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It’s fairly frequent for us to get questions on simply what cordwood masonry is. Whereas it’s a centuries-old constructing technique, it’s not extensively recognized in comparison with normal development strategies.
Many individuals marvel simply what it’s, the way you truly assemble it, and whether or not it’s simply going to rot or not. That’s honest!
I’ve taken time to reply all of our most continuously requested questions (FAQs) about cordwood for you. If you happen to’re a cordwood fanatic, share these with a pal who wants some enlightenment. If you happen to’re new to this constructing kind, WELCOME! I hope you perceive and respect it a bit higher by the top of those FAQ pages.
Cordwood masonry is a technique of log constructing that’s NOT like normal log house development. As a substitute of utilizing lengthy logs that run the size of the partitions, this fashion makes use of quick logs of a uniform size (usually from 12-24 inches, although it may be roughly) laid with the top grain going through out like this:
The outcome? Partitions which are a lot thicker than normal partitions. Ours are 16 inches constructed inside a publish and beam body as an infill.
It performs properly with different constructing strategies together with strawbale and stud-framing. We even have a stud-framed mudroom on the entrance of our home.
It additionally permits for utilizing different issues within the partitions like marbles, stones, and bottles.
MORTAR! But not just any mortar. With cordwood constructing you need the mortar to remedy slowly to keep away from cracking, so you may’t merely purchase a combination off the shelf on the huge field retailer.
There are lots of wonderful mortar combine recipes on the market. There are variations utilizing easy lime putty and sand, others that embody Portland cement and sawdust, and even papercrete or cob. Recipes will be present in Richard Flatau’s ebook Cordwood Construction Best Practices.
We used a lime putty mortar for ours, which is analogous to what the Romans used. Our combine consists of 5 components wonderful masonry sand to 2 components lime putty.
Of the various mortar recipes on the market, we selected lime putty due to its vivid shade, simplicity, and skill to self-heal small cracks. We had a load of sand delivered by a dump truck and purchased baggage of Kind-S hydrated lime at Menards. To combine it we purchased an electrical mortar mixer to hurry up the work and save ourselves the labor of blending it by hand.
The center of the wall holds insulation. If you happen to have been to view a cross-section of the wall, it’s a little bit of a Mortar-Insulation-Mortar sandwich, like this:
There are alternative ways to attain the R-value, or insulation worth, you’re searching for. Since we stay in Kentucky our R-value code necessities are decrease than for folks residing in locations like Wisconsin or Canada.
Our partitions are 16 inches thick and have 8 inches of softwood sawdust/lime powder insulation within the center. All collectively this achieves a code accepted R-value of R-16. We exceed our native code requirement of R-13.
For these residing within the frozen north, many have efficiently constructed utilizing spray foam insulation within the center or by constructing tremendous thick, super-insulated double partitions like these proven here.
However no, our partitions aren’t drafty or chilly. You may see our winter comparability of how cordwood compares to straightforward partitions here.
NO. You must use softwoods, ideally cedar whether it is obtainable since it’s extra rot and pest resistant. Typically talking, you must keep away from hardwoods as a result of they behave poorly in a cordwood wall. They’re extra liable to growth and contraction and have been recognized to knock complete partitions aside because of swelling. There are methods to construct with hardwood if it’s the solely factor you could have obtainable, however I’d discourage you from doing so.
Sure, that’s the nature of wooden. When you can’t assure that there shall be no shrinkage or checking/cracking/splitting of wooden, there are steps to take to make sure you’re following cordwood finest practices.
First, dry your wooden to about 12% moisture content material. Measuring the moisture of a bit of wooden is straightforward with a moisture meter like this one which we used. Contemporary lower logs shall be anyplace from 30-40% moisture content material. We dried the vast majority of our logs for over a 12 months in an open-sided shed with a big overhanging roof.
Second, break up the logs which have already begun to crack or examine. The first examine is the primary massive break up a log will develop, and is a pure place to start out for splitting the wooden. This additionally helps create logs of various styles and sizes that can come in useful as you create an aesthetically pleasing and powerful wall.
You may be taught extra about how we prepped our logs here.
As I referenced in quantity 2, the mortar mixes for cordwood masonry are designed for a gradual remedy time to reduce cracking. Nevertheless, if after time some cracks to develop you may cowl them over with a mortar chinking like Log Jam or Permachink. Each can be found in a variety of colours to match your mortar kind.
That is an instance of one in all our bigger gaps earlier than and after being stuffed with Log Jam. I used “Mortar White” for our lime putty partitions, although actually, it was in all probability nonetheless a bit of too grey for some components of our mortar.
If you happen to comply with some fundamental finest practices it is a digital non-issue. I’m going over this far more extensively on this publish about preventing cordwood rot, however you must take care no less than to:
There’s far more to find out about preventing pests, however should you take away nothing else, simply perceive that termites will eat a stud wall manner sooner than they are going to chew by means of a hulking cedar log.
