Houses With Grass Roofs In Norway

House with grass roofs on the slopes of mountains near djupvatnet lake in norway.

Houses with grass roofs in norway.

For hundreds of years houses in norway have been covered with turf. Norwegian houses in national style lake norwegian hut with green grass on the roof. During the viking and middle ages most houses had sod roofs. The load of approximately 250 kg per m of a sod roof is an advantage because it helps to compress.

These roofs are covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards. Roofs in scandinavia have probably been covered with birch bark and sod since prehistory. Tile roofs which appeared much earlier in towns and on rural manors gradually superseded sod roofs except in remote inland areas during the 19th century. And they come in different varieties.

Some are bright green and almost velvety. Norwegian grass roofs the norwegian translation is torvtak which means turf roof. Others are golden and look like they re growing wheat or oats. Norwegian grass roof homes.

A number of turf roofs have flowers mixed in with the grass and a few have small trees. In rural areas sod roofs were almost universal until the beginning of the 18th century.