Becca wrote in with this question:
We are planning to build a "cord-wood" home and was wondering what you thought the pro's and con's to be. Certainly many of these homes have lasted hundreds of years but I don't want to live in a cave-like atmosphere! (It probably wouldn't bother my husband.) Thank you for your time.
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building with cordwood
Kevin, I'm a bit late on responding to your board which I came across doing some research on west-coast mortar. We just sold our cordwood home (Alberta Canada) and will be building another within a year or two. Living in a cordwood home is like sleeping under a duvet - it wraps itself around you, secure and safe. The thermal mass from our 24 inch walls kept our home comfortably warm (19-21C) through the coldest of winter days (-40C), heated with a small wooden stove. We have large south facing windows (passive solar) so we rarely have to put wood on during sunny days. In the summer, our home is a comfortable 22-24C when outside soars to a scorching 35-40C. The warmness of the wood used inside adds to the comfort. Compared to our cordwood home the 25 year old stick built house we are currently renting is tinny, cold and emotionless. Living in a cordwood home is something you absolutely must experience.
Cordwood rounds or splits
I do have two questions.Is splitting the wood more effective than leaving it round.
Also, what using cordwood as fill for a post and beam style house.
Cordwood or Strawbale
So far as I know small diameters around 4" is preferred for cordwood.
We used straw bales for enclosing post and beam structures, which turned out excellent, because the straw bales only carry their own weight. Great settlements are avoided this way. I believe the same can be done with cordwood, it is just a question how one sets up the foundation.
Wolf
Becca, Knowing nothing
Knowing nothing about cordwood homes, I looked it up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwood_construction
It seems to make for beautiful walls. Clearly you have to careful about the insulating issues with cordwood. The great thing about straw bales is their insulating value. A bale by itself has approximately an R-45 value. After plaster, the walls are more like R-50. That allows for nice sized windows to be installed for light and heat gain. Bales are fun to build with but wood may be the better choice where you live. Happy building,
Kevin
Cordwood Building, Cordwood Masonry
Cordwood is not building with straw bales. Cord wood is building with cord wood. It is made of wood and a layer of almost concrete, but a better consistency as there are specific additions to the concrete mixture needed.
It is one of the most oldest forms of building and the cordwood houses last much longer, in fact hundreds of years if taken care of correctly.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2003-06-01/The-Charm-of-Co...
I would encourage Kevin to look more into this as it is a less expensive way to build your own home as well as a more longer lasting solution to building your own home.
Kris
Cordwood or Strawbale
I think Kris, Kevin meant Straw Bales as an alternate to Cordwood.
Being involved in both type of structures, I have to say they are both wonderful building technologies. Don't be fooled by thinking is is like making pan cake, far from it! You perhaps save a bundle on the building material, but time is money too, and it takes its time to get educated, and everything organized to be ready for construction.
Most importantly, one needs a pretty good knowledge and experience to build this type of structures properly and safely. There are many ways to make mistakes, and if done, the consequences can be very frustrating. I am sure you both know what I am talking about.
All I am saying is, find out everything to know about these structures, involve people what have done these buildings before, and talk to as many people as you can who live in this type of buildings, to make sure you do the right thing. Only then it will last hundred of years .......... but we would be gone by then anyway .......... grin
Good luck! Wolf