Rob Roy - Cordwood Building: A Comprehensive Guide to the State of the Art

Praise for Cordwood Building

By far the most comprehensive book ever written on cordwood construction. Fact-filled, richly illustrated, and full of experience-based advice, this is the only book youll need if you are interested in this planet-friendly, simple, low cost, and artistic construction technique.

Lloyd Kahn, author of the Shelter Series of Building Books, including Shelter, Home Work, and Tiny Homes

Cordwood Building hits the proverbial nail on the head with its thorough investigation of this sustainable practice. Rich in hands-on practicality, replete with attractive case studies and loaded with eye-catching photos, the reader is invited inside the pages, to have a look-around. This tome should be on the must read list for anyone contemplating cordwood construction.

Richard Flatau, author, Cordwood Construction Best Practices and Director at Cordwood Construction Resources

As keeper of the cordwood masonry flame, Rob Roy has devoted his 40-year career to the conscientious evolution of this unique building method. Champion of the owner-builder and defender of dollar-wise construction, his careful documentation of step-by-step procedure, user-friendly formulas, and ongoing development in the field combine to make this revised and updated edition an invaluable reference for the curious and serious alike.

Richard Freudenberger, Resource Manager at Living Web Farms and former Publisher of BackHome Magazine.

I wholeheartedly recommend this new edition of Rob Roys classic book on Cordwood Building, which I consider to be one of the foremost techniques for furthering the cause of sustainable architecture. Not only do the results look naturally gorgeous, but the walls provide good insulation and thermal mass, without the need for further treatment once they are assembled. Couple this with the fact that the building process is easily learned and utilizes marginal wood unsuitable for other construction, and you have an outstanding system that is fully explained in Rob Roys comprehensive book.

Kelly Hart, founder, www.greenhomebuilding.com

If anybody knows cordwood, its Rob Roy, whos been at the center of this expanding movement for more than two decades, experimenting, innovating and living within his creations. His comprehensive, practical guide Cordwood Building explores the nitty gritty of cordwood how to, lessons learned, and innovations like cob mortar, paper-enhanced mortar, and bottle ends.

A traditional building method for more than a millennium, modern cordwood homes pass building codes and introduce building science to the hobbit way of building, and Rob Roys in depth book addresses air infiltration, vapor barriers, discussions of mass and insulation, and even electrical wiring.

Practical and thrifty, Cordwood Building is on the cutting edge of mortgage free thinking, inspiring do-it-yourself tiny homes that utilize affordable materials, and offer a beautiful aesthetic.

Catherine Wanek, author/photographer, The Hybrid House,
co-editor, The Art of Natural Building, and co-founder of Builders Without Borders

Copyright 2016 by Rob Roy. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh.

All interior photos Rob Roy unless otherwise noted.

Printed in Canada. First printing August 2016.

This book is intended to be educational and informative. It is not intended to serve as a guide. The author and publisher disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk that may be associated with the application of any of the contents of this book.

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Cordwood Building should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers

P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada

(250) 247-9737

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Cordwood building : a comprehensive guide to the state of the art /

Rob Roy. Fully revised second edition.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-86571-828-9 (paperback). ISBN 978-1-55092-623-1 (ebook)

1. Log-end housesDesign and construction. 2. Log-end housesHistory.

3. Building, Wooden. I. Roy, Robert L., author, editor

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.

This book is dedicated, with love, to son Darin,
who took the ball and ran with it,
building his own cordwood/dome home
called Driftwood...about 100 yards from Earthwood.
The nut didnt fall far from the tree.

I extend my heartfelt thanks to all of the dedicated authors, builders and innovators who shared their trials and discoveries so generously, including those whose names did not find their way into the body of the book. Your work was still valuable in fleshing out the whole story. In particular, there are several contributors who do have chaptersor parts of chaptersabout their work, some written by themselves and some written by the author about their work. Thank you, Bruce Kilgore and Nancy Dow, Sandy Clidaras, Kelly Hart, Tom Huber, Alan Stankevitz, Michael Abel, Geoff Huggins, Rarilee and James Conway, Tony Wrench in Wales, Peter Robey and Blythe Tait in Tasmania, Lynda Wilson at the Australian Owner-Builder magazine, Ben and Mirtha Oliveros in Hawaii, Olle Hagman in Sweden, Dr. Kris Dick in Manitoba, and all our friends at Studio Gang Architects in Chicago, especially Claire Halpin, Todd Zima and Jeanne Gang.

The Continental Cordwood Conference of 2015, held at our Earthwood Building School in July of 2015 added a lot of new technical information and news of case studies from around the world. Loving thanks to my wonderful wife, Jaki, for all her work on making CoCoCo/15 happen as smoothly as it did and for good and timely proof reading of the manuscript close to deadline. And to my friend, cordwood builder and writer Richard Flatau, for his help in editing some of the papers that came out of the conference, and for tracking down images for this book. Thanks to all who attended and contributed to the Collected Papers, some of which, rewritten, became the basis for chapters in this book.

Thanks, too, to Rob West at New Society for asking me to do this new book. Indeed, with CoCoCo/15 fresh, and the older book getting a bit dated, the time had come. Thanks to the usual gang of skilled bookmakers at New Society: my editor, Ingrid Witvoet; graphic designer par excellence Greg Green; friends Judith Plant and Sue Custance; and all the others at NSP who played a part in bringing this to print.

Rob Roy, Director
www.cordwoodmasonry.com