Traditional Grass Roof

And they are long lasting.

Traditional grass roof.

In the past makers of norwegian log cabins would place moss in between the logs that made up the walls. These days the grass roofs are built out of tradition and simply because they look nice and fit in with the norwegian countryside. The load of approximately 250 kg. Turf roofs in norway are a tradition and you will see them everywhere.

Its distribution roughly corresponds to the distribution of the log building technique in the vernacular architecture of finland and the scandinavian peninsula. The first step is the covering of the house roof with plastic sheeting. 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. They are very heavy so they help to stabilize the house.

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. Intensive roofs are more park like with easy access and may include anything from kitchen herbs to shrubs and small trees. The advantages of turf roofs also called sod roofs are many. You can walk out from the second floor of this house onto the green roof sod roof of the first floor which creates a grass covered patio.

This thick sheeting will be the grass roof waterproofing membrane. Roofs in scandinavia have probably been covered with birch bark and sod since prehistory. Traditional roof gardens which require a reasonable depth of soil to grow large plants or conventional lawns are considered intensive because they are labour intensive requiring irrigation feeding and other maintenance. The overlapping of two plastic sheeting must be at least 4 inches.

Traditional black norwegian wooden houses. To attach the membrane to the roof structure use asphalt mastic. They provide good insulation.