A cordwood masonry duckhouse

At first, my three ducks lived in an unplastered straw bale house. But then a skunk or weasel burrowed its way through, leaving me one less duck to accommodate in duckhouse no. 2:

There was no foundation, just a bed of mortar on the clay soil. The lumber for the frame was recycled oak from a 1920s garage and the roof was scavenged metal.

Most of the rounds were sassafras. They were only about 4 inches long, way shorter than recommended for a human house. The mortar was a mix from the hardware store. I used straight mortar--no insulating break, for obvious reasons.

By far the greatest labor was debarking and cutting the wood. I stripped bark with an old chisel and set up a cutting jig for the chainsaw. It took two full days to build the walls for the approx. 4- by 4-foot house. The roof structure was already built--I just lifted it off the strawbale house.

I built the frame, then infilled with the wood and mortar. In some places I stuck a screw or nail in the wood to give the mortar something extra to grab on to.

The duckhouse worked fine for a few years. If I cared about drafts, it would have needed regular caulking. Unfortunately, the ducks became wildlife food when they were outside the house, so the house became a short shed.

One day, a strong wind yanked the door hard enough to pull a beam out of place. That was the beginning of the end. The mortar didn't have a good enough grip on the beam, the wall got wambly, and it became entertaining to give it an occasional kick and watch it crumble.

The duckhouse is gone now--everything will be recycled again. If I built another cordwood shed, I'd use longer logs and add lots of nails or screws as mortar keys.