Well, that is the MOST beautiful Irish shed I have ever seen. I would live in it. Watch out for the fairy folk.

Edna

And a fine Irish Shed 'tis.

I believe the first glimpse we saw of the shed, you had made another little annoucement. How are you doing?

Nell

Nell,

What an amazing memory you have! I forgot I even made that announcement! I'm eight months along now and baby and I are happy and healthy so far! (Both of us are glad to be done with big buildiing projects!) Looks like January 15 will be the big day, so who knows, could be a new years baby if he/she comes early. How sweet of you to ask!

I remember this wonderful shed and your other little "project" too. Something in January to take our minds off of frozen ground and sleeping blooms.

I love cordwood/stackwall buildings - never heard them called Irish before. W hat a wonderful job you did.

Nancy.

I too remember this fabulous shed.
I'm happy to see it again. Thanks for posting it again.

Libby

Camaria - That is a great shed! You and your husband have done a beautiful job, and (wow!) you even made your own windows and doors. My compliments to the both of you.

ThinMan

That is just a fabulous structure!
I saw some built that way in two places:
Long ago as a child in Flagstaff, Arizona - a restaurant and small lodge, and a few yeas later up at Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear in California. We went to Santa's Village. Santa's house was built like that, I think.
Anyway, I didn't remember it until I saw your. That is just unbelievably beautiful!
Congratulations on all accounts - your skills and abilities, having a helpful hubby, your Irish Shed and the soon to arrive little one. ~ Annie

Nell's memory is better than mine! I remember the shed, but not your wonderful announcement. Congratulations on both accounts.

I think the shed is just remarkable.

That is fantastic! You and your husband did a wonderful job. I've seen those in magazines and on line, but it is nice to know someone from our forum here who actually made one. It really is beautiful!

Congratulations on the shed and on your coming little one.

FlowerLady

Your shed is gorgeous. You have every right to be proud. Well done, and thanks for sharing the photos!

Lorna

Oh what a fine little shed! I will add one to my list of "needs", lol, needs me a bigger property. A new baby soon here at the cottage, what fun, all the best, Martha

What a beautiful Irish shed Camaria! Good luck with the Baby! Will be thinking of you and sending good wishes your way!
My second child was due on St.Patrick's day. So, we decided to name him Glenn. He was a week overdue (and the pattern remains to this day :-)).

Great shed! I'd never known they called it an Irish shed. You did a great job and I'm sure will get so much enjoyment out of it. Love the stained glass window, very creative.

Love the shed. Can't wait to see the cottage garden that will inevidably show up around it.

Gorgeous Camaria!

I've done a fair bit of masonry, but never incorporating wood. Aren't there worries about how it will hold up, or do you treat it first?

Love the bottle window!

~Ana

Ana - my info on these sheds is that they are pretty much indestructable. Wood does not like to burn on end. They are tough, tough, tough.

Nancy.

Isn't it just a joy to look at?

Here, termites would climb right up there and eat the insides out of anything not treated or sealed. The concrete would just give them something to build little tunnels on to climb up.

I too have a Glenn, also born a week overdue; still promising to visit on Friday -- 'or I could come tomorrow' -- and turning up a week later. He was born the year that astronaut John Glenn circled the earth -- the first time!

Nell

Thanks from me and 'the kid'! Its wonderful to know so many lovely people are thinking of us.

Ana, we're not too worried about how the shed will hold up. It's far too cold for termites where we live and we did spray a clear sealant on the exposed wood ends, but that was mostly to delay them from greying. The only part I'm anxious about is the shed is not on a foundation (Anything on a foundation around here increases your property taxes). The shed's just sitting on stacks of concrete sidewalk blocks. The frost might heave it up a bit, and that movement might cause some cracks in the mortar down the road. Buildings like these often run into concerns with the wood shrinking and popping out as they age, but this is easily fixed by spraying expanding foam (usually used for draft proofing) around the piece of wood.

Since it's just a garden shed, I'm not too worried about a few cracks here and there. I'll just fill them as they appear.

Apparently, in Ireland, some of these cordwood barns are centuries old. If that's the case, my garden shed might be around after my house is gone!

