If you like the warmth of wood and the texture and strength of stone masonry, cordwood masonry construction may be just the thing for you.
Cordwood masonry walls are made of short logs placed widthwise in a special mortar mixture (figure A). An insulation cavity in the middle of the wall (figure B) provides excellent energy efficiency. The walls are almost maintenance-free , requiring neither paint nor wallpaper.
The building style had a big influence on the lives of Rob and Jackie Roy, who came to America from Scotland more than 25 years ago looking to lead a self-reliant lifestyle. They found cordwood masonry to be so easy and beneficial that they founded the Earthwood Building School to teach the technique to others.
"We'd actually tried to help build a log cabin in Arkansas, but we couldn't lift the heavy logs," Rob Roy says. "When we learned about cordwood masonry, we said, 'Oh yeah. We can handle that. Nothing more than six or eight pounds.'"
Roy says you don't need building experience to learn cordwood masonry construction --just a sense of imagination.
"It's always good to be handy, but anyone can do it," he says. "Some people can do it better than others."
Roy adds that women tend to be better than men at cordwood masonry construction . He says they seem to have an eye for selecting logs, and they also tend to be more patient with the masonry than men are.
Agnes Evans would probably agree. She and her husband, Bob, had planned on building a cordwood masonry house and had gathered and dried the cordwood to build their home . Suddenly Bob's plumbing business took off, and he didn't have time to spend on construction . So Agnes decided she'd tackle the job herself.
"We had four children and we were living in a mobile home," Agnes says. "I decided that I wasn't going to wait for Bob to take the time to build this house. I was going to do it on my own. My son mixed the cement for me all summer, and it took me three months to complete the outside walls."
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of cordwood masonry construction is the cost . The logs used in building the walls, usually light wood such as cedar and pine, are often available as scrap from lumber yards because they're too short or twisted to use in making boards. Also, the sawdust used for insulation is a waste product from saw mills and can often be obtained free of charge. In fact, you can probably get enough logs and sawdust to build a 2,600-square-foot house for less than $600.
"When you build a cordwood house, it fits you because you've built it yourself ," Roy says. "You just feel good in that home."
Guests Rob Roy
Director, Earthwood Building School
366 Murtagh Hill Road
West Chazy, NY 12992
Phone: 518-493-7744
URL:
www.cordwoodmasonry.com
Also in this Episode
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