is there anyone in or around kentucky that has built a cordwood building that we could get in touch with? Would like to see the building and talk to them about their experience in working with the materials. We have an old tobacco barn that is no longer being used for hanging tobacco. We have lots of round wooden rails that we hope we can use.

-- deborah carmichael (brownswiss99@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000

Answers

Deborah- I would maybe look into another use for the round rails that you have (maybe the vertical log building). After reading the book on cordwood building and also a few on stone wall construction, I've noticed that the authors of stone building say to NEVER let your mortar touch any wood. This is completely contrary to the cordwood method. It sounds like the yearly patching of mortar would become a chore. I'd be interest to hear if someone has built one (cordwood, that is), and they weren't out to sell a book or a workshop. I'd like to know how it really holds up after a couple of years.

You didn't mention how long your wood posts were. If they're not long enough for a vertical log building, use them half way up and stick frame the rest. Or maybe do a bit of stone wall then the vertical posts.

-- Peggy Adkins (adkinsonthefarm@hotmail.com), June 22, 2000.

Hi Deborah. Go to Daycreek.com, and you will be able to find all the links and info you would want plus a fairly active forum that you can post on. The site host has nothing to sell you and is building a 16 sided 2 story house in Minnesota. The wood to mortar is not a contradiction. The simple fact is that wood and mortar do not have a chemical bond as do mortar and stone, brick or concrete block. The way cordwood masonry works is the cordwood pieces are laid up in a mortar matrix which holds them in a friction bond rather than chemical. We have researched the vertical log option but it is a pretty thin wall in cold regions where R factor is a consideration. A properly built cordwood home is beautiful, solid and long lasting, but you need to do your homework on the proper non shrinking mortar mixes and types of wood to use, and there are plenty of people willing to help over at the daycreek site. I have been in several cordwood homes in Wisconsin and Illinois and each one was as unique as the owner/builder that occupied it. have fun ! Mike

-- Mike (mstydale@aeroinc.net), June 22, 2000.

Hi Deb..If you decide to do cordwood be prepared for a lot of work!!!!We built a small 20 x 20 cordwood cabin in 1995 and lived in it for 2 1/2 years while we built our bigger 30 x 40 cordwood home. It has been finished for almost two years now and we love it! Rob Roy has written a book on cordwood masonary that is great (check out your local library) and we also attented one of his workshops since we live only 75 miles away from the Earthwood Building School. I firmly believe you should start with a small building first to make sure you want to tackle a larger project (our cabin is now Ed's workshop). The final results are worth it but we found it consumed our lives (we both worked ouside full time jobs). It is true there is only a friction bond between the wood and mortar but cordwood buildings will last for a very long time if constructed properly. Good Luck!!!!

-- Diane (thewold@northnet.org), June 25, 2000.

DEBORAH AND OTHERS....THERE ARE HOMES I KNOW OF THAT HAVEN`T BEEN CHINKED SINCE THEY WERE BUILT 20+ YEARS AGO.IF YOU WANT THE ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR CORDWOOD QUESTIONS DROP BY MY BOARD AT THE FOLLOWING URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cordwood I WAS LICENSED TO TEACH CORDWOOD BACK IN 1979.MY BOARD IS THE ONLY ONE MODERATED BY SOMEONE WITH CORDWOOD EXPERIENCE.I ALSO HAVE A CORDWOOD NEWBEE PAGE WHICH EXPLAINS THE BASICS OF CORDWOOD. AFTER JUST READING THIS SHORT PAGE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO JUDGE THE BUILDING AND THEIR BUILDERS EVEN THE EXPERTS WORK.

http://maxpages.com/cordwood

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DROP BY AND VISIT MY BOARD OR SEND ME E-MAIL. CORDWOOD IS ALMOST FOOL PROOF AS IT HAS SO MANY SAFE GUARDS BUILT RIGHT IN.PLUS LOTS OF OPTIONS FOR CORRECTIONS AFTER THE FACT. CORDially YOURS CORDWOODGUY

-- cordwoodguy (cordwoodguy@n2teaching.com), June 22, 2001.