Cordwood Sheds and Cabins
also known as Stackwall, Stovewood, Firewood or Cordwood Masonry.
cordwood shed
Short lengths of debarked trees (cordwood) are laid with a mixture of mortar and insulating materials - such as sawdust or spray foam - in between the mortar. The longer the length of the logs, the better the insulation qualities. 12 inches to 18 inches is most common and wood species will also determine insulating value. On average, a 12 inch wide wall will have a 20-25 R value. Cabin by Rob Roy. Image by Pseu www.flickr.com
cordwood shed
Hobbit House with living roof by Rena Upitas, Ontario. renaupitis.com
Cordwood Shed with a thatched roof. roofthatch.com
cordwood shed
Gail and Mark Dupar’s cordwood shed on Decatur Island in Washington’s San Juans. Image: John Granen, Kathleen Brenzel, www.blog.drummondhouseplans.com
cordwood shed
John Meilahn's cabin, Copper Harbor, Michigan. www.facebook.com
cordwood shed
Sojourn Cabin www.sojourningboston.blogspot.com
cordwood shed
Piet Hein Eek for Hans Liberg, www.pietheineek.nl
cordwood shed
Piet Hein Eek for Hans Liberg, www.pietheineek.nl
Cordwood Pole Shed at Treehaven. www.daycreek.com
Irish Cottage Shed in a garden show, 2002. www.daycreek.com
cordwood shed
Straw bale and cordwood workshop in eastern France with (a gorgeous) living roof by Thierry Dronet. Image by Catherine Wanek www.shelterpub.com
cordwood shed
A two to three foot overhang (eave) is often recommended when cob or lime putty mortar is used in place of a cement mortar. Typically the logs are not coated with a moisture barrier, but are allowed to breath naturally. By Tony Wrench at Green Hamlet in Pupki, Poland. www.thatroundhouse.info
cordwood shed
By Netonia Yalta, the Cordwood Queen of the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, www.daycreek.com
cordwood shed
Stoneview at Earthwood Building School. www.cordwoodmasonry.com
cordwood shed
Cordwood half timber on the Appalachian Trail. Image by Philip Shirk www.picasaweb.google.com
Olle Hagman built this Writer's cabin in Sweden as a get away from his teaching job. He wrote two articles for the Cordwood Conference Papers 2011: A Social History of Cordwood Houses in Sweden and Norwegian Cordwood Wall Technique. For more information and more pictures see: cordwoodconstruction.wordpress.com
Backside of above cabin. Ole Hagman has documented 150 cordwood homes that have been built in Sweden since the 1850s. Ole built this cabin while he was learning and researching cordwood. cordwoodconstruction.wordpress.com
cordwood shed
Ecocentro IPEC, Brazil, www.ecocentro.org
Photo: Felipe Gil www.flickr.com
Cordwood masonary sauna. West Chazy, NY. www.cordwoodmasonry.com
Cordwood sauna by Organica, Poland. www.organica.net.pl
Cordwood Cabin by Rob Roy from his 'The Sauna, A Complete Guide': books.google.com
Cordwood masonary sauna. West Chazy, NY. www.cordwoodmasonry.com
Cordwood veneer chickencoop by Tom Huber of Watervliet, Michigan. Tom painted the OSB board with white paint and then glued and screwed 1.5 inch cordwood discs onto the OSB board.
Garden shed/chicken coop by Netonia Yalta in British Columbia, Canada. www.facebook.com
Cordwood shed at Georgeson Botanical Garden, Alaska. www.snras.blogspot.com
Cordwood shed by Dana. www.daycreek.com
Cordwood Shed by Tom Huber at Paul Smith's College, NY. http://www.daycreek.com
Cordwood Shed by Tom Huber - CEM Cellulose Enhanced Mortar was used for this project. www.daycreek.com
cordwood shed
Homegrown in Kentucky. www.homegrownhideaways.org
Cordwood workshop in Ontario built by John Ötvös in 1973. www.greenerbuilding.ca
Cordwood workshop in Ontario built by John Ötvös in 1973. www.greenerbuilding.ca
cordwood shed
Sauna by Rena Upitas, Ontario, renaupitis.com
Cordwood shed by Camaria. www.daycreek.com
Maple Sugar Shack Shed built at a Richard & Becky Flatau workshop. www.daycreek.com
Green Roof by Wildwood Landscapes www.wildroof.co.uk
Woodland classroom with fireplace wall by Ben Law. Cordwood masonry is easy, economical, aesthetically striking, energy-efficient and environmentally sound. www.permaculturemagazineeditorial.blogspot.com
A touch of personality...
cordwood shed
Special Effects at Mushwood by Rob Roy. www.daycreek.com
Solar Springs Lodge www.permacultureglobal.com
Cordwood siding depicting a spinning wheel by Bob Gormley, Starwood Store, Backus, MN. Bob painted the back plywood with a durable exterior grade paint. He then marked the 1.5 inch thick cordwood discs in place, then drilled 2 or 3 small holes in the plywood. Then he would hold the disc back in place and have someone screw it from the inside. www.daycreek.com
Cordwood wall in British Columbia. www.daycreek.com
Mermaid Cordwood Cottage in Del Norte, Colorado. Via: cordwoodconstruction.org
How To:
Cabin in Tasmania www.theownerbuilder.com.au
White Earth Reservation Cordwood House: www.daycreek.com
Lot's of detailed how to here - Build a Cordwood Sauna: books.google.com
Mortar mix possibilities:
(lime makes the mix plastic)
Lime putty mortar dates back to 400 BC: Pure lime and sand; or
9 parts sand; 3 soaked sawdust; 2 Portland; and 3 hydrated lime -
Papercrete (paper enhanced mortar) -
Cob mix (1 part clay, 4 parts sand mixed with straw and more...) -
Insulation:
Sawdust has an insulative value of about R-3 per inch (add hydrated lime as a preservative)
Vermiculite and Perlite are also good insulators.
Wood types:
Softwoods are best. Cedar has a good R-value (1.5 per inch) and is naturally decay resistant. Hardwoods have a tendency to swell and crack mortar joints. The best softwoods: white cedar, white pine, cottonwood, poplar, red cedar, spruce or larch followed by hemlock and poplar. If all you have is hardwood, you must split the wood and let it dry for only months instead of years, otherwise it will expand in the wall.
For a 32' x 36' one story structure - you need approx 5 cords of cedar wood.
Resources:
Earthwood Building School's full length how-to videos. www.cordwoodmasonry.com
Best Practices with Cordwood Construction By Richard Flatau www.thenauhaus.com
Yahoo cordwood forum: www.groups.yahoo.com
Info on spray foam and double walls: www.daycreek.com
More photos: www.daycreek.com
Table of Insulation R Values - www.inspectapedia.com
Workshops:
Earthwood Building School. North Chazy, NY. www.cordwoodmasonry.com
Books:
Cordwood Building: The State of the Art, Rob Roy (Editor)
Collects the wisdom of more than 25 of the world’s best practitioners, detailing the long history of the method, and demonstrating how to build a cordwood home using the latest and most up-to-date techniques, with a special focus on building code issues. Author/editor Rob Roy has been building, researching, and teaching about cordwood masonry for 25 years: and, with his wife, started Earthwood Building School in 1981. Information about what species of wood are best, how to select, prepare and store the wood. www.amazon.com
List of recent books: www.daycreek.com
See the Cordwood Homes post as well: inspirationgreen.com/cordwood-homes
Building a cobwood roundhouse over a six week course in Spring 2008 at Denmark Farm, near Lampeter, West Wales. Video by Tony Wrench.
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