An eco-house firewood?

Aesthetically, solid, flexible and incredibly cheap – a nearly forgotten Civil Engineering conquered new territory

By Nina May    Sunday 21 April 2013   Who has not dreamed of in any phase of life, to build with their own hands a house somewhere in the countryside? Ideally, a spacious and comfortable family home, with rural charm and personal touch, warm in winter and cool in summer. Or at least a romantic summer residence on the lake or forest, a rustic mountain hut on a flower meadow … No? Then at least a tiny writers retreat in the far corner of his parents’ garden. Of course the dream house should also be as original! How about some grass and vegetation on the roof? Or with colored glass portholes?  And ecological materials are more and more coming: wood, clay, straw. In addition, it should be easy to implement, best known as Do-It-Yourself. For anyone who has been to engage in leisure the nerve to supervise a squad worker, or the money, a professional construction company? If you loaded with all of these criteria, surfing through the Internet, you quickly end up … in America! In fact, in Merrill, Wisconsin, Richard Flatau, teaches a construction technique which is called Cordwood. Both in Sweden and in North America in the 19th Century in parallel and developed without mutual influences method of construction is there for the “Habitat” exhibition in Vancouver in 1975 of a real boom because Cordwood houses not only meet all the criteria above, they are also aesthetically pleasing, have excellent thermal insulation properties, are relatively earthquake-proof, fire-resistant and suitable for all climates. than 1,000 magnificent Cordwood houses are to be developed in North America since then. Richard Flatau, builder and manager of some Cordwood building appropriate workshops, collects and documents all experience the same number of pages. Cordwood first attempts to find more recently in Europe: Sweden, Finland, England, France, Poland, Hungary, Russia. Most are even smaller huts with a few square meters – tentative steps on new terrain. Cordwood to Romania is not yet penetrated. About the idea of introducing this construction here, Richard Flatau, enthusiastically. principles for a solid home in America there are more than 100 years Cordwood homes that are still in perfect condition. Richard and Becky Flatau but only for 33 years living in their Cordwood home. The building has cost them two summers (1979/80) and $ 15,000 – a third of the price of a comparable conventional house, said Richard. Although known in the U.S. as “Poor Man’s Architecture”, it shows on its website a lot of examples for larger villas. Up to two stories can be built with Cordwood said Richard, if you follow a few basic rules irrefutable without a Cordwood house can quickly become a nightmare.  He explains in his 2012 book “Cordwood Construction Best Practices”.

Cordwood what does it really mean? To Germans “cordwood” betrays the concept already the most important basic substance: Firewood! Peeled firewood – one basic rule – because the bark would attract moisture and insects! Whole tree slices and split logs of ideally 40 inches long, possibly in different sizes, such as high masonry bricks, the ends protrude inside and outside of the wall. Under no circumstances should you remove them or plastered with conventional materials because the breathable fibers of logs act like straws that exude the moisture out of the house, said Richard.

A Cordwood house therefore always offers rustic look. then he reveals two basic rule: soft wood has to be, because hard wood swells when it rains too much, and can burst the walls. Suitable cedar, spruce, poplar, pine or fir. As dry as possible, because otherwise arise during subsequent drying cavities, which can, however, easily repaired. As a mortar, he recommends five variants of strictly natural clay-straw-sand (Cob) or lime-sand (lime putty) mixtures on newsprint borax, lime sand, cement-lime-sand sawdust and cement newsprint sand compositions , all touching in a certain ratio with water.

Swede Olle Hagmann, who has built a writers cabin in the woods, has tried all the variants themselves. He had very few cracks in the sawdust mixture and absolutely no paper with the cement composition. His house 3×3 meters of spruce and aspen cost him 500 euros. ”Until now it is tight, no mold, no mice,” says Olle. ”If we had not already a sauna, I would build one from Cordwood, because the technique is particularly suitable for this, especially when clad the interior of the fire with clay,” says the retired professor, who wants to be necessarily informed once in Romania the first Cordwood experiment running! Although suitable for humid climate, river and lake regions Cordwood houses, have direct contact with water – Principle Three – to be avoided, warned Richard. This means a slightly higher plinth of stone or concrete and an overhanging roof, which should be before the walls of the walls. The best is erected a wooden pier construction and then backed up between the posts. So round constructions can be realized as easily as square. For earthquake zones Richard recommends additional cross braces. For the future installation of windows wood frame must be supported as a wildcard.

