon. One of my all time favorites. Sort of Engineering for the mathematically challenged. Penguin Books, 1978.
- How Buildings Learn, What Happens After They're Built ** by Stewart Brand. Good to have the humbling realization that what makes buildings loved is age. Simply being used and modified by the occupants over time. Penguin Books. 1994.
- Low Cost Pole Building Construction ** by Doug Merrilees and Everlyn Loveday, revised by Ralph Wolfe, Garden Way Publishing, ISBN 0-88266-170-1. We used this book to layout out wooden gazebo, the frame of which is constructed from recycled telephone poles.
Books on finishing
- Period Finishes and Effects by Judith and Martin Miller. Explains how to do lime washes and many other traditional finishes. Rizolli. 1992
- Classic Paints and Faux Finishes by Annie Sloan and Kate Gwynn. Explains lime wash and other finishes. Readers Digest. 1993.
Books on Swimming Pools
- The Swimming Pool, by Tom Griffiths. (Publisher out of stock).
- The Pool Maintenance Manual by Terry Tamminen.
- Reflections on the Pool by Baldon and Melchior.
Books on Landscaping and Gardening
- Orchid Growing In The Tropics.
- Palms : The New Compact Study Guide and Identifier by Martin Gibbons is our favorite palm book.
  "Now reprinted, this compact, hard-cover book by Martin Gibbons is the best selling palm book in the world! With 80 pages, and covering 120 species all in full colour, it not only aids identification, but covers cultivation (both indoor and outdoor), plant pests, etc. and represents excellent value, much of the information being based on the author's personal experience both as a nurseryman and palm grower, and international explorer." (quoted from The Palm Centre)
- Palms Throughout The World by David Jones. It is about 410 pages and is a very complete reference book, covering the entire world. Unfortunately, it did not prove that useful for our immediate task of selecting palms common to Florida and the Caribbean which will can tolerate Anguilla's salt spray.
- Drip Irrigation For Every Landscape and All Climates by Robert Kourik. This book simplifies drip irrigation tremendously. Recommended.

Book links provided in association with Amazon.Com Books.

"Blueprint For Paradise"

A classic book.

One of the classic books we read while dreaming about building on Anguilla id Blueprint for Paradise: How to Live on a Tropic Island"

We bought a copy in 1993 from a speciality store, but could never find it in stock anywhere else. A fun book, which covers construction on tropic islands ranging from remote South Pacific atolls to reasonably civilized places like St. Thomas.

Sept 2004: Henry Babcock writes: "Blueprint for Paradise" is still available where I first bought it over 10 years ago: www.loompanics.com - I just called Loompanics, and they said they have 23 copies left. I ordered a new one yesterday, because I loaned my old one to someone and I'm not sure if I will get it back. I'm thinking of buying more; I saw people selling it used on Amazon and half.com for $60 to $100....

"Caribbean Home Ownership"

Note: No Longer Available!

There is a book called Caribbean Home Ownership - A Novices' Handbook. This book was written John O'Toole, who built a home on the island of Culebra, located between Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. He covers an amazing array of practical problems that must be faced in any Caribbean construction project.

Here is a list of the Chapters and topics:

Home Ownership Basics
- Ownership-different laws in different places
- Taxes-different taxes in different places
- Buying or building-getting what you want
- Existing house-will you be happy with the compromises?
- Building your own home-disaster can strike if you don't plan ahead
- Permits and other prerequisites-ignoring these can become a big problem
- House sites-planning ahead-architects-The first steps
- Contractors, labor and other things to watch before committing yourself
- Roofs and other construction details
Water-its sources, collection, handling, storage, use, re-use and - alternate sources
- Sources of domestic water
- Water Storage and Handling-as important as the getting of water
- Cisterns-design considerations-make it large
- Calculation of cistern capacity and rainfall harvest->is it enough
- Cistern construction-is it enough?
- Water filters-is it clean?
- Solar water heating-is is warm?
Conservation of Water
- Drip Irrigation
- Other conservation methods
- Ponds-their construction, uses and caveats
- Fish-Tilapia-how about several thousand pets
Electric Power
- Sources of electricity, pros and cons and alternatives
- wind
- solar
- corrosion, electrical and other
Fire Protection
if you'll need this, don't ignore it
Other Considerations
- Communications-phones, including cellular, faxes, computer modems and TV
- Furnishings-don't make yourself uncomfortable
- Appliances-bigger is not always better
- Lightning-more important than you think
- Animals-mice, rats, mangooses, horse, cattle, dogs, cats
- Diseases-some you should know about
- Sewerage and sewage-pitch of drain pipes, percolation
- Composting-important to your plants
- Vehicles-selection, fule and maintenance
- Insurance-good luck
- Costs
- Financing-good luck again
- Paint-good stuff costs less when you consider labor