[Cob] sinking logs in cob?

[Amanda Peck]

How well dried is that cedar?  My friends who used it in cordwood masonry 
hated it.  Maybe it continued drying and split a bit more, but they were 
inundated with Asian Lady-beetles.  So they plastered over the outside 
instead of trying to caulk each of the cracks.  It still looks nice inside.  
Perfectly lovely, in fact.  They didn't use it everywhere--part of their 
house is buried in the slope and they used slip-form stone/concrete for all 
that part.  The transitions are nice, natural borders and then cordwood 
masonry.

When Roy and Evans (not Rogers and Dale!) did cob cordwood, I'd be surprised 
if they did leave a insulating space.

If it was me, I would do it cordwood style, not putting logs in lengthwise.  
Seems like it would be stronger that way.

I didn't quite realize how much farther south you were, at least in terms of 
climate.  We'll most likely get our first frost later this month, tiny bits 
of frost in the low pockets, if not a killing frost followed by two weeks of 
Indian Summer.


..............

Kim wrote, snipped heavily:

....so we are planning to use the dried cedar [Eastern Redcedar] log 
sections.
.......

I know that in cordwood construction the walls are built with a space 
between the outer and inner walls--leaving a dead space or filled with some 
type of insulating material. ........  The average first day to reach 32 
degrees low temp is December 21st.

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