Typically talking, you don’t. The very nature of cordwood is that the logs ought to be allowed to breathe by means of the top grain. This breathability is a part of what prevents rot. Some folks select to dip the logs in a water/borax resolution and let dry earlier than constructing, however this isn’t required.
As soon as you utilize some sort of end or preservative on the logs, you entice your self in a cycle of upkeep that you should do to keep away from future rot. Leaving the logs alone avoids pointless upkeep work and retains your cordwood in higher situation for longer.
That stated, you may STAIN the log ends should you so select, however you SHOULD NOT SEAL THEM.
Learn the post on preventing rot to be taught extra in-depth about this.
Mark went and took a weekend constructing clinic with Rob and Jaki Roy. Yow will discover their workshop schedule here.
Richard and Becky Flatau additionally host workshops all year long, which will be discovered here.
If you happen to can’t make it to a workshop I extremely advocate getting each Cordwood Building by Rob Roy and Cordwood Construction Best Practices by Richard Flatau. Each are revered consultants within the subject of cordwood masonry and have lived in their very own cordwood houses for 30-40+ years
After all! A great deal of folks have used cordwood to construct issues like:
Extra References:
Cordwood for Beginners
Our Complete Cordwood Project Overview and Specs
Read all of our building progress reports here
Cordwood Performance FAQ
Our Cordwood Building Project FAQ
How to Prep Cedar Trees for Cordwood Building
How to Prevent Rot In Your Cordwood Walls
Cordwood Foundations: Options for Building (and how we built ours)
How Much Can It Cost to Build a Cordwood Home From Scratch?
Cordwood Homes In The Winter: How Do They Compare to Regular Construction?
Ultimate Guide to Using Bottles in Cordwood Walls
Our Cordwood Building Photo Gallery
It’s fairly frequent for us to get questions on simply what cordwood masonry is. Whereas it’s a centuries-old constructing technique, it’s not extensively recognized in comparison with normal development strategies.
Many individuals marvel simply what it’s, the way you truly assemble it, and whether or not it’s simply going to rot or not. That’s honest!
I’ve taken time to reply all of our most continuously requested questions (FAQs) about cordwood for you. If you happen to’re a cordwood fanatic, share these with a pal who wants some enlightenment. If you happen to’re new to this constructing kind, WELCOME! I hope you perceive and respect it a bit higher by the top of those FAQ pages.
Cordwood Building FAQs
1. What’s cordwood masonry?
Cordwood masonry is a technique of log constructing that’s NOT like normal log house development. As a substitute of utilizing lengthy logs that run the size of the partitions, this fashion makes use of quick logs of a uniform size (usually from 12-24 inches, although it may be roughly) laid with the top grain going through out like this:
The outcome? Partitions which are a lot thicker than normal partitions. Ours are 16 inches constructed inside a publish and beam body as an infill.
It performs properly with different constructing strategies together with strawbale and stud-framing. We even have a stud-framed mudroom on the entrance of our home.
It additionally permits for utilizing different issues within the partitions like marbles, stones, and bottles.
2. What holds it collectively? Is that concrete or one thing?
MORTAR! But not just any mortar. With cordwood constructing you need the mortar to remedy slowly to keep away from cracking, so you may’t merely purchase a combination off the shelf on the huge field retailer.
There are lots of wonderful mortar combine recipes on the market. There are variations utilizing easy lime putty and sand, others that embody Portland cement and sawdust, and even papercrete or cob. Recipes will be present in Richard Flatau’s ebook Cordwood Construction Best Practices.
We used a lime putty mortar for ours, which is analogous to what the Romans used. Our combine consists of 5 components wonderful masonry sand to 2 components lime putty.
Of the various mortar recipes on the market, we selected lime putty due to its vivid shade, simplicity, and skill to self-heal small cracks. We had a load of sand delivered by a dump truck and purchased baggage of Kind-S hydrated lime at Menards. To combine it we purchased an electrical mortar mixer to hurry up the work and save ourselves the labor of blending it by hand.
3. How do you insulate it? Doesn’t that wall get chilly? Does it meet constructing code?
The center of the wall holds insulation. If you happen to have been to view a cross-section of the wall, it’s a little bit of a Mortar-Insulation-Mortar sandwich, like this:
There are alternative ways to attain the R-value, or insulation worth, you’re searching for. Since we stay in Kentucky our R-value code necessities are decrease than for folks residing in locations like Wisconsin or Canada.
Our partitions are 16 inches thick and have 8 inches of softwood sawdust/lime powder insulation within the center. All collectively this achieves a code accepted R-value of R-16. We exceed our native code requirement of R-13.
For these residing within the frozen north, many have efficiently constructed utilizing spray foam insulation within the center or by constructing tremendous thick, super-insulated double partitions like these proven here.
However no, our partitions aren’t drafty or chilly. You may see our winter comparability of how cordwood compares to straightforward partitions here.
