Another way of building

[wildWoman]

Cordwood, also called stackwall, is another good building method for anyone contemplating a little cabin (or a big one). It's similar to building with stones, only you're using pieces of wood (around 12"-24" in length) instead of stones.

It's cheap, easy and looks exceptionally cool and original IMO. Tools needed for buiding the walls are a wheelbarrel, shovel, hoe, rubber work gloves and a chain saw. You can use firewood-grade wood and it's a very good building method for one person because you're not dealing with big or long logs.

The disadvantage is that it's slow and rainy weather will slow you down further because you're working with mortar. And you will need to use Perma-Chink or Log Jam for sealing all the cracks because wood and cement don't form a close and happy marriage.

It's easier to understand how it works by looking at pictures: basically, the pieces of wood are laid down on two strips of mortar with sawdust in between to prevent heat loss through the mortar.

There are some excellent books by Rob Roy (that is his name) on how to do it and probably websites, too.

Here's some pictures:

[crashdive123]

Outstanding looking. I like it.

[Rick]

That's the first time I've seen that. I like it, too.

[crashdive123]

As thick as the wall construction is, I would think that the insulating properties are very good.

[Chrs]

Thats really cool

[Rick]

Or warm....just sayin'.

[wildWoman]

It wasn't as warm as I expected but I only made the walls 12" thick and for up here, the recommendation is twice that (was meant to be a summer cabin but then of course I used it in the winter too).

If I would build one like that again, I'd use fibre glass instead of sawdust in the walls. The sawdust will settle when you start banging the roof on, so I think the top third of the walls will not have much insulation between the mortar strips/inside and outside walls.
Also I didn't have the cash for Perma-Chink and ended up with great ventilation because of course the logs always do still shrink and the mortar around them doesn't.

But I totally love the look and feel of it, and it is an extremely forgiving building method because you can't build exact with it anyway. Really good for first timers.

[crashdive123]

Wild Woman - would an expanding foam insulation (like Great Stuff) work for sealing the areas where the chinking/sawdust has settled?

http://greatstuff.dow.com/

[Pal334]

Very interesting. I think I will read up on this some more. Thanks for sharing

[wildWoman]

Wild Woman - would an expanding foam insulation (like Great Stuff) work for sealing the areas where the chinking/sawdust has settled?

http://greatstuff.dow.com/

It might. I think it would be hard to get whatever insulation into all the nooks and crannies. Some people get around the problem by essentially building one skinny wall, then framing in regular batts of insulation, then building the second wall, and using window framing plus some studs to connect the two walls. That's probably the only way to get it really well insulated but way too slow to get it all done in my opinion. then again, build it fast and spend the time saved cutting more firewood...

[canid]

i bet injectable/expanding foam would be perfect for that. it oozes and fills just about anything as it expends. it seems like it would get into just about everywhere [not to mention project from the wall in places].

[wareagle69]

we have a guy here in ontario, called the natural building institute (google it) he has awesome ideas about and hour and a half from here on manatoulin island, i have seen alot of ideas like this and have something in the back of my mind for this, probably will make it out of cedar as i have lots of it in my wood pile and i only like to use it for kindling and not for regular burning as it burns too hot
what are you using your building for?

[Pal334]

THere seems (from your pictures) to be alot of room between logs, thus using alot of chinking material. Is this deliberate? And if so why?

[wildWoman]

That was my first cabin and I lived in it for a few years. Then I sold the place when we moved out here and the people who bought it live in it now. It's bigger than it looks - inside diameter is 18'.
I think it makes nice buildings. I built another cabin the same size there and a chicken coop. If you can get gravel or sand cheap and get your own wood, the only expensive items are the floor and the roof. Doesn't take all that many bags of cement.

Pal, I think you mean the mortar (dark grey mass) between the logs? You can do it with thinner mortar joints but it becomes very fiddly and since it is the honeycomb structure of the mortar that holds it all together (the logs shrink so much you can wiggle them), I thought I make it rather solid. Depending on how much lime you mix in and if you use sand rather than gravels as I did, you can end up with a much lighter coloured and smoother wall than I did.
If you meant the sawdust in between the mortar joints - it's hard to see on the pictures, even the first one - the sawdust is basically in the middle of the wall and serves as insulation. That way, the mortar joints that eventually form the inside wall and the outside wall can't touch each other and conduct cold in or heat out (or heat in - that was the best cabin in the summer time I've ever stayed in, it never got hot in there. Not so good in the winter because I didn't use Perma-chink to seal around the log ends after I was done, so there were cracks all around each log end from the wood shrinkig.).

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

It might. I think it would be hard to get whatever insulation into all the nooks and crannies. Some people get around the problem by essentially building one skinny wall, then framing in regular batts of insulation, then building the second wall, and using window framing plus some studs to connect the two walls. That's probably the only way to get it really well insulated but way too slow to get it all done in my opinion. then again, build it fast and spend the time saved cutting more firewood...

you would use the reddy foam in the center of the logs be careful not to cover it up with mortor( use 18 inch logs so that you get roughly 4 inches of insulaiton). the insulate would not be seen an you would have ample masonry to hold the walls togather. to improve strength you should use wire stapled to the logs like you would reenforcement with block, every third run a wire band to tie the logs togather.

[hunter63]

A lot of work and writing on "Stack Wood" has been done, including "R" values of different lengths of wood, mortar mix, insulation etc, even how to make a cut off saw so as to get all the lengths the same.

Here is a good start:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green...Log-Homes.aspx

We attended the seminars at The Mother Earth Village back in 1984, where you actually took part in building a stack wood barn.
I found it very intresting, and can be built with mostly scavenged materials (cheap), but is labor intensive as most of the alternate building methods; examples
Straw bale
Rammed earth
old tires (earth-ships)
slip form ( concrete, papercrete, rock etc.)

Lots of stuff out there.............
WW, nice job, cool cabin, gets me thinking about an old satellite dish, roofed shed.

[Pal334]

Thanks WW, that does help. And it was the mortar that seemed so much. Now it makes sense to me.

[Jonesy]

I really like that a lot. Thanks for the heads up.

[chiye tanka]

That's freakin' cool!
I love it.

[Chris]

Wild Woman - would an expanding foam insulation (like Great Stuff) work for sealing the areas where the chinking/sawdust has settled?

http://greatstuff.dow.com/

Stuff would be way too expensive for a whole structure. There is a pourable kind that you can pour into crevices that might work, I've never seen it sold retail though, would probably need to go to a special building supplier.

I'm wondering about the air holes where the wood shrinks. Few ideas:

1. Get a roll (or few) of hardware cloth. Hammer tack it onto the log ends all around. Put on a scratch coat of mortar, then go back and put on stone, fancy stuff you bought, or stuff you scavenged. Now the outside is fully mortar, the hardware cloth should keep it dimensionally stable, should be no air leaking. Will look like a stone house though.

2. Skip the hardware cloth and just put on a layer of fiberglass reinforced cement made for walls. You trowel it on, and it is strong stuff. People trowel it around beach balls to make lightweight "boulders". Paint/stain and seal it. Look like a mud hut, but should be air tight.

3. Do as #1, but finish it up with stucco.