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Cordwood: Nursery for Native Prairie Plants

by Richard Flatau | Oct 31, 2016 | Alternative Building, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, cordwood house, Green building, log end, Natural Building, Off grid, solar, Tiny home, Workshop | 0 Comments

Curt and Annie live in northwestern Wisconsin. They have built a good life by working with the natural resources at hand. Gardening, foraging, harvesting, building, heating with wood, conserving, and improving their land are all important parts of their journey. ...

Cordwood for Sale

by Richard Flatau | Oct 25, 2016 | Alternative Building, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, Green building, Natural Building, Natural home for sale | 0 Comments

What is the resale value of a cordwood home? Many people don't consider this when they are planning their cordwood home. Here are examples of cordwood homes that have sold in the past few years. The deciding sale factor in each one was the "quality of build." ...

Cordwood Lodge

by Richard Flatau | Oct 9, 2016 | Alaska, Alternative Building, Cob, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, cordwood house, Green building, log end, Natural Building, Natural home for sale, Off grid, solar, Uncategorized, Workshop | 0 Comments

Cordwood is usually chosen as a building style in order to save money. The fact that it uses locally available, sustainable materials is an added incentive. However, sometimes cordwood is built to impress, and here is a fine example. This million-dollar cordwood...

Cordwood Cabin on Skis

by Richard Flatau | Sep 27, 2016 | Alternative Building, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, Green building, Off grid, Uncategorized, Workshop | 0 Comments

Usually a cordwood cabin's mortar is prone to cracking if it is moved. Ernie Burgener has figured out a method of moving a small cordwood cabin (for short distances). He has devised a set of sturdy skids on which he built the frame. Then he has applied "stay in...

Cordwood Construction Sauna in Wisconsin

by Richard Flatau | Aug 19, 2016 | Alternative Building, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, Green building, Off grid, Workshop | 0 Comments

One way to put a large piece in the wall and make sure it won't loosen is to "explode it" by splitting it and then putting it back together with a mortar bead. The very dry wood is Aspen. We were lucky to have such wonderful folk at our cordwood sauna workshop in...

Tiny Cordwood Home

by Richard Flatau | Aug 4, 2016 | Alaska, Alternative Building, Cob, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, cordwood house, Green building, Natural home for sale, Off grid, solar, Tiny home, Uncategorized, Workshop | 0 Comments

Kit & Jesse are building a 768 sq. ft. tiny cordwood home with a sleeping loft for their family of four. Using best practices, they have radiant in floor heat, post and beam framing, 16-inch cedar cordwood infill and an R-value of 50 in the roof. The log end that...

Cordwood & Timber Frame

by Richard Flatau | Jul 31, 2016 | Alternative Building, Cordwood Construction, Green building, log end, Off grid, solar, Workshop | 0 Comments

Can you combine Cordwood with Timber Framing? Ya sure you betcha! Here are photos of the infilling of a traditional timber frame home with 16" cedar cordwood and lime putty mortar with a 10" sawdust insulation cavity (R-value of 24). . This style of timber framing...

Cordwood Construction in Holland: a perfectly beautiful Cordwood Garden House

by Richard Flatau | Jul 27, 2016 | Alternative Building, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, Green building, Off grid | 0 Comments

Marie-Louise shared these photos of a cordwood "garden house" she built in Holland. The post and beam framework is attached to the wooden deck. Tree limbs have been trimmed and placed into the wall to lend an organic appeal to the garden house. Cordwood rounds have...

Maple Sugar Cordwood

by Richard Flatau | Jul 19, 2016 | Alternative Building, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, cordwood house, Green building, log end, Natural Building, Off grid, solar, Tiny home, Uncategorized, Workshop | 0 Comments

Do you love the taste of Maple Syrup? Would you like to have your own Codwood Maple Sugar Shack? Ted Amman says YES to both questions. He wanted to build a "shack" to house his family maple syrup harvest. Ted attended a cordwood workshop, visited the Cordwood...

Cordwood Mermaid Cottage in Colorado

by Richard Flatau | Jul 6, 2016 | Alternative Building, Cob, cordwood, Cordwood Construction, Green building, Natural home for sale, Off grid, Uncategorized, Workshop | 0 Comments

Did you know there is a cottage filled with mermaids in southern Colorado? Even though it is a thousand miles from the nearest ocean, this B n B has a bevvy of seafaring sirens. It has gorgeous views, breathtaking skies, and wonderful structures. The cottage is...