Building with telephone poles

[TheLostCossack]

hello everybody,
I have been wondering if any of yall have any experience or knowledge about building with telephone poles.

My neighbor is a lineman for the local electric co-op which in turn gives me access to a pretty good supply of used telephone poles. right now my partner and i live in a yurt which will not last forever and so we have been really trying to concentrate on building a house of some sort. we first wanted to try a cob home, than we started leaning more towards straw bales because of insulation purposes. we have been becoming more and more concerned about humidity becoming a problem for strawbale and cob around here (southeast KY) and also our own land has a very large cave opening which seemingly contributes to an even higher amount of humidity and mildew.

so based on the humidity issue we have changed our focus to wood construction.

I have heard a few different places about a health concern using telephone poles for construction. the poles i would be getting are not creosote treated but they are pressure treated (i think he said salt water?).

i know that using the poles for the structural aspects of a house would not really be an issue but i also have access to a saw mill so it would be possible for us to use the poles as interior boards as well. so should i be worried about getting sick or any long term issues with pressure treated wood on the interior? is it really a serious concern? because if not the possibility of building an almost 100% treated house that would last a very long time for almost no money sounds very appealing....

so what do yall think?

[MWG]

Are you going to paint the inside with Kilz or something similar? I personally wouldn't if I wasn't going to seal them on the inside of the house...

[michiganfarmer]

my dad has a garage built with telephone poles. It is a pole barn type building.

[Common Tator]

Look at this article about Dorothy Ainsworth and the verticle log cabin she built.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ainsworth32.html

Code in Oregon required that she put framed walls inside, and that gave her a place to insulate. So she wound up with a beautiful and distinctive cabin that she built herself, and it sounds like something you could do with your poles. If they are pressure treated with something toxic, I would think that the vapor barrier would protect the inside of the house from off gassing, but I am no expert.

[CowgirlGloria]

"Salt treated" is not just table salt. It means that whatever was used to treat the wood was water soluble. There have been a number of chemicals used, some which have been phased out. However, since these are used posts, it could be that the chemicals used were phased out. One very common chemical combination that has been discontinued for health / safety reasons is CCA: Chromated Copper Arsenate. There are a number of other possible chemical combinations that could have been used in this "salt water" treatment. I would assume CCA unless I could definitely establish otherwise. It is unlikely that it would be ACQ, Alkaline Copper Quat, as that is more recent and also not as good for ground contact as CCA.

I would look at stack wood construction with a local hardwood before I would look to telephone poles. They can make excellent corner posts for fences, though, if you cut off the decayed portion (the reason they have been replaced).

Good luck!!!

[MedicalUser]

Look into CORDWOOD MASONRY. There some good sites out there. Rob Roy, Jack Henstridge are proably the leading builders in this field. I have built several buildings this way. The insulation value of the logs would be great, especially in 18-24 inch lengths. I built with 18in logs. I wont go into great detail about it here, theres been loads already written. Im not sure about the pressure treated part on the poles, but i have seen many picture and read many descriptions of people using poles like that for cordwood.I would check out what they were treated with. The great thing about the poles is that they are already debarked, and dried. All you got to do is basically pour a slab, cut the poles to length and lay them up in a mortar mix, just like bricks! Easy as pie, put window wherever you want, door too. Just need some strong dimensional lumber for sills and jams. Put a roof on and your basically done. A finished building. No interior to finish, i.e. drywall,painting etc.. Exterior is finished too. It is really owner/builder friendly. All kinds of possibilites, you could even build your cordwood house ROUND like your yurt if you so desired. The description i gave is vague, and there are many steps i left out, but you get the general idea. You only need a basic knowledge of carpentry to build a house like this. If you can read a tape measure, use a level, and got a bit of common sense , you are in business.
Good luck to you. If you need any info ill try to help. I built my buildings with the bare bones of money and equipment. I can give you some tips, of how to do it "bush" style

PeAcE

[TheLostCossack]

ahh thank you very much. i will have to look in to what they are treated with...yeah local woods are at the top of our list as well. we have a good amount of poplar on our land, not to mention the abundance elsewhere. finding out about these poles though got me thinking of all the possibilities. what we will probably do is use them for rafters,joists, and studs and then harvest the floor boards and stuff from our land...

do you think a vapor barrier would be sufficient for blocking the gassing?

