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Cordwood
Cordwood construction (also called cordwood masonry or cordwood building, alternatively stackwall or stovewood particularly in Canada) is a term used for a natural building method in which short logs are piled crosswise to build a wall, using mortar or cob to permanently secure them. This technique can be made to use a wide variety of locally available materials at minimal financial cost, and is a classic example of trading a higher raw labor requirement for technical ease and cost-efficiency of building (a common feature in back-to-the-land alternative/traditional building methods). Construction Walls are usually constructed so that the log ends protrude (are proud)from the mortar by a small amount (an inch or less). Walls typically range between 8 and 24 inches thick, though in northern Canada, some walls are as much as 36 inches thick. Cordwood homes are attractive for their visual appeal, economy of resources, and ease of construction. Wood usually accounts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Building
Natural building or ecological building is a discipline within the more comprehensive scope of green building, sustainable architecture as well as sustainable and ecological design that promotes the construction of buildings using sustainable processes and locally available natural materials. This in turn implies durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those that, while recycled or salvaged, produce healthy living environments and maintain indoor air quality. Natural building tends to rely on human labor, more than technology. As Michael G. Smith observes, it depends on "local ecology, geology and climate; on the character of the particular building site, and on the needs and personalities of the builders and users." The basis of natural building is the need to lessen the environmental impact of buildings and other supporting systems, without sacrificing comfort or health. To be more sustainable, natural building uses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creosote
Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood, or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were used historically as a treatment for components of seagoing and outdoor wood structures to prevent rot (e.g., bridgework and railroad ties, see image). Samples may be found commonly inside chimney flues, where the coal or wood burns under variable conditions, producing soot and tarry smoke. Creosotes are the principal chemicals responsible for the stability, scent, and flavor characteristic of smoked meat; the name is derived . The two main kinds recognized in industry are coal-tar creosote and wood-tar creosote. The coal-tar variety, having stronger and more toxic properties, has chiefly been used as a preservative for wood; coal-tar creosote was also formerly used as an escharotic, to burn malignant skin tissue, and in dentistry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Heat
In thermodynamics, the specific heat capacity (symbol ) of a substance is the amount of heat that must be added to one unit of mass of the substance in order to cause an increase of one unit in temperature. It is also referred to as massic heat capacity or as the specific heat. More formally it is the heat capacity of a sample of the substance divided by the mass of the sample. The International System of Units, SI unit of specific heat capacity is joule per kelvin per kilogram, J⋅kg−1⋅K−1. For example, the heat required to raise the temperature of of water by is , so the specific heat capacity of water is . Specific heat capacity often varies with temperature, and is different for each state of matter. Liquid water has one of the highest specific heat capacities among common substances, about at 20 °C; but that of ice, just below 0 °C, is only . The specific heat capacities of iron, granite, and hydrogen gas are about 449 J⋅kg−1⋅K−1, 790 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure, particularly a building, support and shape. Framing materials are usually wood, engineered wood, or structural steel. The alternative to framed construction is generally called ''mass wall'' construction, where horizontal layers of stacked materials such as log building, masonry, rammed earth, adobe, etc. are used without framing. Building framing is divided into two broad categories, heavy-frame construction (heavy framing) if the vertical supports are few and heavy such as in timber framing, pole building framing, or steel framing; or light-frame construction (light-framing) if the supports are more numerous and smaller, such as balloon, platform, light-steel framing and pre-built framing. Light-frame construction using standardized dimensional lumber has become the dominant construction method in North America and Australia due to the economy of the method; use of minimal structural m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydraulic Lime
