It has been a while since I updated this blog. I don't have much new to say, but here is the latest design.Things that have changed:
- Only one bedroom
- Kitchen changed shape - U opening West instead of South.
- Walls now 2' thick. The people who built the 1950 house I'm in now did the minimum then, and we suffer for it today. I figured as long as I'm going through the trouble of building the house, I want to over-do the insulation.
- Front door is now on the North side, near parking. The South side will open, perhaps a French door, but will not be a thoroughfare.
- The construction is likely to have large wood posts every 8' O.C. around the perimeter. On the south side, imagine the space between being almost all window, for solar gain and lovely views.
- Sketched in framing detail. Pairs of round posts in the corners, ideally from whole, peeled trees from our land. Pairs of 6"x6" milled timbers along the sides.
What's missing
The utility room may be too small.
We'd like some more closets.
I'm thinking the house could be a little bigger. We tried to buy a house last year at 1500 sq. ft. My design is about that, but has 2' thick walls. A 50' x 30' house with 2'-thick walls has 320 sq. ft. just in the exterior walls! I can add a little area and still call it 1500 sq. ft.
I threw a bunch of windows on the South. It's not quite right, just a sketch. Also, need a few windows on the other sides.
Slipform cordwood idea
I want to do slipform stone masonry for the first 2' of the walls. You rip a sheet of plywood in to a pair of 2' x 8' panels, brace with some 2"x4"s, and set them on either side of the wall as forms. Large rocks go in, followed by mortar. (To do a whole wall, you do it again 2' higher, repeating all the way up.)
I will attach my forms to my posts, making it easier to position them just right. I will only do 1 course of stone, as an accent and to protect against rain splash.
One of the problems in cordwood masonry is the detail where interior drywall butts against exterior cordwood. Cordwood typically has an uneven surface, and I want a clean, sealed joint with the drywall, for soundproofing.
My idea is to continue to use the 2' x 8' slipforms on the interior, as we build the cordwood wall. This will create a more even interior surface, which the drywall can butt against more cleanly. The exterior will have recessed mortar, as is common in cordwood construction.
