We build a wood-burning house with walls made of firewood - chock. Wooden chock leaves a child's profile as a keepsake Features and secrets of technology

Of all the variety construction technologies, this method of building houses is the most unusual and interesting. If we add to this the minimum cost, absolute environmental friendliness and impressive durability, then you will probably want to get to know him in more detail.

In Russian, this technology was given the not too euphonious name "clay pot".

In English, it is called cordwood, which translates as "woodpile". Both terms quite accurately define the essence of the technique, since its basis is ordinary firewood.

It is from this material, which is more familiar to us as heating oil, that original and solid houses are built in America, Europe and Russia.

The history of clay and wood-burning houses has more than one century. And today, across the ocean, you can see buildings erected using this technology by the first settlers. In Russia, houses made of firewood have been preserved in the former possessions of Count Leo Tolstoy. They were built by his peasants in the 19th century and still look quite presentable.

Clay pot technology is applicable to any type of building, ranging from chicken coops, sheds, garages, baths and ending with two-story country-style cottages. Load bearing capacity woodpile, fastened with clay, is not inferior to a brick wall. Firewood is a fairly light and plastic material. Therefore, the walls built of them are not afraid of shrinkage and heaving of the soil.

The main advantage of this technology is the ease of implementation. Even without special building skills, any "average" man will be able to build strong and even walls. To do this, you only need to periodically control the verticality and horizontality of the masonry, carefully and tightly laying the logs on the solution.

Building examples

Houses made of firewood and clay captivate with their unusual view and unique masonry aesthetics. Even an ordinary do-it-yourself smokehouse is guaranteed close interest from friends and neighbors.

If you want to build something more monumental out of firewood, then excursions will very soon begin to lead excursions to your house and be photographed against its background.

Even the most modest cottage with wood-burning walls turns into a real work of wooden architecture.

A small bathhouse with an earthen roof, built using cordwood technology, keeps heat very well. The cost of its construction is mere pennies.

A two-story cottage with wood-burning walls and an open gallery is a cozy nest for a family out-of-town vacation.

If you show a little imagination, using multi-colored walls in the masonry glass bottles, then you can create a unique beauty design not only outside, but also inside the building.

Features and secrets of technology

Building a house out of wood and clay is reminiscent of brickwork. Only instead of bricks they use logs here, and instead of cement mortar(although sometimes it is also used) - a mixture of clay with sand and chopped hay.

Wooden chocks are laid not along, but across the walls (just like a woodpile is made of firewood). Firmly linking wooden bricks", clay provides the wall exclusively high strength and fire resistance.

To increase energy saving, the clay pot construction technology offers a special technique: the clay is not spread in a continuous ribbon, but in two parallel beds, 5-10 cm wide. Sawdust, perlite, ecowool or any other loose insulation are poured into the empty space formed between the clay and the logs.

The cross section of firewood used in masonry can be anything, but their length is strictly the same. The ends of the firewood can be slightly let out beyond the plane of the wall (by 3-4 cm) to give the wall an expressive embossed texture.

It is better to split firewood before laying, because solid logs crack over time and open access to moisture deep into the walls. The bark should be disposed of by clearing the logs of it before construction begins.

Humidity of freshly cut building material"should be minimal, since firewood absorbs a lot of moisture from the clay solution. Before starting work, they must be dried under a canopy for at least 2 months.

In addition to firewood, a clay pot house requires a lot of clay (20-30% of the volume of wood).

Builders arbitrarily vary the number masonry mortar in the wall. Someone puts chocks on very thick layer solution.

And someone likes tight styling more chopped firewood on relatively thin seams.

Pay attention to the bandaging of wood walls at the corners, as well as near window and doorways. Here, the extreme logs are laid so that they go all the way into the adjoining wall. This is necessary condition strong bond corner connections and junctions to openings.

The configurations of clay-wood walls also differ significantly from each other. The easiest way is to build a building that is round in plan, since in this case there are no problems with bandaging the logs at the corners. Yes and appearance such a house is more expressive and original than that of a rectangular residential "box".

Wood masonry can be used not only as the main load-bearing structure, but also for filling gaps in a wooden frame.

Mortar and firewood

Sand is needed to prepare the solution. It reduces the fat content of clay and thereby reduces its cracking. It is put into the solution in a ratio of 2 to 1 (two parts of sand one part of clay).

Hay plays the role of an organic “reinforcement”, reducing the intensity of crack formation during the drying of the solution. It will have to be cut on a straw chopping machine or manually chopped with an ax (fibers 3-5 cm long). The amount of dry grass cuttings added to the solution is 10-15% of its volume.

The volume of water is determined by eye, ensuring that the solution is sufficiently plastic, but not fluid.

Firewood of any kind of wood (pine, oak, aspen, poplar, birch) is suitable for masonry. But to combine in the wall logs sawn from different types trees is impossible due to the unequal expansion coefficient.

The length of the firewood is chosen based on climatic conditions region. In the southern regions, 30 cm will be enough. For middle lane you need to cut chocks at least half a meter long. AT northern regions Russia optimal length logs is 60–70 cm.

Foundation, roofing and finishing

Since a clay-wood wall is much lighter than a brick wall, the foundation for it is not made too deep (60-70 cm is enough). But it is desirable to make the base higher in order to reduce the impact on the walls of melting snow and precipitation.

