In central Russia, in Siberia - an abundance of forests. Not surprisingly, from time immemorial, our ancestors built their homes from wood. The huts of African tribes, like tiles, are covered with palm leaves. In mountain settlements, homes and even fences are made of boulders.
What is the igloo made of, the national house of the Eskimos, in the middle of endless snowy deserts? That's right, from what is there in abundance, that is, from the snow. It is from the frozen blocks of water that the needle is built. Photos of these buildings are striking in their ideal forms.
Description of the snow house
The igloo is a domed, ideally of a regular spherical shape, structure made of bricks cut from compressed snow. The shape of the building was not chosen by chance. A ball is a geometric volumetric figure with the smallest ratio of surface area to internal volume. And this is important, since with a decrease in surface area, heat loss decreases.
In addition, an ideal spherical shape gives the structure of a seemingly fragile material such as snow, extraordinary strength. According to travelers, even for a polar bear, the problem is to break through the walls of this snowy fortress.
The entrance to the house is a "waiting room" in the form of a tunnel. This design prevents the penetration of cold winds.
Procurement of material
Igloo - what is a similar structure in our time and in the modern city? Of course, no one offers to live in such a house, but why not frolic with children in the country, and not feel like a real conqueror of the north.
First you need to prepare building materials for the needle. What are bricks for the home of the Eskimos, what are they? There are three options for their procurement.
The classic version implies the presence of a powerful and sufficiently durable snow infusion. In this case, snow (if it is, of course) or a conventional saw cut bricks from the snow in sizes slightly smaller than the standard block of gas silicate.
If the snow is wet, it is unlikely to cut it, but it is excellently molded. Standard bricks can be made using a workpiece (a hastily knocked-down rectangle of any material) or by molding them manually, providing a standard size for the eye.
And finally, if the temperature is below zero, the snow does not mold and all the snow mass is loose, then you can not do without a form. The snow will have to be stacked and tamped, slightly moisturizing. After the block is tamped, the mold is removed and the next one is filled with the same macar. After a while, the bricks harden in the cold.
Construction process
The next step will be the marking of the “construction site”. You can easily achieve an even circle by sticking a ski stick in the center of the future structure and circling the circle with any piece of twine. After the outline of the needle is drawn, the first row is laid out of the prepared bricks.
You can simply lay out row after row, but it will not be a very natural needle. What needs to be done to erect a building in accordance with all the rules?
In the first row all the blocks of different heights. The first lies entirely, the size of all subsequent gradually decreases, and when the circle closes, their height goes to zero. Having built the first ring in this way, then you can simply take the blocks and stack them in a spiral.
When laying, it is necessary to ensure that each subsequent turn slightly falls over to the center of the structure, forming a dome. Thus, the entire igloo house is erected, with the exception of the hole in the center of the dome. It is closed with a special block of round conical shape from the inside of the structure.
The hole - the entrance to the snow house - in order to avoid collapse, the walls are made only after it becomes difficult to climb over the wall. Ideally, the builder gives blocks to the assistant, and the entrance is cut open at the very end.
Finishing work
It is worth remembering that protection is not just from the cold, but from the fierce northern frost - this is the task of the igloo. What is the quality of entry for her, so it’s clear. So, in order to prevent ice winds from entering the house, the entrance to it is built in the form of a tunnel, sometimes curved, so as not to leave any chances to the flows of cold air.
What the needle is made of, the entrance is also made of the same material. Two parallel rows of blocks are laid out from the dome and then are expanded. As in the case of the construction of the dome, each subsequent row is slightly closer to the center. This continues until the walls meet in a semicircle at the top.
And finally, after the dome and entrance are ready, all the seams are carefully covered with snow. This finally seals the structure.