Cordwood plays well with other natural and alternative styles. Here are some examples of cordwood homes that have horizontal logs, vertical logs, board and batten siding, strawbale, earthen plaster, cobwood, earthbag and so forth. The pictures bespeak a natural transition from one style to the other.
Sigi Koko has created a beautiful mudroom/cobwood/greenhouse in Harper’s Ferry, WV. The walls are strawbale with earthen plaster on the rest of the house.
The horizontal log cabin was the original residence. The cordwood addition kicked the whole building “up” several notches!
Stackwall corners, spiral staircase, post framing with wood carvings by Wayne Higgins.
The double wall and strawbale home of Clint and Cindy Cannon in Manitoba.
The strawbale meets the double-wall cordwood and everybody is happy and toasty warm!
Heidi Vilkman built a beautiful off-grid cordwood cabin in Finland using earthbags, strawbale, cobwood and earthen plaster.
The Mud Bandits have used cobwood on the interior portions of some of their strawbale builds.
In Bermuda, there are examples of earthbags, post framing and cordwood infill. The mortar was made using crushed seashells and sand.
Many fine accoutrements were added to the beautiful Bermuda cordwood beach house.
Don Noe created a cordwood worm farm building in Portland. The doors and hinges alone are drool-worthy!
Don Noe also was determined to use as many styles as he could in building this lovely, little shed.
Clarke Snell built this cottage in Marshall, North Carolina and used a different style for each wall.
Here we have a 30 Inch solid cob wall, flanked by a cordwood wall. Has a nice ambience don’t you think?
Clarke (in the green shirt) is explaining the nuances of natural building. His book Building Green gives “chapter and verse” about this amazing cottage.
Should you wish to learn how to build a cordwood cottage, cabin or home, please visit www.cordwoodconstruction.org While you are there, click on the pictures, read the brief articles, check out the latest workshops and newsletter and if you are interested click on the Online Bookstore to see all the cordwood literature available in print and ebook format.
If you have questions that aren’t answered on the website you can email me at richardflatau@gmail.com
Readers have requested a brief bio, so here goes:
“Richard & Becky Flatau built their mortgage-free cordwood home in 1979 in Merrill, Wisconsin. Since then, they have written books, conducted workshops, facilitated 2005, 2011 and 2015 Cordwood Conferences and provided consultation for cordwood builders. Cordwood Construction: Best Practices DVD, Cordwood Construction Best Practices (print) and Cordwood Conference Papers 2015 are the newest publications available from their online cordwood bookstore.” www.cordwoodconstruction.org
Here is a photo of the new Cordwood Construction DVD cover available at https://cordwoodconstruction.org/bookstore