Another important point – eaves overhang roofs. For such buildings, it should be at least 80 cm wide. You can cover a wood-burning house with anything, but wooden shingles, straw, ceramic or shingles. Such a structure does not need finishing, but if desired, it can be plastered from the inside with clay mortar on wooden shingles.

While the walls are being built, they need to be protected from rain by a temporary canopy. After the masonry is completed and before the installation of the beams and roof begins, the walls must be given 1-2 months to dry and gain strength.

Estimated cost and profitability of construction

The price of building such a house is the lowest possible, since you do not need to look for materials for construction in stores. Clay and sand can be dug up right on the site or brought from the nearest quarry, and firewood can be purchased at the forestry or at the sawmill. Hay will be gladly sold to you by local farmers.

Let's calculate how much it will cost us to build 1m2 of a wall using cordwood technology (log thickness 50 cm) with our own hands. About 0.32 m3 of firewood, 0.12 m3 of clay, 0.04 m3 of sand and 2-3 kg of chopped hay are placed in one "square" of clay-wood masonry. The cost of all the listed materials today does not exceed 600 rubles.

For comparison, you can take the cost of purchasing the materials necessary for the construction of 1m2 brick wall 51 cm thick, insulated with mineral wool (10 cm). They will amount to about 1800 rubles.

In addition to the symbolic price, the reviews of the owners of buildings built using the clay pot technology contain high marks for the quality of the microclimate and energy saving. No wonder. Clay and wood are not only optimally combined in the wall, but also perfectly regulate the humidity in the premises. In a wood-burning house it is never too damp or dry, and in winter, even with a frost of -40C, you do not have to wear warm clothes.

Once upon a time there was a man named Tom Beshara in Colorado Springs. And he had two daughters. The 1st was born in 1977, the 2nd - in 1979. And at one fine moment, Tom wished to somehow immortalize his own kids at their early age. For memory. What do the ancestors do in such cases, besides taking photos and videos?

Well, for example, they put the child's hand on a piece of paper and trace it along the contour. You can do the same with a child's foot.

But Beshara was not satisfied with this, he wanted something else.

Thinking up a new one, Tom remembered how his wife Lori passed ultrasound procedure, and how he saw the profile of his own daughter in her mother's tummy. From this memoir, the concept began to emerge.

But in the profiles of this boy, the noses do not match (photo from the website turnyourhead.com).

Bechar's fascination with optical illusions, as well as the works of such painters as Escher and Dali, also played a role. Now Tom calls these painters ideological inspirers.

And so the zealous father asked a number of difficult questions. Is it possible to capture the space surrounding a person's profile? If so, what is the name of this place? Is there a method to make this place a solid object?

To all this, Bechara, in the end, received the answer "yes." It turned out that the profile can be saved in a three-dimensional tree form. So Tom "paused the moment" by carving out the profiles of his own daughters. And he calmed down.

But it was not there. Relatives and guests began to beg the master to do the same for them. Bechara always refused these pleas, saying that "this is only for my kids and for no one else."

The photo on the left shows how to correctly take pictures with a piece of paper. On the right, respectively, is an invalid option (photo from the website turnyourhead.com).

Exclusively in 2002, the grown-up daughters were able to assure dad that it makes sense to make profiles for other people. For money, obviously. Yielding to persuasion, in 2004, Bechart opened the company Turn Your Head, the name of which can also be translated as “Turn your head on a lathe”.

The company calls the products provided to customers "Pirolette". Here's what's being said about them: "We're filling in the space between the 2 opposing profiles of your face, spinning that space into a 3D view […].

Put your face on the Pirolette. You will see a clear match to your profile. Place a Pirolette against a wall and the cast shadow will be your silhouette. Your profile is forever captured in a piece of art, completely unique as it is you!

The company's range: "Pirolette" in various types of wood (photo from the website turnyourhead.com).

Now about how you can get a "tree self". For starters, a strip of paper 216 mm long, a camera with a self-timer, or people who will take pictures of you will come in handy.

Paper is a scale bar. According to it, the company enlarges the picture so that the photo comes out in true size. Other details production process is a company secret.

Before taking a photo, you should take off your glasses and take care of your facial hair. It is better if it is clean-shaven: mustaches and beards “distort” the profile, so Turn Your Head may not even take on the creation of “Pirolette” (although it does not hide the possibility of an error within 2 mm).

After the fight against vegetation, you need to choose a completely neutral homogeneous background, in the standard - an empty snow-white wall. Stand next to her, holding a paper next to your head, and try not to have any expression on your face. Succeeded? Let the bird fly.

It's a pity, but apart from applying to the head and looking at the shadow - there's not much else you can do with "Pirolette" (photo from the turnyourhead.com website).

The company recognizes that very small babies with such serious requirements will be very difficult to photograph, therefore it is recommended that babies be photographed while they are napping.

When the pictures are ready, choose a few more successful ones, turn them into JPEG files on your computer and send them to the company by e-mail. Upon receipt, you will receive a confirmation of acceptance of the order.

At the choice of the client, Turn Your Head will make a 3D profile from walnut, cherry or maple, polish it to a shine and varnish it.

In size, all Pirolettes are the same: 23 centimeters high and 13 in diameter. It takes up to 5 weeks to create. All this costs about $150. So grind your head if you wish.