At the edge of Ouachita Forest (ten miles south of Wilburton, OK), is a small community of homes in a serene and quiet treed area called the United Spanish War Veterans Colony. About 100 veterans and their families live here. Alan & Rebecca acquired a three-quarter-acre lot and built a 16 sided cordwood home. It has an earthen floor, and a living roof planted with sedum. Alan states, “It is so comfortable to live in. It is only 800 square feet (one bedroom, 1 & 1/2 baths) including the pop out sun room on the south side, but is totally adequate for two retired folks.”
Alan & Rebecca’s 16 sided cordwood home-made of 12″ red cedar.
The ceiling is Douglas fir and the structure is all locally milled pine. Red cedar was used for the 12″ thick cordwood walls. The windows are energy efficient.
They added a sunroom on the south side for solar gain in the winter. For those who are wondering about building cordwood in a hot, humid climate, this will help answer your questions.
A Hearthstone free standing stove takes care of all their heating requirements. Easter red cedar has beautiful patterning.
Mortars: They used different types of cordwood mortars, from Lime Putty (which they found too time-consuming and difficult) to Paper Enhanced Mortar (which they liked) to cob (which they loved).
The red cedar is a weed tree in the south-central portion of the country and it is naturally resistant to insects and rot.
The home is relatively tiny (800 sq. ft.) and easy to heat and cool. 
They also experimented with an earthen floor. They are pleased with it. It is made of local clay and sand with a Bioshield finish.
Alan used Vasari Lime Wash to “even out” the color of the different mortars with which they experimented. Notice the gray and white color variation on the top of the wall.
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 DVD (2018), Cordwood Construction Best Practices (updated 2017) and Cordwood Conference Papers 2015 are the newest publications available from their online cordwood bookstore. www.cordwoodconstruction.org
For more information on Cordwood Construction, click on the picture or visit www.cordwoodconstruction.org
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