Cordwood Masonry Building

Cord­wood Masonry con­struc­tion is an alter­na­tive, cost effi­cient, labor inten­sive method for building homes and out­build­ings. It’s rugged beauty is often mis­taken for stone masonry when viewed from any dis­tance, but cord­wood masonry is much warmer both to the touch and to live in. Many impromptu vis­i­tors to Lakewood Hollow would not believe it was wood, until they actu­ally touched the walls and felt the warm rich texture.

Besides the beauty, there are many rea­sons to build a cord­wood masonry home. If you have the drive to do most of the work your­self, cord­wood masonry can be very cost-effective method of con­struc­tion. Couple that with a frugal nature and you can easily save 50% on your new home con­struc­tion. In addi­tion, cord­wood masonry is an energy-efficient con­struc­tion method that com­bines an esti­mated R value of 20 with sub­stan­tial thermal mass that stores heat (or cold) and keeps your house at a more con­sis­tent tem­per­a­ture. Building the walls doesn’t require a great deal of skilled labor, just some basic car­pentry skills for the window and door open­ings, still there are few things more rewarding than walking into your newly com­pleted home for the first time and knowing that you cre­ated it.

If you’re won­dering if Cordwood Masonry is right for you, here are a few things to con­sider. It is a lot of work! It takes time, patience and per­se­ver­ance to build a cord­wood masonry home. I guess that’s why it’s so rewarding though. It took my hus­band and I 4 sum­mers to com­plete our 1200 square foot home. At times the work was gru­eling, but I wouldn’t trade those 4 years for any­thing. In addi­tion, you have to be willing to research your way to com­ple­tion. Building codes, engi­neering quan­daries and simple con­struc­tion dilemmas abound during any type of home construction.

This web­site is all about sharing expe­ri­ences in moving toward self-reliant living. Building our mort­gage free cord­wood masonry home was the first big step in that quest. Future arti­cles will detail the process from start to finish. Everything from the con­cepts behind the design of Lakewood Hollow to our expe­ri­ences in its con­struc­tion will be explored. My hope is that you will use my expe­ri­ences as a spring-board for your own cord­wood masonry adven­ture. Building your own mort­gage free, cord­wood masonry home is an excel­lent step toward self-reliant living that will fill you with pride and a pro­found sat­is­fac­tion. I hope you will join me in this adventure.

You can find great infor­ma­tion on cord­wood masonry at DayCreek.com and Rob Roy’s Earthwood site.