Cordwood Building

Rob Roy has been building, researching and teaching about cordwood masonry for four decades. Widely recognized as a world leading authority on cordwood construction, Rob started Earthwood Building School in 1981 to train builders in the latest cordwood building methods. He has authored and edited a dozen books on alternative and natural building including the first edition of Cordwood Building, Timber Framing for the Rest of Us and Earth-Sheltered Houses. Rob has also presented four videos, including two about cordwood masonry and has taught cordwood masonry all over the world.

By far the most comprehensive book ever written on cordwood construction. Fact-filled, richly illustrated, and full of experience-based advice, this is the only book you'll need if you are interested in this planet-friendly, simple, low cost, and artistic construction technique. --Lloyd Kahn, author of the Shelter Series of Building Books, including Shelter, Home Work, and Tiny Homes Cordwood Building hits the proverbial nail on the head with its thorough investigation of this sustainable practice. Rich in hands-on practicality, replete with attractive case studies and loaded with eye-catching photos, the reader is invited inside the pages, to have a look-around. This tome should be on the must read list for anyone contemplating cordwood construction. --Richard Flatau, author, Cordwood Construction Best Practices and Director at Cordwood Construction Resources As keeper of the cordwood masonry flame, Rob Roy has devoted his 40-year career to the conscientious evolution of this unique building method. Champion of the owner-builder and defender of dollar-wise construction, his careful documentation of step-by-step procedure, user-friendly formulas, and ongoing development in the field combine to make this revised and updated edition an invaluable reference for the curious and serious alike. --Richard Freudenberger, Resource Manager at Living Web Farms and former Publisher of BackHome Magazine. I wholeheartedly recommend this new edition of Rob Roy's classic book on Cordwood Building, which I consider to be one of the foremost techniques for furthering the cause of sustainable architecture. Not only do the results look naturally gorgeous, but the walls provide good insulation and thermal mass, without the need for further treatment once they are assembled. Couple this with the fact that the building process is easily learned and utilizes marginal wood unsuitable for other construction, and you have an outstanding system that is fully explained in Rob Roy's comprehensive book. --Kelly Hart, founder, greenhomebuilding.com If anybody knows cordwood, it's Rob Roy, who's been at the center of this expanding movement for more than two decades, experimenting, innovating and living within his creations. His comprehensive, practical guide Cordwood Building explores the nitty gritty of cordwood "how to", lessons learned, and innovations like cob mortar, paper-enhanced mortar, and bottle ends. A traditional building method for more than a millennium, modern cordwood homes pass building codes and introduce building science to the "hobbit way of building", and Rob Roy's in depth book addresses air infiltration, vapor barriers, discussions of mass and insulation, and even electrical wiring. Practical and thrifty, Cordwood Building is on the cutting edge of "mortgage free" thinking, inspiring do-it-yourself tiny homes that utilize affordable materials, and offer a beautiful aesthetic. --Catherine Wanek, author/photographer, The Hybrid House, co-editor, The Art of Natural Building, and co-founder of Builders Without Borders