Cool in summer, warm in winter The excellent thermal insulation properties, which were detected by the University of Manitoba (thermal resistance of a 40 cm wall: R = 24), Richard explained by the high thermal mass the logs to prevent temperature fluctuations. But also the technology that helps Bricklaying: The logs are only connected at the ends with a dab of mortar. Into the cavity between sawdust comes to insulation. therefore A Cordwood wall contains much less mortar than it visually gives the impression. How thick or thin plotting the mortar layer is a question of the desired look. To protect against insects and fungi can mix the sawdust in the insulation space with slaked lime or treat the wood logs with borax. With old wood to build, was not a problem, says Richard. Never, however, already infested wood may be used. Olle Hagman has opened another technique in his research in Sweden and Norway (1870-1930), in rectangular pieces of wood – such as brick walled with a clay-straw mixture – the operation of sawmills were. Cordwood walls that are even fireproof, shows an experiment at the University of New Brunswick. Five hours held the test wall was a fire, the wood charred only at the ends.

A personal piece of art you can let off steam yourself artistically in the Cordwood same technique in several ways. Firstly, by the shape and arrangement of the logs. In a project for the head of the bear clan in Ojibwa Indian Reservation Bill Paulson realized a stylized bear paw as a personal trademark. But are also attractive walled with glass bottles in all shapes and colors that provide charming lighting effects. shells, beads or stones can be pushed into the mortar, or applications of clay attached. If you like it very rustic, gnarled trunks can use for the base construction. A Cordwood wall can easily be adapted to uneven interfaces. Shelves or niches if you include long timbers that protrude inward or outward from the wall. ”A Cordwood house provides a lot of decisions before,” says Richard Flatau. Although, as he says, not much can go wrong, it takes a little courage. So, who dares? ——————————————–

“Cordwood Construction Best Practices” by Richard Flatau, as an e-book at www.daycreek.com/dc/html/paypal_flatau.htm available. More info under www.cordwoodconstruction.org and www.daycreek.com

Toby & Maria's beautiful cordwood home west of Asheville, NC.

Toby & Maria’s cordwood creation with living roof.
Here are Maria’s words…”Hey there! Welcome to my blog. I’m a Nurse-Herbalist turned homesteader and homeschooling mom of two crazy-awesome kids. I love to knit, sew, play on aerial silks, and wear my pajamas all day long.”

The post and beam framework.

Beautiful bottle end and log placement.

Garlic and onions hanging from the rafters, no problem in a post and beam framed home. Especially if the beams are left exposed.

A triangle window is the backdrop for a loving mother and her dear child.

More wonderful shades of poor man’s stained glass.

Natural paving stones form a very functional and attractive patio.

The family and homestead were part of an excellent article about cordwood construction in the NY Times.

For more information on Maria’s blog (great tips and links on all things homesteading, homeschooling, family and herbal) go to www.dirtundermynails.com

For more info on how to build your cordwood home or how to register to take a workshop or host a workshop:0) go to www.cordwoodconstruction.org

To read the latest about Cordwood Construction Best Practices

Cordwood Construction Best Practices
http://www.daycreek.com/dc/html/paypal_flatau.htm
For more information on how you can build your own cordwood cabin, cottage or home, go to www.cordwoodconstruction.org

The following are Luke’s words. “The house although only 4 years old is holding up well.  We used red cedar that was debarked and seasoned for 1-1/2 to 2 years. Only the largest of logs shrink in the winter…but only 1/32″ max…we heat with a wood stove. And when the spring returns the logs expand back. We have front and back covered porches and the gables have a 2′ overhang. This really protects the cordwood and was a really good decision with the rain and humidity of the south.”

“What we did was complete the entire structure first.  This was was done for two reasons.  First, the building inspectors had never seen cordwood masonry and they wanted to ensure that the structure and the integrity of the house would be sufficient on its own….the cordwood would simply be an infill.  Of course the infill with the logs and mortar gave increased strength, but they were concerned none the less.  Second, since it was just me and Amy doing the building, it took us alot longer than conventional construction.  So by getting the structure up in the dry, we had a nice place to dry store the cordwood and it allowed us not to worry about rain as we worked on each infill section.”

“One other design detail was the basement:  I did not want the weight of the cordwood walls to sit on a joist system. I was afraid that the joists (cross grain) would move with humidity which might cause additional cracks in the lime morter over time.  So as you can see in the pics, I created pockets between the cinder blocks on the last course for the joists sit down in.  Therefore a 2×10 sill plate was anchored directly to the foundation falls….hence the entire weight of the cordwood falls directly on foundation and not on the joists.  The wall were 10″ thick.”

