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Pier & Beam foundation for cordwood cottage

 
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I have spent a lot of time trying to research this question and I cannot find it addressed anywhere (books, online, etc.).  I am building a cordwood cottage in a cold climate (northern Maine) on expansive, clay soil which sits on rock ledge some four feet down.  My design calls for concrete piers that go down to the frost line- six feet- or as far down as my post hole digger can go what with the rocky ledge below.  My cordwood logs will be white cedar, 24" long, de-barked, and kept round.  I estimate the weight of each cordwood section (8' high) to be about 750 pounds per linear foot.   My question concerns the beams that will span the piers.  I want to do the beams in round timber (pine, spruce, fir).  In order to have a base for my 24" logs, I intend on laying two 12" diameter logs across the piers.  At the points where the beams lay on the piers, I will cut flats.  How many piers would I need to do if the cottage is 30' x 40'?  
 
pollinator
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As a Civil Engineer with no experience in log cabins, I would search for images of similar ones and see what they have done.
Can I ask why cordwood, when there is plenty of traditional log cabin building experience around?

Here is a link I found by searching, "building cord wood walls on pier and beam foundations"

Foundatiopnms for cordwood building
 
Alden Banniettis
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John, thank you for responding.  I am doing cordwood because that method is the only way I can afford to build my dream house.  I have the timber on hand.  At the same time I lack the kind of money that would be needed to either employ the help to build a log cabin, or to buy the materials.  I am a retiree living on a modest fixed income and I am trying to pull this off by myself.  Here and there, I will have a helper, especially for doing the roof, but all in all, the budget is horribly small.  Fortunately, for me, I have the land and wood, the time, and most of my health!  I checked the link you gave me, but I still come up with only a pretty rough estimate for the number of piers.  I suppose I will overbuild things a bit, since I do not have the money to hire an engineer.  At the moment, I have designed in a 30" diameter pier every six feet since I feel pretty confident the town engineer will approve that.  
 
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Alden, when we were building our house I found this website to be extrememly useful:

https://countryplans.com/smf/index.php

They may not have any cordwood builds though they do have lots of pictures of log home foundations.

I hope something on that website will answer your questions.
 
John C Daley
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{Please keep me posted, In am interested about the outcome. Will you use lime plaster between the timber bits and use a metal roof?
 
Alden Banniettis
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John, the logs will be stabilized using mortar in the common fashion that most cordwood structures use.  I do not have the exact recipe handy at the moment, but it includes sand, lime, clay and perhaps some Portland.  I also have yet to decide on the insulation.  That will be something like sawdust, borax, cedar shavings, etc.  There are may recipes out there for the mortar and I will have to spend some more time on it when the time comes.  I will certainly be posting on Permies as the build progresses.
 
John C Daley
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You will find Portlaqnd cement is detrimental to the mix. It causes moisture to be trapped, which causes rotting oif the timber.
 
What's that smell? I think this tiny ad may have stepped in something.
A rocket mass heater heats your home with one tenth the wood of a conventional wood stove
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