Rhiannon
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round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 09:17
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My unhealthy addiction to the internet (apart from this site) at the moment comes in the form of reading the inane bickering comments on the guardian's articles. I've got to kick the habit because it drives me insane, it's one of those car crash things where I can't help looking.
Anyway there's lots of bickering about round vs square houses today, thought you might like it
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/12/housing-thinking-outside-boxes
I'd like a round house, me. Bit smokey and damp, obviously. Maybe I could have a modernised one though with windows and draught excluders. You can't squash so many of them on a field though so they're not going to catch on any time soon.
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thesweetcheat
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 09:31
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Rhiannon wrote: My unhealthy addiction to the internet (apart from this site) at the moment comes in the form of reading the inane bickering comments on the guardian's articles. I've got to kick the habit because it drives me insane, it's one of those car crash things where I can't help looking.
Anyway there's lots of bickering about round vs square houses today, thought you might like it
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/12/housing-thinking-outside-boxes
I'd like a round house, me. Bit smokey and damp, obviously. Maybe I could have a modernised one though with windows and draught excluders. You can't squash so many of them on a field though so they're not going to catch on any time soon.
Environmentally friendly building materials too. But not easy to build into high-rise blocks (actually, unless you count Brochs that is).
Good to see them referred to as round houses rather than huts too, which always makes them less than a home.
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Littlestone
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 10:48
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It's a real pain trying to fit your books into a round bookcase though ; -)
I've often wondered if round houses had an upper story. If even only half the area were used as an upper room it'd probably be big enough to sleep a small family (and probably be a lot warmer than sleeping down on the ground).
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goffik
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 12:11
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Circular houses also have the additional benefit of having nowhere for the devil to hide! ;)
Have you seen these wonderful houses in Veryan*, on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall?
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/38223
G x
* (*cough* Where there's also a very grand, yet totally railed-in holy well *cough*)
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nigelswift
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 12:25
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I've often wondered if round houses had an upper story....
Great speculation.
I'd say yes, almost for sure. You need collars - cross members at first floor level - to prevent the roof thrusting the walls outwards. Once you have those you're bound to lay timbers across them to form an upper floor.
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Littlestone
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 12:29
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"Five of these unusual houses were constructed in the village in the 1820's. It is said that they were built round "so that the devil cannot hide in the corners".
Oooh, very nice Mr G. