Comments on: Norwegian Houses

By: Jasmine

Jasmine — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:13:14 +0000

I have never seen so beautiful house. It shows me the culture of the country

By: dylan

dylan — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:50:41 +0000

veryy nicehouses

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:24:23 +0000

They don’t need to make houses out of wood (which has very high fire danger levels) and could easily make brick homes with heated basements to deal with the frost-line.

In the Midwest and NE parts of the USA (and I am sure in many parts of the world) most of the houses are brick or partial brick and have basements.

Here in the Pacific Northwest houses are mostly wood but have central heating if it’s built after the 60s.

I used to think it/basements were for tornadoes but I found out it was to prevent the houses from *heaving* off it’s foundation due to the frost-line penetrating deep and then thawing constantly.

_____________________
from L-Jay:

They might not ‘need’ to make houses out of wood but I’d say 95% of houses are made of wood – and there are good reasons why. They usually have a cement basement but underneath is a layer of foam – it is the foam that helps with freezing/heat/movement, not the cement. I know of only one house in all of Alta that is made of brick. It is nicknamed the Dynasty house (after the TV show) because it is considered ridiculously extravagant having brick. Mostly houses are wooden nowadays because of expense. Brick would have to be imported. But it is so much better to have a wooden house for warmth – it is quicker to heat up and doesn’t collect moisture – wood expands and contracts in the weather, brick cracks. Norway is very moist, the midwest has a dryer cold. Brick gets too moldy here. No one really has central heating in Norway a part from apartment buildings – it is way too expensive and needs a lot of maintenance. A lot of houses have wood fire ovens that give a dry heat which is better suited to Norway than central heating. Brick houses don’t do well in a Norwegian climate. Plus they would take away the aesthetic charm of Norway.

By: Fredrik S.

Fredrik S. — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:11:18 +0000

I don’t know anyone that actually lives in a house with grass on the roof. Often those “houses” are “Hytter”, almost like summerhouses(except that we use them more often). If you want to take a look at average Norwegian houses, check out this link to houses for sale. (Finn.no=”Find”.no
http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/homes/result?areaId=20003

____________________
from L-Jay:

yes, but – um… I beg to differ – There are regular houses that use grass on their roofs. It is something that has come back in fashion since ‘green energy’. And finn.no is certainly not a place to find such houses to buy as they are high in demand and a little too ‘classy’ in real estate terms for such mass exposure. There are even general stores and pubs with grass roofs! And many many farms – I even know of a modern cow barn that was specifically built with a grass roof to save energy and preserve warmth for the animals in Nordland.

Many types of houses, a pub, hytter, in Norway with torvtak:
http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/torvtak/Interesting

A modern barn with torvtak to reduce energy:
http://www.gardsplassen.no/?side=nyhet.php&ni=280

By: raisadan

raisadan — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:38:55 +0000

Hi All!
I’m American (ofNorgegian decent) living in Kazan, Russia. I’d like to be in contact with people familiar with Norwegian house building techniques. I’m just finishing up a log house here and would like to build a smaller house with Norwegian know-how and techniques. Things are built rather shoddily here and I want to do the next small house “Norwegian style,,,,materials, insulation, foundation..the works! You can contact me at: dachniki60@gmail..com. Many thanks! Dan

_____________________
from L-Jay:

Are you looking at building a modern house? or just a log cabin?