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What kind of construction is this?

Started by Bkhabra, May 01, 2023, 07:36:29 AM

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Bkhabra

My mom recently sent me a pic of a barn my grandfather built back in the 40s.  Looking at the wall, it appears to be concrete and log scraps mix together?  This barn was built in Canada, and I'm sure they didn't have much money.  Anyone seen this type of wall before?  I'm curious to know what the construction is and its purpose.   I'm guessing that that just what he had on hand, so he used the timber scraps instead of stone?


Stephen1

Welcome to forum. if you fill out your profile, location, town, country,  it helps us answer questions. Canada is pretty big. Where in Canada was this barn? This is a stacked log wall, people used and still do, some type of cement firewood logs set in it. 
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Bkhabra

Cool, thank you!  I had never seen this before.  

I'll try to figure out how to fill out my profile, I'm in Virginia.  This barn was made near Temiscaming, Quebec in Canada.  

I looked up both cordwood and stack wall construction and both came up with multiple hits.  Thanks again for the information, it's much appreciated 

Jim_Rogers

Cordwood wall infill. And it has been used in many areas for many years.




 

 


 
Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

RPF2509

Cool house Jim.  Reminds me of one I saw working on the redwood coast.  Hippy homebuilder collected rejected shake bolts and cemented them into a round house - not as big as the one in the picture but 3 stories tall with rooftop deck.  Looked like a castle turret.  Walls were two feet thick.  He had to taper the shake bolts to get a good circular fit.  Small woodstove kept it heated in winter and thick walls kept it cool in summer.  Guy said all he paid for was the cement - and the gas driving around the woods looking for shake piles.  Windows, doors and fixtures were all salvaged.  It was over 50 years old when I saw it and looked in great shape.

Jim_Rogers

Those are colored wine bottles in the wall to let in different color lite.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Sod saw

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RPF2509

What is a shake bolt?

Sounds like a cross between a steel bolt and wood roof shake.  (I don't think that it is though.)


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LT 40 hyd.          Solar Kiln.          Misc necessary toys.
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It's extremely easy to make things complicated, but very difficult to keep things simple.
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Prizl tha Chizl

We've got cordwood barns and cabins here in WI that are a little over 100 years old. I read it was a realatively new building technique developing in Scandinavia at the end of the 19th and was brought here by immigrants. I've always liked the look and added some details to our home when we added on a "granny in law" suite and a mud room a few years ago

 

 

  
My main complaints with the method are-
Poor R value made worse by lots of cracks that are caused by the fact that
Wood moves much more than masonry over the year.
Very labor intensive.
But it's pretty, and if you came to America expecting streets of gold and everlasting bounty only to find yourself somewhere that offered nothing but wind, rocks, and a few scraggly Aspen you could still make a barn just like the land lords back in the old country had.
"The Woods Is My Church"

RPF2509

A shake bolt is the chunk of wood that was split into shakes (also called shingles)  Typically 24" long though in the redwoods 3' was not uncommon as redwood splits very easily.  Shingles or shakes were used as roofing and siding.  Knots can throw off a good split so rather than messing with them, bolts with knots were tossed aside.  It was common for redwoods to have a goose pen (a cavity created by fire or rot) in the butt log so it was common to find the butt log left and the rest of the log removed for lumber.  The butts were a preferred target for shake bolt cutters as being at the base of the tree had the smallest knots. Rounds would be cut out of the log and then split into managable bolts that were either hauled off or split on site into shakes.  Railroad ties and fence posts were frequent by products of leftover butts.  Both could be gotten out of the woods with little equipment, so many people earned spending money splitting.

RPF2509

What was interesting about the house I saw compared to the posted pictures was that the builder had spent the time to taper and shave each piece so not much cement was needed to hold it all together.  Each bolt was 12"x12" or bigger and none was round - more angular- it really looked like stonework

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