Hydraulic lime (HL) is a general term for a variety of lime different from calcium oxide (quicklime), that sets by hydration and consists of calcium silicate and calcium aluminate, compounds that can harden in contact with water. This contrasts with calcium hydroxide, also called slaked lime or air lime that is used to make lime mortar, the other common type of lime mortar, which sets by carbonation (re-absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air). Hydraulic lime provides a faster initial set and higher compressive strength than air lime, and hydraulic lime will set in more extreme conditions, including under water. The terms 'hydraulic lime' and 'hydrated lime' are quite similar and may be confused but are not necessarily the same material. Hydrated lime is any lime which has been slaked whether it sets through hydration, carbonation, or both. Calcium reacts in the lime kiln with the clay minerals to produce silicates that enable some of the lime to set through hydration ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portland Cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar (masonry), mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th century by Joseph Aspdin, and is usually made from limestone. It is a fine powder (substance), powder, produced by heating limestone and clay minerals in a kiln to form Clinker (cement), clinker, and then #Cement grinding, grinding the clinker with the addition of several percent (often around 5%) gypsum. Several types of portland cement are available. The most common, historically called ordinary portland cement (OPC), is grey, but white portland cement is also available. The cement was so named by Joseph Aspdin, who obtained a patent for it in 1824, because, once hardened, it resembled the fine, pale limestone known as Portland stone, quarried from the windswept cliffs of the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Portland stone was p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lime (material)
Lime is an Inorganic compound, inorganic material composed primarily of calcium oxides and hydroxides. It is also the name for calcium oxide which is used as an industrial mineral and is made by heating calcium carbonate in a kiln. Calcium oxide can occur as a product of coal-seam fires and in altered limestone xenoliths in volcanic ejecta. The International Mineralogical Association recognizes lime as a mineral with the chemical formula of CaO. The word ''lime'' originates with its earliest use as building mortar and has the sense of ''sticking or adhering''. These materials are still used in large quantities in the manufacture of steel and as building and engineering materials (including limestone products, cement, concrete, and mortar (masonry), mortar), as chemical feedstocks, for sugar refining, and other uses. Lime industries and the use of many of the resulting products date from prehistoric times in both the Old World and the New World. Lime is used extensively for was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinus Glabra
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as current, with additional synonyms, and ''Plants of the World Online'' 126 species-rank taxa (113 species and 13 nothospecies), making it the largest genus among the conifers. The highest species diversity of pines is found in Mexico. Pines are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; they occupy large areas of boreal forest, but are found in many habitats, including the Mediterranean Basin, and dry tropical forests in southeast Asia and Central America. Wood from pine trees is one of the most extensively used types of timber, and some pines are widely used as Christmas trees. Description Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing tall, with the majority of species reaching tall. The smalle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern White Pine
''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada, west through the Great Lakes region to southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota, United States, and south along the Appalachian Mountains and upper Piedmont to northernmost Georgia and very rare in some of the higher elevations in northeastern Alabama. It is considered rare in Indiana. The Haudenosaunee maintain the tree as the central symbol of their multinational confederation, calling it the " Tree of Peace", where the Seneca use the name ''o’sóä’'' and the Kanienʼkehá:ka call it ''onerahtase'ko:wa''. Within the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Mi'kmaq use the term ''guow'' to name the tree, both the Wolastoqewiyik and Peskotomuhkatiyik call it ''kuw'' or ''kuwes'', and the Abenaki use the term ''kowa''. It is known as the "Weymouth pine" in the United Kingdom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Larch
The western larch (''Larix occidentalis'') is a species of larch native to the mountains of western North America (Pacific Northwest, Inland Northwest); in Canada in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, and in the United States in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. It is the most productive of the three species of larch native to North America. Description The tree is a large deciduous conifer reaching tall, with a trunk up to diameter; the bark ranges from orangish to purplish brown. The crown is narrow conic; the main branches are level to upswept, with the side branches often drooping. The shoots are dimorphic, with growth divided into long shoots (typically long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only long with only a single bud. The leaves are needle-like, light green, long, soft and very slender; they turn bright yellow in the fall, leaving the pale orange-brown shoots bare until the next spring. The s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three varieties: coast Douglas-fir (''P. menziesii'' var. ''menziesii''), Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (''P. menziesii'' var. ''glauca'') and Mexican Douglas-fir (''P. menziesii'' var. ''lindleyana''). Despite its common names, it is not a true fir (genus '' Abies''), spruce (genus '' Picea''), or pine (genus ''Pinus''). It is also not a hemlock; the genus name ''Pseudotsuga'' means "false hemlock". Description Douglas-firs are medium-sized to extremely large evergreen trees, tall (although only coast Douglas-firs reach heights near 100 m) and commonly reach in diameter, although trees with diameters of almost exist. The largest coast Douglas-firs regularly live over 500 years, with the ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