4. Can you utilize any logs for the sort of constructing?
NO. You must use softwoods, ideally cedar whether it is obtainable since it’s extra rot and pest resistant. Typically talking, you must keep away from hardwoods as a result of they behave poorly in a cordwood wall. They’re extra liable to growth and contraction and have been recognized to knock complete partitions aside because of swelling. There are methods to construct with hardwood if it’s the solely factor you could have obtainable, however I’d discourage you from doing so.
5.What concerning the shrinkage of the wooden? How do you assure that every log won’t crack and break up? It’s the nature of wooden.
Sure, that’s the nature of wooden. When you can’t assure that there shall be no shrinkage or checking/cracking/splitting of wooden, there are steps to take to make sure you’re following cordwood finest practices.
First, dry your wooden to about 12% moisture content material. Measuring the moisture of a bit of wooden is straightforward with a moisture meter like this one which we used. Contemporary lower logs shall be anyplace from 30-40% moisture content material. We dried the vast majority of our logs for over a 12 months in an open-sided shed with a big overhanging roof.
Second, break up the logs which have already begun to crack or examine. The first examine is the primary massive break up a log will develop, and is a pure place to start out for splitting the wooden. This additionally helps create logs of various styles and sizes that can come in useful as you create an aesthetically pleasing and powerful wall.
You may be taught extra about how we prepped our logs here.
6. However what concerning the cracking within the mortar across the logs?
As I referenced in quantity 2, the mortar mixes for cordwood masonry are designed for a gradual remedy time to reduce cracking. Nevertheless, if after time some cracks to develop you may cowl them over with a mortar chinking like Log Jam or Permachink. Each can be found in a variety of colours to match your mortar kind.
That is an instance of one in all our bigger gaps earlier than and after being stuffed with Log Jam. I used “Mortar White” for our lime putty partitions, although actually, it was in all probability nonetheless a bit of too grey for some components of our mortar.
7. What do you do to forestall bugs from consuming your cordwood? Termite pre-treat?
If you happen to comply with some fundamental finest practices it is a digital non-issue. I’m going over this far more extensively on this publish about preventing cordwood rot, however you must take care no less than to:
- Present a large roof overhang of no less than 24 inches minimal.
- Construct with a rot-resistant wooden like cedar, if attainable. Termites and carpenter bees have a tendency to remain away.
- Set your cordwood up off the bottom as a lot as you’re able.
There’s far more to find out about preventing pests, however should you take away nothing else, simply perceive that termites will eat a stud wall manner sooner than they are going to chew by means of a hulking cedar log.
8. What sort of preservative do you utilize on the logs as a completed product?
Typically talking, you don’t. The very nature of cordwood is that the logs ought to be allowed to breathe by means of the top grain. This breathability is a part of what prevents rot. Some folks select to dip the logs in a water/borax resolution and let dry earlier than constructing, however this isn’t required.
As soon as you utilize some sort of end or preservative on the logs, you entice your self in a cycle of upkeep that you should do to keep away from future rot. Leaving the logs alone avoids pointless upkeep work and retains your cordwood in higher situation for longer.
That stated, you may STAIN the log ends should you so select, however you SHOULD NOT SEAL THEM.
Learn the post on preventing rot to be taught extra in-depth about this.
9. How on earth did you be taught to do that? How can I be taught it too?
Mark went and took a weekend constructing clinic with Rob and Jaki Roy. Yow will discover their workshop schedule here.
Richard and Becky Flatau additionally host workshops all year long, which will be discovered here.
If you happen to can’t make it to a workshop I extremely advocate getting each Cordwood Building by Rob Roy and Cordwood Construction Best Practices by Richard Flatau. Each are revered consultants within the subject of cordwood masonry and have lived in their very own cordwood houses for 30-40+ years
10. It’s cool however I don’t need to construct an entire HOUSE. Can I take advantage of it for different issues?
After all! A great deal of folks have used cordwood to construct issues like:
- youngsters’s playhouses
- doghouse
- rooster coop
- backyard shed
- greenhouse
- pool home
- “man cave” or “she shed” (no matter you fancy)
- workshop
- studio
- storage
- maple sugar shack
- storage/instrument shed
- sauna
- chapel
- studying middle/classroom
- and so on…the probabilities are limitless!
Get the FREE PDF eBook detailing every part that went into the constructing of our cordwood house under!
Extra References:
Cordwood for Beginners
Our Complete Cordwood Project Overview and Specs
Read all of our building progress reports here
Cordwood Performance FAQ
Our Cordwood Building Project FAQ
How to Prep Cedar Trees for Cordwood Building
How to Prevent Rot In Your Cordwood Walls
Cordwood Foundations: Options for Building (and how we built ours)
How Much Can It Cost to Build a Cordwood Home From Scratch?
Cordwood Homes In The Winter: How Do They Compare to Regular Construction?
Ultimate Guide to Using Bottles in Cordwood Walls
Our Cordwood Building Photo Gallery