The clay, making up approximately 20% of the volume of firewood, serves as the foundational element in turning a simple log into a sturdy wall of a firewood house.

To ensure warmth and prevent cracking, the clay should be mixed with finely chopped straw, amounting to 10-15% of the clay’s volume, and thoroughly blended together.

The construction of the wood-fired house’s foundation is relatively straightforward, involving a basic strip boot foundation, with layers of stone poured and bonded with liquid mortar, effectively filling all the voids.

The optimal depth of the foundation is limited to 1 meter, as the wooden wall weighs significantly less than brick and remains resilient to ground settlement. A length of 40-50 centimeters is ideal, ensuring the house remains warm even during frigid winters.

The technology for masonry in a wood wall is simple but demands attention to detail, carefully placing wood on the mortar with minimal joint thickness. To enhance warmth, a little-known technique is to lay the clay-salt mortar in two parallel beds, creating an air layer within the clay that prevents seams from freezing and forming cold bridges. Additionally, when constructing corners, employing the technique of dressing wood rows similar to conventional bricklaying enhances the overall structure’s strength.

The house measures 9×9 meters with one and a half floors, laid out using 40 cm long logs on clay. The walls were constructed in a log-like manner, with rows overlapping at the corners. A strapping, made from an inch board at 50-70 cm intervals, served for leveling.

Each wall is built in three rows of firewood at a time, avoiding more to allow the clay to dry properly and prevent the upper rows from squeezing the logs below.

It’s worth noting that there was no mention of using bracing shields (formwork, similar to tisse technology) when laying out the walls. The author implemented movable shields made of three boards in the entire length of the wall, both inside and outside, fixed to the finished wall with self-tapping screws at the bottom, and a spacer placed at the top to maintain the proper thickness of the wall and prevent logs from exceeding necessary lengths. These shields were instrumental in maintaining the verticality of the walls.

For windows and doors, boxes with a width matching the wall (200×100 board) were crafted and installed in place on the masonry. Additionally, a fifth wall (frame of timber 150×150) was introduced in the middle of the house, with the ends of the bar embedded in the walls.

The second-floor overlap (beams) was designed such that one end of the beams rested on the frame of the fifth wall, while the other was supported by the wall. To level the beams on the wall, a board was placed (the entire length of the wall). The second floor construction had to be halted due to the onset of frost, leading to water freezing and impeding further wall laying.