Harebrained Exterior Siding Idea??

[MountainDon]

On my daily walks I come up any number of novel ideas from time to time.  :-? Frequently by the time I return home I have poked holes in my own thoughts and have left the idea discarded by the roadside.    Today an idea has stuck. So I'll lay my neck on the chopping block, expose my tail feathers to the flames that will most certainly be thrown.

Begin with a standard framed wall, sheathed with CDX or OSB. Then #30 building paper. Conventional so far.

A sidenote: I do like the cordwood look, but for a small cabin with a sloping grade (drop of about 2 1/2 to 3 ft in 33 feet) it's not too practical as I do not want to get into a perimeter foundation strong enough to support the weight of a proper cordwood wall.

So we have a basic straightforward wall at this point. Now, cut a bunch of "discs" from logs, 1 to 2 inches thick. Apply discs to walls for a faux cordwood appearance.  

How to affix discs to wall?  ??  Cover walls with chicken wire as if going to stucco the wall. Use globs of a mastic to glue wood disc to wire mesh. Maybe drill a hole dead center and use a S/S nail or a deck screw. Maybe mortar the spaces, maybe not.  :-/

Okay, I'll stand still with my back to the concrete wall. No blindfold.

Take aim....

[glenn kangiser]

Reminds me of the Mexican Flu-Flu Bird, Don.

Lives on a diet of Chile peppers and refried beans and flies backwards to keep his tail feathers cool.  

Yes -- I know -- I posted it here somewhere before....  Live with it.  In my defense, he did remind me of it again.

You should have to live inside my head -- then you'd see what it's like. :-/

Your idea sounds good, Don, if that's the look you want.

Note the faux beams sticking out of the earth plaster above the window.  

The rounds are only about 6 inches long but I wanted the pueblo look for that wall.  You could do as I did also -- use stucco netting - the chicken wire on paper kind behind the log rounds to hold the plaster.  May not be cost effective but it's an idea.

If I remember right I drove nails into the wall - cut the heads off then drove the rounds onto the nails so they didn't show from the outside - the nails were a bit short.  After that I plastered around them to hold them in place permanently.  The nail holes were a tight fit in pre-drilled holes - I used spikes with cut off heads on these.

You could toe nail or screw in on a 45 at the edges under the plaster depth to achieve the same hidden attachment effect.

[Redoverfarm]

You people in the west have a lot of time on your hands.  You could probably also use the lag type screw(loss of the proper name) that is used to attach legs to sofa and the like. Everything would be hidden but of course you would have to spin the blanks onto the wall.  Another idea would be to staple a piece of chichen wire on the back of the blanks and then attach it to the wall over the already installed chicken wire. I know but the post was named "harebrained".

[desdawg]

Someone once told me my mind was like a dark alley in a bad neighborhood. You just don't want to go in there alone.
Like most of my cost saving alternative methods this one will be labor intensive. But given the cost of siding and your available time it may be worth it to you. The most difficult part will be to not split the rounds if you use fasteners. A 2" thick cured round will be fairly brittle and have a lot of potential for breaking. If you don't let them dry out completely they will tend to stay together better but they will shrink later and you will have an ongoing process of redoing your mortar/stucco/caulk joints surrounding them and they may check or crack as they dry.
I once sided a house using scraps of RBB mnsonite sheet siding. I cut the 8" "barky" part into shingles 12" long and then applied them alternating up and down 1/2". I had free siding from scraps (and it looked good) but a zillion caulk joints and a lot of time invested. My two most valuable commodities are time and money. If I have one I am usually short on the other. I ofter wonder what it would be like to have some of both simultaneously.  :-/

[glenn kangiser]

I think we're nearly twins. desdawg.

[peter nap]

[highlight]I ofter wonder what it would be like to have some of both simultaneously.  undecided[/highlight]

Let me know if you find out!

[Redoverfarm]

If that is the common denominator to being related "who's your daddy"? Wish I could be balanced but when you are retired it will never happen until you are looking at the other side of the grass.

[PEG688]

 Yes !

[MountainDon]

Yes !

     The more I think about it I agree. I should have taken a longer walk...  

