Before being abandoned, the original house had a number of different structures built onto it. All the external surfaces were covered with siding panels and the interior was plastered. One outside wall has been exposed and these sod blocks are slowly melting back into the farmstead. The exposed north side of the original house shows that these walls are two stacks deep. Wider walls made a stronger structure and kept the temperature more consistent.
Soddies are warm in winter and cool in summer.
They do get humid in damp weather, however, depending on the condition of the roof. The sod house below, north of Mitchell , Nebraska , has been turned into a fortress by the addition of externally formed concrete. Peeking out from underneath all that concrete, however, are clumps of the original sod. Colorful field stones have been embedded in the concrete on the front of the house, facing south. Mostly quartz, the rocks refract the sunlight as the day goes by and add some flash to this Little Bunker on the Prairie.