[Gary in ohio]

I would be concered with the chemicals that are in the wood. Figure arsenic at least.
For a equipment building maybet, but not for a building for man or beast.

[CowgirlGloria]

CCA was discontinued in part due to its dangers to the carpenters exposed to the sawdust during construction. It was also discontinued as it tends to ooze, and children crawling about on decks and playground equipment built with the stuff would put their hands in their mouths and otherwise ingest the stuff.

As you know if you have worked with wood, the sawdust tends to go everywhere - it coats skin, clothes, hair. If you do work with this stuff, invest in decent equipment to collect and control the sawdust and keep it from flying everywhere. Also, wear a mask and gloves. And wash up good after working with it.

Also, DON'T BURN any extra left over chunks that you cannot use. The smoke will be toxic. It should go to a landfill.

Personally, I would not use CCA treated wood for my home.

[Scrounger]

My brothers helped build a "log cabin" out of telephone poles in the early 80's. They cut notched the poles just like an old time log cabin until they were several feet up. The top 5 or 6 feet was made from the cross pieces (the part that held the wires) laid diagonally. They "finished" most of the rooms inside, but left a couple with just the poles. It is a really beautiful structure and no one has had any ill effects from working on it OR living there (well, one brother is a little nuts....). Other then that, I use them as poles in sheds and corner/fence posts. If you have any extra, send them to Nebraska - I'll use them!

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by TheLostCossack

do you think a vapor barrier would be sufficient for blocking the gassing?

Doubtful. We've looked into something similar ourselves.
If you do use poles, do it as an external construction. Ie, a pole barn type of house where the poles remain outside the living area.
There are several good books on pole barn (house) construction.

[muzzelloader]

A good friend built a very nice log cabin from salvaged telephone poles a number of years ago. But was a very big problem the preservative used on the poles gave off a strong chemical odor and never dissipated. So ended up that was a big problem trying to line the interior so as to stop the smell. It never really was completely reminded.

[MisFitFarm]

Could you seal the poles somehow? Maybe that would help with the vapors. Or treat them with Kilz befor you sheetrock the inside walls. If you can use them safely, I sy go for it! It would certainly make one solid house!

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by muzzelloader

A good friend built a very nice log cabin from salvaged telephone poles a number of years ago. But was a very big problem the preservative used on the poles gave off a strong chemical odor and never dissipated. So ended up that was a big problem trying to line the interior so as to stop the smell. It never really was completely reminded.

And more importantly than the gasses that you can smell are those that you can't.

[texican]

I'd pass, unless you've got a very good health insurance policy... Even the 'good' pressure treated wood, is bad, and not meant for large human habitations...

If you have access to a sawmill, and iffen' I was broke, I'd start collecting slabs and strips and make a board and batten house. My local bandsawmiller throws tons of wood on the 'firepit' each week. A 20' board with a bad wane on the last two feet, goes on the burn pile. I grab all of these when I visit... cause you never know when you'll need an 18' board!

[Jolly]

Wouldn't use them for a house.

Used them on many a barn, though...

[HockeyFan]

I'd love to have the opportunity to have all of those old telephone poles. My only concern would be the stuff they're treated with, but if you can take measures to keep it from off-gassing inside the house, then it wouldn't be a bad thing. The great thing is that these poles would be sturdy, they're a reasonably uniform shape and size, and if they are treated, are more insect resistant.

[Quint]

They make outstanding corner posts. Even seen a massive gate made from old utility poles. They were notched and bolted together with steel plates.

[homedad]

my dad built a cabin with a friend out of phone poles 35 years ago. It's used probably 100 days a year, and no ill effects at all except that your clothes smell like creosote when you get back home. No problems at all, and free wood was really helpful!

[Buttermilk]

I never used round poles for any building, because I find it diffcult to get it square.