# Any plans out there for a cordwood home?



## Texas Traveler (Feb 21, 2009)

Can anyone help? I am serious, thinking about putting up a frame out of steel with a galvaume steel roof.
I have plenty of cordwood of various woods cedar, oak & Mesquite in 8 ft. lengths & shorter.
If not suitable for a home can always use a new barn.
Back in the 70s the Canadian gov. urged their Indians to build them.


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## irishcountry (Feb 21, 2009)

I also think cordwood is pretty cool and seems to make sense. I would start by searching Rob Roy he was a pioneer in bringing it back around to somewhat mainstream. I know he has a few books out and they should be in print still. I want a cordwood woodstove fired sauna!! If you build it take some pics we'd love to see them. Cedar would be a really good choice I think all I remember reading (popular science) was to avoid pine if possible it shrinks alot and isn't too resistant to rot. Thats all I know I have done some research myself and thats what stuck out for me hope it helps. have a good one Tim


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 22, 2009)

irishcountry said:


> I also think cordwood is pretty cool and seems to make sense. I would start by searching Rob Roy he was a pioneer in bringing it back around to somewhat mainstream. I know he has a few books out and they should be in print still. I want a cordwood woodstove fired sauna!! If you build it take some pics we'd love to see them. Cedar would be a really good choice I think all I remember reading (popular science) was to avoid pine if possible it shrinks alot and isn't too resistant to rot. Thats all I know I have done some research myself and thats what stuck out for me hope it helps. have a good one Tim


 I found some plans after a net search, seems to be a lot out there.:greenchainsaw:


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## davidsparks (Feb 23, 2009)

Dean, I have a book you can borrow if I can find it with plans in it. I'll look for it and let you borrow it next time I see you. By the way, this is David.


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 23, 2009)

davidsparks said:


> Dean, I have a book you can borrow if I can find it with plans in it. I'll look for it and let you borrow it next time I see you. By the way, this is David.


Hey man good to see you posting, we had a developer buy us out.
We should close this week sometime, we should close on a home at loop 12 & 67 next week. In a quite cul de sac, I hope it is quite.
We will miss this ole place & the wildlife. But the developers are going to clear cut about 360 acres.
We will put up a second home out at the old home place.


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## M.R. (Feb 24, 2009)

irishcountry said:


> I want a cordwood woodstove fired sauna!! Tim



Stumbled across this site a while back. 

http://www.kalle.com/sauna.html


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## olyman (Feb 24, 2009)

Hey man good to see you posting, we had a developer buy us out.
We should close this week sometime, we should close on a home at loop 12 & 67 next week. In a quite cul de sac, I hope it is quite.
We will miss this ole place & the wildlife. But the developers are going to clear cut about 360 acres.
We will put up a second home out at the old home place.[/QUOTE]

360acres??? lot of wood coming off there--whats happening to it????


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## mtngun (Feb 24, 2009)

Daycreek has a good cordwood forum. http://www.daycreek.com/

I built a cordwood home. I love the way it looks. However, it is extremely slow to build. The logs have to be debarked and seasoned for a couple of years. Figure on several years just to get the house closed in. Cordwood does not save money, contrary to what some sources like Rob Roy claim. Some things like the foundation will cost more money, not less, because the foundation has to be stronger and wider to support the extra weight. Framing the windows cost more because you have to frame a 16" deep opening. Etc..

If I had to do it over again, I would use post and beam construction (milled with the CSM). Then I would fill some of the walls -- the ones that are not exposed to the prevailing wind -- with non-load bearing cordwood. Other walls would have different fillers. 

The nice thing about post and beam is that is lets you get a roof up quick. Once the roof is up, you have many options on how to fill in the space between the beams.

At the time I was building my house, I didn't have a CSM, so I would have had to pay big bucks for custom milled beams.


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 24, 2009)

olyman said:


> Hey man good to see you posting, we had a developer buy us out.
> We should close this week sometime, we should close on a home at loop 12 & 67 next week. In a quite cul de sac, I hope it is quite.
> We will miss this ole place & the wildlife. But the developers are going to clear cut about 360 acres.
> We will put up a second home out at the old home place.



360acres??? lot of wood coming off there--whats happening to it????[/QUOTE]

Turned into wood chips, the rich developer has a crew of illegals behind the locked & posted fence taking forever to do the job.
They have one chipper from what I can see & 2 skid loaders.
The place was taken over by 30 ft. Honeysuckle brush years ago.
We have lost our bobcat,coyotes & other varmints a year back.


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 24, 2009)

Texas Traveler said:


> 360acres??? lot of wood coming off there--whats happening to it????



