CORDWOOD

MASONRY & LIVING ROOFS

Wintergreen Studios Workshop Materials1

Day 1: Tour, models, and resources

Tour of Wintergreens cordwood

structures and examination of the
cordwood models.2

Hobbit House, Smoke House, Root

Cellar (passive geothermal), Sauna,
Meadow Hut, Bake Oven base, and
the Beach House (both cordwood
and straw bale).

Resources there are many. But the bible of cordwood building is: Roy, R. (2003).
Cordwood Building: The State of the Art. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Easily available on Amazon or from Google Books. See also the website by Rob and Jaki
Roy, for a plethora of resources on this building style: www.cordwoodmasonry.com

Take a good look at the models of the cordwood section and living roof assembly. They
will be important resources for the duration of the workshop.

Day 2: Theory and building the first few courses

QUALITIES OF CORDWOOD BUILDINGS

High insulation value
Great thermal mass
Durable (fire rating often non-
combustible, like straw bale)
Unique patterns and designs
buildings with personality and even
humour
Can be used as infill or as load-
bearing
Relatively inexpensive building form

1 The development of these notes was funded in part by a grant from TD Friends of the Environment, 20122013.
2
The design and construction of the cordwood section and living roof section were funded by the TD Friends of the
Environment, 20132014.


Sustainable materials
Potential for reclaimed materials
Easy to do its all about playing with
mud even children can do it!

CORDWOOD BUILDING MATERIALS

Cordwood itself the wood or log ends

Hard vs. soft (dense vs. airy); choose airy when possible
Amount: square footage of walls less 20% for windows and doors divided by 32
yields the number of face cords (p. 23---26 Roy book)
Dry your wood as de-barked log ends for at least a year (or use cedar fence rails!)
Shrinking less of a problem than expansion
Thickness of walls your choice!
Split vs. round logs both work, but split are harder to point well

Mortar
Pre-mixed bags + three shovels of wet sawdust to retard drying
Various mixes, altering amounts of lime, etc. see p. 28+ in Roy book
Paper forms of mortar

Insulation
Sawdust:lime at ~11:1 ratio (use hydrated lime, not agricultural lime)
Stack insulation slightly higher than the mortar
Use tin cans and envelopes to pack the insulation between the mortar as tightly as
possible

Bottle ends
Combine clear and coloured glass to fit as closely as possible
Gorilla tape the seam
Some people add small holes to combat condensation
Make roughly the same size as log ends
Lay in the same fashion as log ends

BUILDING THE WALL

Post and beam construction
Post on pond liner or vapour barrier on slab on grade
Key plates (moose sticks)
Ideal if post is the same width as the wall, but not essential
Stackwell or Lomax corners provide another option

Load-bearing construction
Best for non-rectilinear structures
Round and round we go... add course after course to build the wall (see Meadow
Hut as an example)
Always create load-bearing walls with a partner to ensure the wall is plumb

Laying the cordwood
Always work under cover
Wear gloves
Dampen the concrete surface before starting
MIM: mortar---insulation---mortar at roughly 1/3 proportions for walls 8 to 12
thick. Less mortar when walls are thicker.
Plop down handfuls of mortar: Do not pitty-pat the mortar!
MORTAR INSULATION WOOD. Logs go down last!
Rock each log end into place over the MIM bed
Allow enough room for the pointing knife to be able to work between the log
ends and bottle ends
Aim for peaks and valleys so there are no horizontal or vertical lines in the
cordwood (prevents structural cracking)
Point within two hours of laying the wall

Pointing
Use slightly bent old butter knife for
pointing
Leave log ends and bottle ends 14 proud
(sticking out)
Pointing creates friction bond between
wood and mortar, looks better, and the
smooth mortar helps repel water
Some people finger point first or even use
only finger pointing without other tools


Cut away around the logs and add the extra

mortar to fill gaps (catch in one hand; point
with the other)
Dont overwork (or there will be cracks)
Clean glass before leaving the building site
Cover wall sections that are still drying with
plastic or tarps to retard drying time

Days 3 5: Building continues

Opportunities to meet with instructor(s) for design consultation
Framing windows and doors

Days 6 7: The Roof

LIVING ROOF FEATURES

sustainable materials (well, maybe except for the pond liner)
relatively inexpensive
always growing surprises!
amazing insulating properties, especially when you need them most
outlasts any other form of roofing

The assembly:
rafter structure calculated to carry dead and live loads (4 x 8 at 18 centers is
fine for this part of the world)
2x 6 decking
aluminum flashing for drip edge
34 plywood screwed on decking and over flashing
non-permeable membrane (pond liner or W. R. Grace Bituthene 4000)
rigid foam insulation over roof, scale back for overhang (e.g., if your roof has 4
insulation, drop to 2 for the first part of the overhang, and then to 1 to the end)
6 ml. black polyethylene OR another pond liner
Enka Drain (in place of crushed stone drainage layer or straw filtration mat)
Moss or grass sod to retain the earth at the edges
4 8 topsoil, planted3

3 Dead + live load on the Hobbit House roof is: snow (70 lb/sq ft), decking & plywood (3.2 lb/sq ft), liner and

insulation (1.1 lb/sq ft), drainage mat (1 lb/sq ft), and plants and soil (35 lb/sq ft) = 110.3 lb/sq ft.


References

Books

Flatau, R. (2012). Cordwood construction best practices. Merrill, Wisconsin: Cordwood
Construction Resources.

Magwood, C. (2014). Making better buildings. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

Roy, R. (2003). Cordwood building: The state of the art. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society
Publishers.

Roy, R., Flatau, R., Stankevitz, A., & Dick, K. (2005). Cordwood and the code: A building permit
guide. Available from http://www.cordwoodmasonry.com/booksandmedia.html

Snell, C., & Callahan, T. (2009). Building green: A complete how-to guide to alternative building
methods. Asheville, NC: Lark Crafts.





Presentations

Use this link to see a detailed presentation about natural building techniques. There are many
embedded videos and resources, and while cordwood is featured, there is also information
about straw bale, building with pallets, and using finishes that are environmentally friendly.

http://prezi.com/g8ulmzn1mpyl/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

See also:

The complete cordwood DVD with Rob and Jaki Roy. Available from
http://www.cordwoodmasonry.com/booksandmedia.html

Supplies List

150 200 cedar fence rails (1500 lineal feet cut to 8 lengths for an 8 wall)
carpentry tools (saws, hammers, screw drivers, drills, etc.)
buckets for water and for disbursing mortar
sawdust sieve (frame with square sieve for sifting sawdust)
lime
mortar (20 bags to start; estimate the amount needed at the end of Day 2)
glass block
glass block mortar
gloves (enough for each builder to have two pairs)
tarps and/or vapour barrier to cover the building during construction
rags
tin cans
envelopes
gorilla tape to create bottle ends
glass bottles, both clear and coloured
treasures (broken mirrors, shells, coins, etc.)
pointing knives
wheelbarrows (3 or 4)
hoes (at least 2)
rain barrel for wet sawdust
sawdust from a lumber yard (for insulation as well as to use wet to retard drying time
for mortar)
posts (8 to give room to trim)
headers (2 rough is fine for perimeter not load bearing)
rafters (depends on building design; use 4 x 8 stock for most purposes)
lumber for lintels, door and window frames
windows
door(s)
drainage mat
2 x 6 decking for roof
34 plywood for roof
screws for roof plywood
pond membrane
rigid insulation
vapour barrier
12 self-drilling screws