Eric & Beth built their Rendezvous Cordwood Cabin for use during “gathering activities” on their property. They hold Historical Re-enactments, Tomahawk and Bowie knife throwing contests, Muzzleloading target shoots and all manner of woodsy/folksy activities. Their cabin is built on telephone poles, secured on “punch pads” below the deep Wisconsin frost line. For Revolutionary War re-enactments, the flag has 13 stars and 13 stripes, the flag of the original 13 colonies.
There are so many wonderful and creative cordwood accents in the cabin. Have a look.
Like this mushroom and slab shelves. The mushroom was cut with a bandsaw. Since the wood for the posts and the cordwood is Northern White Cedar it is relatively soft and easier to cut than a hardwood.
Strong, deep window boxes are used and the trim pieces are of the rustic kind.
The bottle ends and the stones are set in strategic places.
The cabin’s “build date” is shown in Cordwood Roman Numerals MMXIV. Look above the door frame.
How do you build a Cordwood Cabin on Stilts?
The floor joists are made of 5″ x 6″ beams. The girders and joists are made of thicker and stronger wooden timbers and the subfloor is reinforced.
The foundation for the 16′ x 24′ cabin: telephone poles pinned with rebar on “punch pads.” To build a heavy cordwood cabin on “stilts” one must pay attention to the tremendous weight of a cordwood wall (approximately 500 pounds per foot of an 8′ high wall) and “beef up” the floor joists and stringers so they can accommodate the weight. The cabin floor is then insulated from underneath. Finally, hardware cloth and plywood are used to seal the floor from the underside.
(Above) Pac-man is eating the lightning bolt!
This cabin has some of the neatest and most artistic cordwood we have ever witnessed. It is a credit to Eric & Beth and the friends who helped them. They kept the “build” consistently tasteful and attractive. Not easy to do when the sunlight is fading, the mosquitoes are biting and there is still a foot of wall to finish:0) Time to fire up the “halogens!”
In order to keep themselves fresh and ready for rendezvous activities, they practiced throwing tomahawks! I stuck this one after 5 tries:0)
The tiny rock flowers make a small but powerful statement.
One of their friends saved all the bottle caps he opened during construction. They made a memento of his libations.
To learn how to build a cordwood cabin of your own you may want to consider reading the latest and most comprehensive book on the subject.
Cordwood Construction Best Practices.
Click on the picture or go to www.cordwoodconstruction.org and go to the Online Bookstore. The book is available in ebook and print editions.
Questions? Send an email to richardflatau@gmail.com
Line drawing from Cordwood Construction Best Practices showing how to use smaller posts to build a 16″ wall.