Icelandic Turf House

The Icelandic turf house (torfbær) is a building type in which walls and roof are made largely of cut turf supported by a wooden frame on a stone foundation. Turf houses were built in Iceland from settlement in the 9th century until the early 20th century, and "The Turf House Tradition" is on Iceland's Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage nomination.

Construction

A typical turf house starts with a base of flat stones. Above it stands a timber frame, and turf blocks are stacked around the frame to form the walls, often in decorative patterns such as herringbone courses. The roof is also covered with turf, laid over the timber structure.

Timber was scarce. Native birch was the main framing wood, because oak, preferred elsewhere in Scandinavia, did not grow on the island, and driftwood was valuable. On many older houses the only exposed wood on the outside was the doorway, which was often decorated.

Why turf?

Turf was available almost everywhere and gave far better insulation than thin timber or uninsulated stone, which mattered in Iceland's cold, wet and windy climate. Its drawback is that it needs regular maintenance: walls and roofs settle, absorb water and must be rebuilt every few decades.

Development

The early houses followed the Norse longhouse. From the 14th century, longhouses were gradually replaced by clusters of smaller, specialised and interconnected rooms. In the late 18th century the burstabær became popular: a row of buildings with timber gable fronts facing the yard and turf behind. It is the form most often pictured today and survived well into the 20th century.

Turf buildings were then replaced by timber houses clad in corrugated iron, and later by reinforced concrete, which better resists earthquakes. A house at Sveinatunga in Borgarfjörður, built in 1895 with cast-in-place concrete walls, is regarded as the first of its kind in Iceland.

Preservation

In 2011 Iceland placed twelve turf farmsteads and two turf churches on its UNESCO Tentative List. Restoration projects and training courses in recent decades have helped revive the craft of cutting and laying turf, which the buildings depend on. Eiríksstaðir in West Iceland is one preserved example open to visitors.

Related traditions

The Icelandic turf house is closely related to the Norwegian and Faroese torvtak roofs, though in Iceland turf formed the walls as well as the roof covering.