Table of Contents

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

Promotional Information

Build beautiful cordwood buildings with comprehensive state of the art guidance from the world’s leading authority

About the Author

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.

Reviews

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