Here in BC, they are sometimes called "cordwood" and "stovewood" because we
all read the same magazines and brouse through the same cheap publications
at
the coffee table how to do it sections of supermarkets and big box book
stores.

However, the more usual, and locally acceptable dialect here calls them "log
round" buildings, distinct from the "log homes" that have become a big
export
industry.   As firewood gatherers from the abundant local forests, we always
speak of "log rounds" as the things we can carry, pitch or roll to the
truck.

The good log round buildings were built with pieces cut from fire killed or
well seasoned dead trees.   There, the mortar and wood can still be tight
decades later.   The disasters were built from fresh cut trees, and leak
wind
like the grill on an Edsal.   I have seen walls with two foot long cordwood
only several inches in diameter (built by total amateurs - back to the
landers
from the city with lots of energy but no sense of country living economy),
and
one very old indigenous beauty with 6 inch thick large diameter (12" to
18") pieces combined with smaller "stuffers".   That was the 10' tall
basement
of an otherwise traditional looking "big red barn".  The thinness of the
wall
was striking, as was its aged solidity.    The "concrete" mortar was solid
as a rock, and although the wood was often checked on the outside surface,
the checks didn't pass all the way through.   The inside looked tight and
clean.

cp in bc

Quoting Barbara Mitchell <[log in to unmask]>:

> >It probably isn't appropriate in this warm humid climate - most of the
old
> >old cordwoods I've heard about were built in cold dry climes by Finns or
> >Swedes.

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