Cordwood Shed Build (part 5)

Last week I was trying to get the cordwood wall finished up and the new to me window framed in.. Progress is unbelievably slow but I'm working mostly by myself. This is not exactly a one man job, cordwood requires friends.

Progess on the wall.....slow as always!

Got the window all framed in. I still need to finish caulking and put the vinyl stripping on the edges, but it's in! I used some really ugly brown caulking on part of this hanging project because I had run out of the white color caulk. It is going to have to be removed and re-caulked because it's absolutely hideous with this white vinyl.

Getting soooooo close to done with this wall. I added a green Mason jar....because I can, that's why. I mean Hell, they are called Mason jars, right? You can't go wrong with this one!!

Fortunately, if the jar cracks it won't effect the structural integrity of the wall, and if it cracks badly I can easily replace it with a piece if wood. No worries here!

My ugly construction mess. I was putting the tools away as I went, but every time I put something away I would need it again!

Getting all ready for more Mason jar masonry....

The salvage door I bought along with the window. Floor needs pouring before this piece is insalled.

Getting the jars all mortared in....

Looking pretty cool! And I am almost done with this stupid wall!!

Ya know....if I had the rest of my life to finish building this, and alot of buddies to help I might do more of this cordwood stuff. As in an entire house!

It is a TON of work and it takes forever. It is labor intensive and back breaking. But it's turned out really, really cool looking. The structural integrity of this is also good, the wall was 'earthquake tested' and flexes really well without cracking at all. Yay!!

Just about there!!

I plugged up the holes at the bottom of the loft with correctly sized 2x4 lengths. I also took the opportunity to use a few screws and secure the cordwood wall to the loft framing. There was no real need, but it makes me feel better knowing the wall is just a little bit more anchored.

I still have a couple more pieces to add, I ran out of mortar this morning. After that, I'm going to hang a 2x6 header on top of the loft joists to kind of protect the top of the wall from water, and also as a footing for the siding that is going to make up the loft area walls.

This job is going to need some chinking where my mortar mix was too wet or the pointing was bad or a piece of wood shifted with wet mortar, but I consider that to be finish work that comes later down the road.

Floor and walls first, we'll worry about sealing and insulating and all that fun stuff later. I'm not looking forward to hand pouring a cement floor but that's the next step and needs to be done soon. Earthen floors sound romantic and all, but I don't want to live in the dirt any more than I do already.