page_title: Sod house
hierarchical_section_title: Sod house
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Speisekammern in Keldur
context_page_description: The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, if the prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone, or the poverty of the settlers precluded purchasing standard building materials, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant, free, and could be used for house construction. Prairie grass has a much thicker, tougher root structure than a modern lawn.
  A type in Alaska is a barabara.
  Construction of a sod house involved cutting patches of sod in rectangles, often 2 ft × 1 ft × 0.5 ft, and piling them into walls. Builders employed a variety of roofing methods. Sod houses accommodated normal doors and windows. The resulting structure featured less expensive materials, and was quicker to build than a wood frame house. However, sod houses required frequent maintenance and were often vulnerable to rain damage, especially if the roof was also primarily of sod. Stucco was sometimes used to protect the outer walls. Canvas or stucco often lined the interior walls.
context_section_description: The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, if the prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone, or the poverty of the settlers precluded purchasing standard building materials, sod from  thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant, free, and could be used for house construction. Prairie grass has a much thicker, tougher root structure than a modern lawn. 
  A type in Alaska is a barabara.
  Construction of a sod house involved cutting patches of sod in rectangles, often 2 ft × 1 ft × 0.5 ft (61.0 cm × 30.5 cm × 15.2 cm), and piling them into walls. Builders employed a variety of roofing methods.  Sod houses accommodated normal doors and windows. The resulting structure featured less expensive materials, and was quicker to build than a wood frame house. However, sod houses required frequent maintenance and were often vulnerable to rain damage, especially if the roof was also primarily of sod. Stucco was sometimes used to protect the outer walls. Canvas or stucco often lined the interior walls.
  While the influence of the sod house cannot be overlooked, stone or timber was preferred. Where railroads existed, allowing easy access to building materials, most houses and buildings of the period were framed.
caption: A sod farm structure in Iceland
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