Turned into wood chips, the rich developer has a crew of illegals behind the locked & posted fence taking forever to do the job.
They have one chipper from what I can see & 2 skid loaders.
The place was taken over by 30 ft. Honeysuckle brush years ago.
We have lost our bobcat,coyotes & other varmints a year back.[/QUOTE]

The 360 acres has been bought & sold 4 times by developers over the past 40 years.
It has never been maintained even very little fencing, I kept about 2 acres cut down by hand as a fireguard on my west & south side.
We had remodeled our home so the first developer would not meet our price.
After 1 &1/2 years, of threats & running roughshod over us.
A builder buying land from the first developer met our price & bought us out.
We have replaced our home with a few bucks to spare.
I told my wife when it started it would get rough & it did.


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## davidsparks (Feb 24, 2009)

Dean, what do you think about the pecan tree there? Stihl game?


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 24, 2009)

davidsparks said:


> Dean, what do you think about the pecan tree there? Stihl game?


 I wish, but I have gotten chicken in my old age.:greenchainsaw:


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## davidsparks (Feb 24, 2009)

I'll holler at you tomorrow Dean.


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## irishcountry (Feb 25, 2009)

Hey M.R. thanks for that link!!


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## Kennygee (Feb 28, 2009)

*360 acres*

TEXAS TrAVELER, where in the heck in the Dallas area is there 3 acres let alone 360 that developers haven't grabbed. I am east of Mesquite and it looks like it is time to move again.. Nice to see some one else from the DFW area, You to David .


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 28, 2009)

Kennygee said:


> TEXAS TrAVELER, where in the heck in the Dallas area is there 3 acres let alone 360 that developers haven't grabbed. I am east of Mesquite and it looks like it is time to move again.. Nice to see some one else from the DFW area, You to David .


South of I-30 at Westmoreland, on the West side it runs to Ft Worth Ave.
We are backed up to it, sort of surrounded by it on a dead-end rd.
Incap fund has bought the entire place, they pulled some tricky deals out here.
We have 2 months to get out but will be gone sooner, we have fought the developers for so long over the price it has left a bad taste in our mouth.

About all we are doing is getting our funds back after working & remodeling for 15 years.
It will be a great place for developers though, one of the younger ones let the cat out of the bag when he said million dollar homes will replace ours.

We are just 8 minutes from downtown with the new suspension bridge going accross the river, the land sharks have moved in.
2 years ago I killed a big coyote in my front yard, with nightly vists from bobcats we kept a sharp eye out for our pets.


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## Kennygee (Feb 28, 2009)

*Chalk Hill?*

Am I right about the area where You are talking about? aren't there a couple of stock tanks in that area? also. It's been some time since I've been in that area. I work for COD off of 175 and Beltline--- Sand branch area old sand pits now sh%&*pits !! if You know what I mean!! Good Luck to You!!


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## Texas Traveler (Feb 28, 2009)

Kennygee said:


> Am I right about the area where You are talking about? aren't there a couple of stock tanks in that area? also. It's been some time since I've been in that area. I work for COD off of 175 and Beltline--- Sand branch area old sand pits now sh%&*pits !! if You know what I mean!! Good Luck to You!!


 It is we are setting on top all most but the old stock tanks are long gone.
Watch ole David now, he has a electrician master license sort of a electric 
genius. If you have any electric problems he is the go to man. :greenchainsaw:


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## derekh (Mar 1, 2009)

Just a quick thanks to Texas Traveller for this thread. It's re-ignited my interest in building a Cordwood structure on my place. Initially a shed but who knows what from there. 

I need to do a non-commercial thin of my trees and Cordwood could be the ideal use for the thinnings between 100-200mm dbh (4-6inches). My White Cypress Pine (Callitris glaucophylla) is termite resistant and has a low moisture content and low shrinkage. Qualities I think make it suitable for cordwood. Strawbale is my other material of choice but when you've got 300 acres of trees, cordwood has got to be a consideration.

regards
Derek


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## Friggs (Mar 2, 2009)

Hi Derek,

Here is a photo of my Cordwood cabin I built it about almost 20 years ago. It's actually our hunt camp and is 14'x24' mostly made with Ontario White Cedar with some hardwood mixed in. The walls are 12" thick with a 3" air space in the middle. The corner sections are various lengths of cedar and the headers above the openings are two-sided milled 6" cedar.
Only downfall is make sure your wood is really dry, I didn't I was pressed for time (dried for 1 year). My wood shrank about 1/4" around each log. 
Their is about 5' of snow in front of the window, typical Canadian winter.

Frank

View attachment 91641


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## derekh (Mar 2, 2009)

Thanks Friggs, some more photos would be great. 

Snow is the last thing I have to worry about. We're the opposite end of the scale, Winter is just below freezing but our Summer gets to over 45deg celcius, about 105deg F.


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