[Cob] round wood, posts, deck

[Shody Ryon]

Hi Tys,
How long do you want the yurt’s floor to last? Are you
opposed to purchasing a relatively small amount of
factory farmed wood? The reason I ask is that, at
least in California there is only 2% or less of the
old growth forest left.

Granted, a 12” diameter tree is not old growth. Still
here are a few of my thoughts.

Sequoias are so spectacular and the factory farmed
wood comes from areas that have already been
decimated. I know this is not the right way to think
of this because you would be paying money to the
people or corporations who decimated the forests in
the name of money. Are there faster growing or shorter
lived trees that you can cut? I realize you probably
want to use the redwood because of its termite
resistance qualities. My opinion is that wood is not a
great build material in many ways. Its expands and
contracts with the weather making sealing it
difficult. In the 10 or so years that I work in major
remodeling in southern California I only came across
one house with no *apparent* termite damage to the 2x4
studs. So Cal has a similar climate to a desert; very
low humidity so termites shouldn’t grow there easily,
hence my conclusion about wood not being the best
material in general. I have seen termites in red wood
and cedar, so that wood is not foolproof in that
regard either. Even if no termites eat the wood, how
long do you expect a desk to last? How about 15 to 25
years, if you reseal it every year or three. Is that
how you wish to spend your time? I am not that
comfortable sharing my house with insects because of
my choice of building materials or building a
structure with built in obsolesces. I think cob and
earth bag construction are so superior to yurts for
living in one place that you might consider replacing
the yurt with a cob structure after the first cob
house is finished, if you wanted a second structure
long term. The rafters used in cob many cob structures
might be the best use of wood for structural
construction purposes, because the wood is away from
standing water (hopefully) and the interior portion
gets a chance to dry out by the rising warm air inside
the building.

I would hesitate before cutting down a redwood to make
a floor or deck. If no one else cuts it down it can
live thousands of years and help remove carbon
(monoxide, dioxide) and supply oxygen to the air. What
a concept! Also there is an advantage to living
directly on the ground, which is being in direct
contact with the life force from mother earth. Try an
internet search for earth tether carbon fiber mattress
covers for more info. You could flatten out an area of
land or redwood needles (leaves) and put the yurt
there. If there is rain that can get under the yurt,
how about some French drains around it?


Do you need to clear some land of redwoods for another
reason? I don’t know the answers to letting it dry.
There was a show on the Science Channel on TV a month
or so ago where they showed drying of wood. They use
kilns, but I would think that you would not have to
dry red wood. I used to use very wet Douglas fir 2x4s
for building houses and that is more likely to twist
and warp that redwood, I would think. Also the wet
wood is less likely to split when nailed and the nails
go in easier. I would say that it is standard practice
to use wet wood for ruff construction. As far as piers
go, if you can mix and pour your own concrete, then
you can dig holes and put concrete in them and mount
it up on top and put a 6 inch long piece of redwood
2x6 or something similar laying flat and level on top
of the concrete with galvanized nails tacked in the
bottom that extend down into the concrete. That is
better than a pier in my opinion because the pier is
supposed to be set in a concrete filled hole anyhow.
So the concrete pier gives a little extra termite
clearance. I don’t think they work that well for that
though and are unnecessary.

Good luck!
Shody  


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