[HN Gopher] Icelandic turf houses: Laufas, Glaumbaer and others
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Icelandic turf houses: Laufas, Glaumbaer and others
Author : thunderbong
Score : 45 points
Date : 2025-01-19 10:36 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (rachelsruminations.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (rachelsruminations.com)
| nanna wrote:
| Turf roofs are a phenomena of the past in Iceland. In the Faroe
| Islands the culture is still very much alive and much more
| ubiquitous and impressive.
|
| https://guidetofaroeislands.fo/best-of-faroe-islands/8-place...
| rob74 wrote:
| Well, green roofs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_roof)
| are having a comeback all over the world, so it's quite
| possible Iceland will pick them up again as well...
| rob74 wrote:
| Thanks for posting this! We're planning a trip to Iceland this
| year, so the full trip description on this site is just what I
| needed...
| 0xEF wrote:
| For hot springs, go to Hvammsvik instead of Blue Lagoon.
| Hvammsvik was a much calmer, far less touristy experience with
| none of the kitchy BS.
|
| For some fun culture and history in Reykjavik, book a cooking
| class with Salt Eldhaus. Had a great experience there, the
| hosts talked about how much Iceland has changed from when they
| were young, got into the history of some of the dishes we made.
|
| Hakarl is a tourist gotcha, it's really not bad to eat at all,
| even outside of Reykjavik. Not my first choice, but you can see
| why it got them through long winters. If you have time, stop in
| Selfoss for the Skyr Museum and yes, definitely eat all the
| Skyr you find, it is delicious.
|
| Fridheimar, the big tomato greenhouse farm, is worth the drive.
| The food was good, walking around the grounds was super chill.
|
| We went during Oct of 2023, so the weather was between 40-50F
| and slightly rainy, but nothing we were not used to being from
| the northern parts of the US. Pretty decent time to see some
| Aurora Borealis though. You often can't see it with the naked
| eye unless geomagnetic conditions are absolutely perfect, but
| the camera on your phone can pick up things your eyes cannot,
| so don't be afraid to just snap pics of a seemingly blank sky.
| Bric3d wrote:
| +1 on blue lagoon, was way too busy to be enjoyable when I
| went, there's plenty of smaller hot springs around which are
| much nicer.
| mobiledev2014 wrote:
| Do both if you have time. We thought Blue Lagoon was awesome
| even though we try to avoid overly touristy things. Some
| things are popular for a reason.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| How do the turf houses deal with pests? The walls are made of
| dirt. Wouldn't worms and insects be burrowing into the home
| constantly?
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| I didn't even think of that, but I did think of moisture. In
| theory a good moisture barrier would help, but I don't think
| they had that in older times. I suppose a lot of heating on the
| inside would keep it dry, but heat + moisture = mold.
| jaapz wrote:
| Wood heating combined with "natural ventilation" should take
| care of any excess moisture inside
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| Materials like this are actually quite good at not trapping
| humidity but allowing it to escape and evaporate. Turf and
| clay are actually making a comeback as an effective way to
| insulate houses for this reason. Turf and dry soil actually
| are a bit hydrophobic. They don't absorb water that well
| unless you completely drench them. That's actually a problem
| in dry regions. Because rainfall just erodes the soil instead
| of absorbing into it.
|
| Having grass growing on the outside probably improves things.
| What little moisture is in there gets used by the grass. And
| the roots hold the whole thing together. And any excess water
| just runs off.
|
| Mold is what happens when moisture can't get away. It's a
| problem in modern construction when using materials that
| don't let the water through. Like concrete.
| FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
| Brick and plaster (as long as you don't seal it up with
| latex paint) are almost perfect at keeping proper humidity
| flow.
| theoreticalmal wrote:
| The (American) classics Little House on the Prairie books told
| a story of a family who lived in a sod house and constantly had
| bugs, critters, and even snakes fall from their ceiling onto
| their dining table (and everywhere else)
| chrisco255 wrote:
| I never read the books but watched some of the old TV show
| episodes. Those were depicted as wooden cabins in the TV
| show.
| FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
| "On the Banks of Plum Creek" - The Ingals lived in a
| dougout sod roofed house in Minnesota.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Banks_of_Plum_Creek
| kreykjalin wrote:
| There aren't any pests like that to worry about in Iceland. You
| might see earthworms and spiders, but I doubt you'd see much
| beyond that.
|
| Nowadays I suppose you might find ticks if they latch onto a
| bird and are left on the roof, but ticks are relatively new to
| Iceland and they're typically not found in towns and cities.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| Turf housing goes back to the Neolithic era and was spread
| throughout the globe, including of course Norway where the
| Icelanders came from. I've always wondered how they dealt
| with pests? Does the sod harden somehow?
| Tor3 wrote:
| I've never seen any pest problem in houses or structures
| built with or using turf in other ways. I have seen an old
| man picking lingonberries from a turf roof though. Not what
| I would call a pest..
| wussboy wrote:
| I suspect they had a very different relationship with
| things we would find annoying.
| nottorp wrote:
| Ooo. "You have been blocked".
|
| I probably have too many privacy plugins.
| fbfactchecker wrote:
| The author, after 4 years, is probably still afraid of
| contracting Covid from you; given that she spend more than a
| paragraph complaining about absent distancing.
| ternnoburn wrote:
| Covid is no less virulent or no less serious than it was 4
| years ago. Among well vaccinated populations, the seriousness
| of infection decreases, but among populations who cannot get
| the vaccine it is as dangerous as it ever was. It has not
| evolved into something less dangerous over time.
|
| Source: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PII
| S2666-7...
|
| On top of that, long covid remains a serious concern, and
| rates of long covid remain steady: https://www.thelancet.com/
| journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5...
|
| COVID also increases autoimmune disease risk by up to 40%,
| which can have life altering impacts. Source: https://www.med
| rxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.25.23285014v...
|
| Given the author may be from a place with poor healthcare
| that doesn't support the disease or autoimmune diseases well
| (e.g. the U.S.) or may be close to someone with a weakened
| immune system, it's very reasonable for some people to be
| cautious about covid.
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