“The cordwood coming down the stairs on the gable ends were 1″ thick slices glued and screwed to the wall (cordwood siding).  We painted the wall with a sand and paint mixture to match the color of the lime mortar first. ”

All pictures are courtesy of Luke and Amy Metzger.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful story of having a goal, planning for that goal and reaching it with a most excellent result.  Congratulations.

To find out more about Best Practices with cordwood construction go to: www.cordwoodconstruction.org

Happy Stacking,

Richard Flatau

If you have any questions, please contact me at Flato@aol.com or richardflatau@gmail.com    or call 715-212-2870

The framework for the Cordwood Chapel is a hexagon with a partially thatched roof. There is a stone wall for the first 24″.

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The workshop crew after three days of cordwood infilling. We are using Northern White Cedar and Red Pine .The Mississippi River is running through the wall with blue and green bottle ends. Stones and rocks and smooth glass are also being inserted as we mortar.

Since this is a hexagon, each wall takes on a unique angle and we are cutting our log ends to fit with a chop saw.

In order to not have the sun’s drying raise hit the mortar directly as we lay mortar, we have tarped the building to make sure we mortar in the shade. Each evening we cover the cordwood with tarps to slow the set and cure. Here we are adding a window buck (box) to hold a window once the building is finished. Cliff is showing us how to use a string to level all four windows. Right next to the Cordwood Chapel is a huge megalithic stone circle and a labyrinth. It is a very special place.

Happy and joyful cordwooders with stone circle in the background.

Stained glass bottle ends are being used to create a river motif in the cordwood walls.

.‘Jarad surveys his handiwork. Jerry gets his tuck pointing just right! Many hands make light work .

Another view of the stone circle. Makes one want to do ones best, there is power and energy at this site!

Horizontal level lines help us keep the wall square, level and plumb.  Wayne keeps a watchful eye on all the activity.

A stone circle pond leads from the Chapel to the Stone Circle.

Learning the cordwood technique takes practice, but these good people learned quickly and well.

If you are interested in finding out more about cordwood construction go to:  www.corwdoodconstruction.org

or www.facebook.com/cordwoodconstruction

Cordwood Construction: Best Practices

A log home building method using renewable resources
and time honored techniques (2012)

Authored by Richard Flatau

List Price: $25.00
8.5″ x 11″ (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
Full Color on White paper
196 pages
Cordwood Construction Resources
ISBN-13: 978-0615592701 (Custom Universal)
ISBN-10: 0615592708
BISAC: House & Home / Do-It-Yourself / General

259 color photos, diagrams and formulas will take the novice or experienced builder from house plans to cordwood home occupancy. Sections include: mortar mixes, R-values, code compliance, types of wood, drying wood, shrinkage tables, foundations, how we became mortgage-free, post & beam framing, formulas for estimating materials, homeowners insurance, Cordwood Conferences 2005 & 2011 summary, Best Practices with cordwood construction, lime putty mortar, cob, paper enhanced mortars, Permachinking walls, building codes, color photo album, making stained glass bottle ends, how-to “mortar-up” a cordwood wall, tuck pointing, FAQ’s, maintenance, weight of a cordwood wall, cost analysis, Cordwood Education Center, White Earth Reservation cordwood home, a condensed version of Cordwood Cabin is included (which is architecturally drawn and state code approved and now serves as a classroom for the local public school), 196 pages, and much, much more…

Clarke giving an explanation of the cob and cordwood wall

The synergy of the cob and cordwood wall. Sweet!

The cordwood wall with large overhang

Clarke explains how to build a living roof like a fine cabinet maker

Which log end "face" should go here :0)

Creative cordwood wall building

Learning to build the right way using a best practices approach

Star pupils building a wall with smiles

Flowers & cordwood with Tulip Poplar

Folks had a great time learning alternative building in North Carolina

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. We have more workshops coming up in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Please stay tuned to for further information.

http://www.cordwoodconstruction.org

Cordwood online bookstore

First, begin by deconstructing hill – made easier or more difficult, depending on your perspective, by the torrential rains the prior day.

Hill, deconstructed.

Next up: The foundation. This well house was built for the long term. This aint no fake rock cover.

Do this:

The Foundation

Not this:

Ye Ole Fake Rock Well Cover

Step Three: Frame It.

Framing it up.

Finally, finish it off with a roof, insulation on the inside and, just as importantly, cedar shakes covered with Rainforest eco-friendly sealer to match the Nauhaus. Awesome job, Andy!

Finis!