New Cordwood Website & Blog

Would you like to check out our new Cordwood Construction Website & Blog?  It is easy to navigate, filled with beautiful pictures, videos, instructional posts, books, plans & links.  Go to https://cordwoodconstruction.org/cordwood-timber-framed-sauna-in-michigan and have a “click around.”  If you’d like, please sign up to subscribe to the new blog. FYI, all NEW blog posts will be posted at this new site.  Want to learn about the Top Ten Best Practices to make your building warm and energy efficient (or cool and energy efficient)? 

How about a cozy place by the fire?Thinking about an Off-Grid cordwood cabin? 

Want to build a sauna that doubles as a guest cottage? How about a cordwood castle?

Or a hybrid cordwood cottage?Million dollar cordwood lodge.16 sided cordwood home?

Want to create a cordwood work of art for your community?Whatever your cordwood ideas; on this new site, you will find detailed information so you can proceed with confidence. Visit https://cordwoodconstruction.org to explore all your options.

Cordwood Carriage House

Want to have your cordwood cake and eat it too?  Building a cordwood garage with living quarters is a excellent way to practice your cordwood technique & tuckpointing.   In addition it provides a place to lay your weary head after a hard days work.The garage (aka Carriage House) has a room-in-the-attic truss.  It allows for a 400 sq. ft. living space in the attic.  Water was plumbed into the upstairs, as well as electricity.  The roof pitch is 8/12. The stackwall corner posts are built at the same time as the post and beam framework.  Then the roof is applied and braced.  Finally the cordwood infill.  The stackwall corners are a old fashioned way to build with cordwood, but the owner learned a new way to make them so they functioned as a post and allowed the roof to be put on ahead of time.  This is the lake home that was built next to the Carriage House in central Minnesota. The building inspector/code official requested that pressure treated lumber be used on the exterior framing.  150 year old barn timbers from Janesville, Wisconsin were used for the interior. An enamel Vermont Casting wood stove provides heat.  (Below)Another look at the framing, the timbers and the stackwall corners.   The lake is in the background. 

This wood carving would have made a nice corner post, but it would have been very difficult to tuck point.

Below are some current photos of the Carriage House.(Below) Matt & Carrie built a similar room-in-the-attic two and a half car garage in Wisconsin.  They are very pleased with the upstairs living space.  Carrie is an architect, so she had a leg up with exterior and interior design.  

Nicely designed tiny interior space. 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 the 2005,  2011 and 2015 Cordwood Conferences and provided consultation for cordwood builders.  Cordwood Workshop Video (DVD) 2017,  Cordwood Construction Best Practices 2017 (print & ebook), Cordwood House Plans, Cordwood Shed Plans and Cordwood Conference Papers 2015 are the newest publications available from their online cordwood bookstore.   www.cordwoodconstruction.org

Here is a picture of the print version and the DVD label in one composite.