Traditional Turf Roof Construction

A sod roof or turf roof is a traditional scandinavian type of green roof covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards.

Traditional turf roof construction.

This house s roof construction used prefabricated trusses from turner timber. Oak was the preferred timber for building norse halls in. There are two basic methods of pitched roof construction. Pitched roof construction.

Icelandic turf houses icelandic. Its distribution roughly corresponds to the distribution of the log building technique in the. The stud construction of the typical frame structure for instance doesn t lend itself to sod roofing but log cabins and buildings of post and beam design are especially well suited for such a. Traditional or cut roof.

Torfbæir were the product of a difficult climate offering superior insulation compared to buildings solely made of wood or stone and the relative difficulty in obtaining other construction materials in sufficient quantities. 30 of iceland was forested when it was settled mostly with birch. Until the late 19th century it was the most common roof on rural log houses in norway and large parts of the rest of scandinavia.