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.