Cordwood Building : The State of the Art

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Summary: an Introductory and Directory
Review: An ancient method of habitat building, cordwood masonry has experienced a renewed interest due to modern technique improvements and the positive, beneficial characteristics gained on many levels in respect to the environment, energy efficiency from it's unique thermal mass, simplicity and easy access of materials needed, relative durability and the overall natural beauty. This latest book by Rob Roy is great for the person who is interested in cordwood structures and doesn't know much about the undertaking to building their own home in the same fashion. With this book you'll obtain a general understanding of the process and requirements, which is presented with thorough and even mathematical explanations.

The book is broken up into four parts dedicated to different topic concerns. The first section highlights a little history of the scientific art, including an introduction to the author, his passion and experiences in cordwood masonry, coming from some 25 years. The next section addresses the procedure of construction and touches on some important issues with technique. Also pesented here are some successful solutions learn by others for polygon floor plans, optimum corner strength, using the post & beam method, cement foundations and footings (with brief notes on earthquake endurance to where it may be applicable), and incorporating bottle designs by recycling glass to bring in special touches of color and light. Other fundamental topics discussed include electrical wiring, double wall and general wall thickness, making the Lomax corner, recipes for mortar mixes, papercrete (paper enhanced mortar) and "cobwood" variations using straw, plus pointing the mortar, and patching cracks after wood and/or mortar shrinkage. It also talks about what species of wood are best, how to select, prepare and store the wood and describes a design for making a specialized cordwood cutoff table using a chainsaw. Equally important, the book also touches on a few common sense reminders about construction site safety.

Information in parts two and three overlap some, but it's kept from sounding repetitive. The third group of chapters is primarily dedicated to personal accounts and stories from various cordwood owner-builders from the United States, Canada, Europe and Chile.

The last section hinges on financial matters and business details. The importance of being organized and informed about construction codes, seeking advice from an architect, getting a builder's permit, and how to deal with the building inspector and other paper people. Part four also provides some basic thoughts and how-to ideas for building a cordwood home mortgage free. The useful bibliography includes an overview of related books, videos, magazines, websites and online groups to further your knowledge; these are given with short, helpful descriptions.

In vast majority the photographs throughout the book are black and white, but there's an eight page middle section with beautiful color photos of cordwood buildings inside and out. It's not the only resource you should bank on, but this book is certainly a superb, user friendly introductory to the topic and a nice follow up reference after, or even before workshop participation. For those who are serious about building a sustainable home using the cordwood technique, I highly recommend it. [reviewed at amazon.com by tilley_traveler]

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Summary: Author Rob Roy draws upon his many years of experience
Review: Cordwood Building: The State Of The Art by Rob Roy (cordwood builder, researcher, teacher, and co-founder of the Earthwood Building School) presents construction professionals and do-it-yourself home improvement hobbyists with the latest techniques of the ancient building method called cordwood masonry where the walls are constructed of short logs are laid transversely in much the same manner as a cord of firewood is stacked. Author Rob Roy draws upon his many years of experience, along with 25 of the world's best practitioners to describe the long history of cordwood masonry, how to build a cordwood home, as well as the use of Lomax corners, paper-enhanced mortars, creating round, hexagonal, and other building shapes. Cordwood Building outlines the "5-E" advanced of this construction style: Ease of Construction; Economy, Esthetics; Energy-Efficiency; and Ecological Harmony. Profusely illustrated, Cordwood Building is an unusual and invaluable contribution to personal and professional Building Construction reference collections.

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Summary: STATE OF THE ART FARCE
Review: FIRST OFF,YOU WILL FIND ME QUITE BLUNT.BUT I HAVE 37 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH LOGS AND KNOW WHAT I`M TALKING ABOUT.I`M ANONYMOUS BECAUSE I`M A WHISTLEBLOWER ON MANY MYTHS PERPETRATED BY THE AUTHORS.