That's an impressive project to build from scratch. Well done! I'm just wondering though, about its name 'Irish shed'. I've never heard that expression before and would be interested to know where it comes from. My understanding of the Irish coutryside is that there is not a lot of wood about and that most vernacular buildings are of stone. Can you tell us the source of your design? I googled lots of possibilities but couldn't find any reference to historic wooden agricultural buildings in Ireland. Using the timber end on like that is very unusual and I've never seen it anywhere I've been in the UK. But I have never been to Ireland.

Flora, we used a book called 'Sheds' by David Stiles as a reference to build out cordwood shed. He had what he called an Irish shed on his front cover that caught my eye when I noticed it was stackwood/cordwood masonry.

According to him, he was inspired to build his by a shed he saw in Ireland who's owner said it was well over a hundred years old. We just took to calling ours an Irish Shed as well, but a more proper name for the building process is probably stackwood or cordwood masonry.

I've seen a few pictures of buildings in France and there are quite a few in the States, but your right, wood would have been a very precious resource in Ireland so this building method wouldn't be too common there, I imagine.

Perhaps the author of our book was weaving a bit of a tale!

Sure any wee fairy or leprechaun would settle in and proudly call this shed home! (So would I, hehe!)

Chuck,
You might not get any responses, since the last post was 5 years ago. I would guess that the insulation quality would depend on the thickness of the slices of wood. It may also depend on what the curing process was (if any) for the cord wood.

Martha

Fantastic job! For those that are interested in learning more about Cordwood or Stackwall building this is a great resource. Michigan has quite a few good examples of this ages old technique. There are a lot of fabulous pictures on the site if you take the time to explore.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cordwood

Wow, I didn't expect this thread to still be alive. We no longer own the acreage or the lovely little shed, but I still see it when I drive by, and it looks to be holding up well. Chuck, the beams were just rough milled pine 6x6 from a local mill, untreated except for stain application after. The skids that the floor of the shed were built on were the only treated wood used as they were contacting the ground. The insulation quality in this particular shed is slim to none, as the walls are just 6" thick firewood chunks and mortar. Some of the wood shrank a bit as it should have been stacked once chopped to size and let dry for a bout a year. So this shed definitely is not insulated. A lot of cordwood builds use longer lengths of firewood and only apply mortar on the inside and outside edge of the walls like chinking, they infill the middle with sawdust. These style of builds have great insulating properties. Thanks for the questions. I had a lot of fun building the shed and am happy to see so much interest in it. freezengril, thanks for the awesome link!

Camaria: I'm glad you check this thread from time to time. The shed you built is beautiful. I am wondering about the mortar mix. I have the book with the recipe, but when the author mentioned "parts," he did not mention if the parts were weight, volume, or other. Would you share how you made the mortar? thank you!

q

We did it by volume and it seemed to work fine. Literally we just used a bucket to mix the mortar and sawdust. If I were to do it again, I think I'd moisten the sawdust first.

Basically get it the consistency of mud pies. Just like when we were kids...lol

Thank you, camaria. I read somewhere else to soak the sawdust overnight, also. Is the shed holding up against the elements? I am concerned about snow in contact with the bottom foot or two of the cordwood sides causing swelling of the logs and/or rot. Thank you for responding to my post. I really appreciate your help!

q

We no longer own the acreage that houses the shed, so I can't answer as to how well it's aging. It would be about 6 years old now and it still looks good when I drive by. Ours was built on a treated wood deck platform and I think that helps a lot. There was a bit of initial wood shrinkage because although our wood was aged a year before we used it, it was not aged while cut to length, in our case 6" pieces. So there were some gaps in the grouting after the first year. If it's any help, there's an older cordwood shed in the area I live in now. We get a lot of snow and it seems to be aging well. I sprayed the exterior walls with Thompson water sealer once a year.

Hi camaria, thank you so much for the information. I hear conflicting information about treating the ends also. There are a few cordwood masonry "experts" (books and internet) that seem to contradict each other quite a bit, so I'm looking for anecdotal evidence to decide what to do. You've helped me. Thank you!

q

Camaria, sorry to bug you again, but I noticed a rectangular opening in the cordword wall opposite the door. Is that a doggy door? :)