[desdawg]

Don, if you had taken a longer walk you may have had two ideas! Then we could have had two new topics.
Yes Glenn, I see lots of similarities. But I saw that from my first visit here.
Peter if I ever find out I will let you know. When I am rolling hard I usually manage to salvage a lot of material from here and there and it get's stockpiled until the pendulum swings. Then I have enough stuff to make a really good start on something but never quite enough to finish. That is when the lack of money comes into play. It is really quite a non system.

[MountainDon]

Today I thought of a modified method of attaching the discs. Drill a pilot hole thru the OSB/CDX sheathing. Then the helper on the inside would use a screw from the inside to secure the wood disc. Even more labor intensive...

I think the one thing I did do right on this thread was in naming it.    

[PEG688]

#1: Today I thought of a modified method of attaching the discs. Drill a pilot hole thru the OSB/CDX sheathing. Then the helper on the inside would use a screw from the inside to secure the wood disc. Even more labor intensive...

#2: I think the one thing I did do right on this thread was in naming it.    

#1: That's how  I sometimes attach light fixture exterior blocks , placards for house #'s , outlet blocks , etc.

#2: I agree , hence my one word answer in a earlier post  

[firefox]

In Berkeley CA on Hearst Ave. just above Sacramento avea few blocks is a very
spectacular fence made from a combination of Large red wood disks about 2 inches thick and
anywhere from 2 feet to 4 feet in diameter. The spaces between are filled in with river rocks.
It is really spectacular. I believe the used some rod threaded through the long way to tie everything together.
Bruce

[ScottA]

I thought I had the goofy ideas. I feel better now. Thanks Don.

Scott

[MountainDon]

I feel better now. Thanks Don.

The Psychiatrist in IN.

[glenn kangiser]

And - not to discourage your doing this, Don -- harebrained or not -- I think that most of the above methods will work and it will definitely look cool, so I hope you decide to do it.

What mortar methods were you considering -- Rob Roy added sawdust to the mortar for insulation value - maybe some lime for preservation also.  I can check formulas if you get serious.  Mortar can be waterproofed and darkened a bit with the addition of Henry's 107 or ss1h.

[MountainDon]

....and it will definitely look cool.      

I agree on that.

....mortar methods were you considering

Hadn't got that far, but i'm not worried about increasing the insulation so much as making it durable. Main insulation would be inside the framed wall, and possible inch of foam around the exterior.

It would be nice to be able to simply stick the rounds on the wall with mastic like ceramic tile. But that would need something solid to stick to. And not give away any waterproofness and increase the cost to a point of "why bother".

:-/ :-/ :-/ :-/

[glenn kangiser]

The areas to be grouted can be pretty large also depending on the size of the rounds and depth of mortar.  It will probably still take quite a bit.

[MountainDon]

The Harebrained Exterior Siding Idea has evolved.

DW has suggested we do an interior wall. that has some merit; it would not need to be waterproof.

We have the winter months to cogitate upon the whole matter.

[GunPilot]

I like it.  Maybe you could bloot some Liquid Nails on the back side and stick it to your chicken wire/wall.  A faux cordwood wall, ie, an alternative building technique for an alternative building technique. Don't forget the colored glass bottles in there too.

[MountainDon]

And firefox's mention of the redwood disc and river rock fence was cool.

Add some rock mixed in with colored glass, pottery, beer cans, on the wall and it might be a nice eclectic touch.  


Cutting some rounds this weekend to see how they dry down.   :-/

[firefox]

I was thinking about this and if you can set up a jig so you can drill some long
holes through these disks. ie not through the center but from one side to the other,
then rotate it 90 degrees and drill another, but one diameter up or down so that
the holes cross, but don't intersect.

Now get some ss cable that will slide through the holes and weav a wall.
Bruce

[NM_Shooter]

Hmmm... Could you put mastic on, then use a brad nailer to tack them in place?  Set your drive deep enough and you would never notice the holes after a rain or two.

-f-

[MountainDon]

I never thought of that. I have a couple finishing nailers. That could work.

Although today I was thinking and decided that perhaps the only way to make this work, and have a waterproof wall, would be to prep the wall as for stucco. Felt, chicken wire, scratch coat and brown coat at least. Then attach the wood rounds, and mortar in between. Maybe mix in some flat river rock.

   I'd have to learn a new trade. 

Karen has expressed a willingness to do an interior wall which is a good sign. 

[glenn kangiser]

That's a good plan, Don.  It will work as that is the way my wall is.