• Acknowledgments Prologue: History of Cordwood Masonry The Origin of Cordwood Contruction by William H. Tishler An Old Cordwood House Near Stockholm by Olle Lind Historical Variations by Olle Hagman Our Personal History by Rob Roy Introduction What is Cordwood Building? But Why Build with Cordwood? How? PART 1: CORDWOOD BASICS 1. Three Cordwood Masonry Styles Cordwood Infilling Within a Strong Timber Frame Cordwood as Curved Load-bearing Walls Cordwood with Stackwall Corners Door Frames Summation 2. The Wood What Kind or Species of Wood Is Best? How Long Should the Wood Dry? Should I Bark (or “Debark” — Means the Same Thing) the Wood? How Much Wood Should I Cut? How Thick Should the Walls Be in a Cordwood Home? How Should I Cut the Wood? Split Wood or Round Log-ends? Can I Mix Species of Wood in the Same Wall? 3. Building Cordwood Walls 101 The Mortar Insulation Options Building a Cordwood Wall Window Bucks Pointing Cleaning the Log-ends 4. Building with Cordwood 202 Wood Expansion Wood Shrinkage after the Build Mortar Cracks When Everything Shrinks — A Solution Building Thicker Cordwood Walls Within a Timber Frame Time Efficiency Stand Back from the Wall PART 2: THE NEW STATE OF THE ART 5. Is Cordwood Green? Sustainability Leaving Little Impact on the Planet Low Embodied Energy Energy Efficiency The Healthy Home So, Is Cordwood Masonry Green? 6. Double-wall Cordwood by Cliff Shockey and Rob Roy Introduction Solar Design Foundations and Under-floor Radiant Heat The Double-wall Cordwood Technique The Evolution of Double-wall Cordwood 7. Foam Insulation with Cordwood Open Cell Foam Soy-Based Foam Foam Insulation with Single-wall Cordwood 8. Bottle-ends and Other Design Features Making Bottle-ends Creating Bottle-end Designs Design Features at Mushwood 9. Electrical Wiring in Cordwood Masonry Buildings by Paul Mikalauskas, Mike Abel and Rob Roy Wiring Mushwood 10. Lime Putty Mortar by Rob Roy and Bruce Kilgore A Short History Lime Putty Mortar Versus Portland-based Mortar Making Lime Putty and Lime Putty Mortar Pay Attention to Detail 11. Cobwood Revisited Cobwood at Earthwood Our Latest Cobwood Wall Building To Summarize 12. Paper-enhanced Mortar by Jim Juczak, Alan Stankevitz, Tom Huber and Rob Roy Papercrete, or Paper-enhanced Mortar (PEM) My Paper-enhanced Mortar Cellulose-enhanced Mortar Paper-enhanced Mortar Observations 13. Cedar Eden: Design Considerations by Tom Huber The Pattern that Connects Place-based Design Considerations for Cold Climates The Hobbit Way of Homesteading A Cabin with Four Doors Intentional Patterns — The Nature of Order; Building as Sacred Practice Retreat from the World 14. Cordwood-to-mortar Ratio: An Analysis Consistency in Cordwood Build Quality Varying Wood-to-mortar Ratios Impact of Wood-to-mortar Ratio 15. Cordwood Cutoff Table for a Chainsaw by Rob Roy and Bruce Kilgore Fabrication Skills Needed You Will Also Need The Frame PART 3: CASES STUDIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD 16. The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership by Studio Gang Architects Why Wood Masonry? Learning from the Experts Playing by the Rules Thermal and Structural Constraints Pushing the Limits with Digital Tools Mixing It Up Not the End 17. My Cordwood Construction Evolution by Geoff Huggins Cordwood Constants. . .and Why Cordwood Embellishments. . .and Why 18. Adirondack Cordwood Cabin by Rarilee Conway (with James Conway) If I Was to Do It Again 19. Ravenwood: A Labor of Love in Northern New York by Bruce Kilgore (with Nancy Dow) Our Cordwood Odyssey A Five-year Plan The Trisol Design Breaking Ground Racing to Get the Roof On Cordwooding Commences Closed In! What Worked. . .and Hard Lessons Learned 20. Hexadecagons in Hawaii and Tasmania with Peter Robey and Blythe Tait (and with help from Ben Oliveros) Builder Ben Australia's First Council-approved Cordwood Residence? 21. The Hermit's Hut Cultivating Coincidence Siliconized Sealer 22. La Casa del Trunco Cultivating a Coincidence in Nicaragua Solentiname's Cordwood Homestead The Cordwood Dorm Room When We Got Home PART 4: ECONOMICS AND CODE 23. The Mortgage-free Cordwood Home The Grubstake The Land The Temporary Shelter Keep It Small Keep It Simple Use Recycled Materials Work Parties The Add-on House Strategy 24. Getting a Building Permit for a Cordwood Home Part 1: An Engineering Viewpoint by Dr. Kris J. Dick, P.E. and Professor A. M. Lansdown Part 2: A Code Enforcement Officer's Viewpoint by Thomas M. Kwiatkowski Part 3: Other Cordwood Code Issues by Rob Roy Afterword: Where We Go From Here Annotated Cordwood Masonry Bibliography Glossary of Terms Appendix: Products Index About the Author A Note About the Publisher