CORDWOOD IS IN ITS INFANCY AS LONG AS ALL THE CORDWOOD AUTHORS [THE MAIN PROPONENTS] OF CORDWOOD CHOOSE TO.
[1] BUILD ON THE GROUND
[2]REFUSE TO TREAT WOOD [AGAINST,SWELLING, ROT,INSECTS,MOLDS, FUNGI ATTACK ETC.]
[3]THINK THAT RAIN FALLS ONLY VERTICAL
[4]THINK ROOF OVERHANGS ARE ALL YOU NEED.
[5]USE IMPROPER FELLING,SEASONING AND IMPROPER BUILDING TECHNIQUES.
[6]USE SAWDUST AND LIME INSULATION.

DON`T GET THE WRONG IDEA...CORDWOOD IS DO ABLE BUT IF YOU FOLLOW THE BOOKS INSTRUCTIONS.YOU WILL GET THE SAME FAILED RESULTS AS ROBS TRAINED STUDENTS IN THIS BOOK.ROB USES A SAWDUST LIME INSULATION THAT PACKS AND WHEN THE LOGS SHRINK YOU HAVE GAPS IN THE WALL.WHERE AIR AND WATER CAN PENETRATE.I OFFER REALITY CORDWOOD INFORMATION ON THE LARGEST CORDWOOD BOARD ON THE NET.WHICH ROB DIDN`T CARE TO MENTION IN HIS BOOK.
I HAVE A CORDWOOD NEWBEE PAGE ON THE NET AS WELL.WHICH JUST DEALS WITH THE BASICS OF CORDWOOD.READ IT AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO JUDGE A CORDWOOD BUILDERS ABILITY.ROB ONCE ASKED ME TO REMOVE IT...I GUESS HE FELT UNCOMFORTABLE.
MY BOARD GIVES THE FULL PICTURE OF CORDWOOD.I LIST ALL THE FLAWS OF THE SYSTEM AS WELL AS THEIR CURES.CORDWOOD IS FULL OF BUILT IN SAFETIES THAT MAKES IT ALMOST FOOL PROOF.

CORDWOODGUY

PS:I HAVE A VISUAL DISABILITY AND HAVE TO USE UPPER CASE.SO I`M NOT SHOUTING.[I`VE TRIED EVERY THING TO CORRECT FOR THIS AND IT HASN`T WORKED...SORRY]

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Summary: Cordwood WALL Building
Review: New society has hit a home run with their recent building books. Cordwood Building now moves to the front of the line for those interested in this kind of building.

BUT, keep in mind these alternative methods, be they straw bale, or in this case Cordwood Building, only deal with the walls of the building (the book covers roofs, but they are basicaly standard details). All the difficult decisions, and high performance solutions are really needed to build the floors, roofs, and foundations, but these don't seem sexy topics for alternative construction. Cordwood is just a slow way to build walls that would be every bit as good (with careful detailing) and a lot more resalable if they were made from 2x lumber. Rather than spending weeks or months getting your walls up, 2x takes an afternoon for 2 people on average sized floorplan of the kind of house being built here.

We have a group building a cement and foam alternative construction at the end of the road, and they are engaged in months of building with their floor exposed to the weather, while they finish off walls that would have taken a crew of two only a week. Beware of these nifty solutions to non-problems. It only take 1 4x4 per 8-10 of wall to hold up a second story, don't fall into wallism in building your house.

If you want to learn about cordwood, however, this IS the book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book, like other of Rob Roy's books we own, is clearly written, provides a tremendous amount of usable information without being overwhelming to the novice and is clever and engaging to boot.

My husband & I attended one of Roy's workshops a few years ago and were delighted with what we learned and the confidence we gained helping to build a corwood sauna.

We also toured cordwood homes by several of Roy's students. The homes are beautiful and holding up extremely well to the extremes of weather in Northern Wisconsin.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in cordwood construction and also highly recommend Roy's book, "Mortgage Free," for folks interested in any type of owner-built home.