Hap Mullenneaux sent me a link to this photo and suggested that it should be called “Little House is a Landscape.” This house is located in Norway where green turf roofs are very common.
For hundreds of years houses in Norway have been covered with turf. And they come in different varieties. Some are bright green and almost velvety. Others are golden and look like they’re growing wheat or oats. A number of turf roofs have flowers mixed in with the grass, and a few have small trees.
The advantages of turf roofs (also called sod roofs) are many. They are very heavy, so they help to stabilize the house; they provide good insulation; and they are long-lasting.
shouldn’t that be landscape on a tiny house? 😉
Absolutely! I’m having a big laugh in a tiny house!
I don’t think that’s a turf roof, I think it’s a shake or shingle roof that’s gone beyond needing repair. Take a good look at its construction. I wouldn’t be surprised if those trees were rooted in the ground and had poked through a roof that was already damaged. The house is buckling under it.
Shakes and shingles are really, really uncommon on Norwegian roofs, and – as far as I know – unheard of for houses of that vintage. On the other hand, for Norwegian houses of the same vintage (and social/financial standing) as the one in the picture, turf roofs are quite common – and for an untended turf roof, trees setting root in the sod is something that happens. If left long enough, the roots of the tree will start digging through the roof, destroying it.
It was – is – not a turf roof.
Looks more like a neglected sod roof de-stabilising a house! Should have put some goats up there when those trees were tiny saplings.
Puts a whole new spin on “tree house”.
that’s a regular roof that hasn’t been cared for in 20+ years.
One tree to many on that roof…very pretty there though!
This roof looks as if it’s destabilizing the house. In fact, it looks like a roof ready to cave in at the slightest provocation.
I can’t imagine anyone is living in this structure at this point.
I agree…this roof looks as if it is pure neglect. And I also don’t believe anyone could live there safely…have seen old abandoned homes like this in the country side of the US…and they are empty!
Very provocative! I can think of a dozen stories to set in this house and landscape!
I’m guessing the trees won’t grow much more than that due to limitations on their root structure.
It looks uninhabited. I think it is just about to collapse the roof. I imagine the tree roots go into the roof and into the house and possibly back down into the ground again through a crack in the floor. Tree roots can be quite advantageous.
The entire house looks like it’s about ready to fall down.
This keeps coming up: does turf really “insulate”?
As I understand it, insulation works by trapping pockets of air.
(OK, there are radiant barriers – “foil” of some sort – but many question the efficacy of this to typical domestic heat regime, i.e. it works very well to reflect radiant heat, but that is mainly the sun shining on to your roof, not the usual convective heat that we generate inside a building).
So, when the turf is dry, it probably would insulate, how much compared to most common materials sold as insulation I have little idea; but when turf is damp / waterlogged, all it does is add very considerable mass to the roof, which will conduct heat out (or in) to the building.
All in all, I suspect not a very useful insulating material, when really you want the insulation (in colder and for many people, wetter winter months).
This may be a niggly point, but I actually think this detail is important for people understanding stuff when they may be building…
Cool! I wish someone could get some interior photos of the occupied homes in this series.
Looks like all the tree’s & grass upon that roof are making it very heavy…I’ve loved all the tiny houses so far….except this one.
I saw a turf and flowers roof on a log house in northern Wisconsin. Very pretty and a local postcard showed a goat eating dinner up top. 🙂
Our Norse ancesters were careful and canny in their use of building materials and their techniques for building a house to last –no built in obsolescence back then. They were not short of trees in Norway or Sweden if they wanted wooden roofs, so we must be missing part of the knowledge for how a sod roof worked to their advantage.
They designed ships strong enough to manage storms on the Atlantic and the North Sea; their wooden stave churches are built inside like an upside down boat. (Google “stave church” images and be amazed.) They knew even in the centuries before our Medieval Age how to waterproof reed boats and wooden boats in corrosive salt seas.
That the abandoned house still stands with those heavy intruders says something good about their building methods too. Fascinating!
This is definitely neglect. I bought one like it. Yes the roots go to the ground and the resulting trees are vere well established. The home we purchased had a poorly designed addition that trapped debris against an eve. More than a dozen trees adorned this roof. A sod roof would catch these seedlings, left unattended, would grow like you see here. And yes, they would eventually deconstruct this house as you also see here. Great location for a new construction site! You would definitely be buying land, not a home here. Those roots will even ruin what little foundation this older home likely had.
Still cool to photograph though!
I’m an architectural desinger/drafter so perhaps i notice things most people don’t —- but if you look at the house’s walls and roof, the house looks like its about to collapse under the weight of the roof. Part of designing a house is to design the roof and walls to carry the weight of the roof and any weather related stresses like snow, hurricanes, etc. Sod might be a good idea, but its weight and needs to be considered in its construction —- and trees, even small ones, are HEAVY. I would condemn this house against human habitation in a heart beat.
Looks like a grow operation going on.
I think its beautiful. It is the earth reclaiming its self. Who said anything about living in it? Why not just enjoy the beauty? Not everything has to be practical.. It’s definitely a picture to enjoy, since we don’t see anything like it around here! Thanks for sharing..
Nice photograph. Can’t tell if that’s a sod roof or not, but it’s been there a long time ’cause those evergreens are pretty tall. Hum…wonder what kind of paint they used? Looks pretty good after all those years. Can’t imagine someone keeping up the paint and not the roof.