My experience with snow banks suggests that snow would not even be
tempted to slide off a 30 degree slope. Hence we can conclude that
turf roofs have to be able to carry whatever the expected load of
snow is.
>
> Turf roofs were the norm in Viking Iceland, so evidently supporting
> snow is not impossible. I guess the turf would weigh more than the
> snow.
I would guess it depends on how much snow you get, and how fast it melts off. This past weekend I climbed onto the unheated, flatroofed shed at the back of my house, in an annual late winter ritual, and shoveled off some of the thigh deep, fairly dense, snow that was on its roof. Mind you, it hasn't been such a bad winter for snow, out in St. Johns they've had more like three metres of the stuff so far this year. That much snow probably still weighs no more than the sod though, you are right. So the supports have to be more than adequate to hold the weight of the sod, but it should be possible. Hmmm, I'm thinking that sod roofed buildings probably also need more densely packed roof beams than do thatch roofed buildings.
>
> For some more ideas about house construction, see:
> http://www.regia.org/houses.htm
> http://www.sazp.sk/parabow/contacts/ribembuil.jpg
> http://viking.hgo.se/Files/VikHeri/Viking_Age/house.html
> http://www.wordplay.com/tourism/viking.html
Great links, thank you!
Having reviewed all that, I'm now wondering if Heortling long houses are "buttressed" with an outer, sloped wall, as were many of the examples discussed and shown. Besides any structural benefit it would have a lot of advantages, acting first of all rather like the fly on a tent (keeping most of the wind and rain off the inner walls, so that they are not so easily penetrated), it would provide some additional insulation value, it would give you somewhere fairly dry to store firewood in the winter, and it would make the hall walls more resistant to attack. Of course, it also takes more work and more wood. I would imagine that the structural requirement would show up most when dealing with steeply pitched roofs, so if the snow pack in most of Sartar isn't that bad they may never have found the necessity for this innovation.
Sorry for harping on this building thing. I just have this feeling that there are a ton of stories to be told around the hearth, and having a really clear view of the buildings and lay out just give players and narrators ever so many more options (along with providing more colour, of course).
--Bryan
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