Originally posted by bobbotron Cordwood construction. Took this during a neat farm tour near Wakefield, Quebec.
My father-in-law experimented with cordwood construction by building a wood storage shed on his hobby farm. The concept is very simple, wood swells and shrinks in length rather than diameter, so the mortar holding all the wood together rarely cracks.There are cordwood structures over a thousand years old.
Like I said, simple in concept, not so simple in construction. Each length of wood must be cut to the exact thickness of the wall and all the bark removed. My father-in-law hired his younger grandkids to strip bark for a summer - and they took all summer for like I said, a simple wood shed. He didn't care, it gave the kids some pocket money and he got to spend time with them. He died the following winter.
My brother-in-law built the cordwood walls - construction is similar to building mortar & stone walls - keep it level and keep it plumb. The wood shed was finished a decade ago and still looks great.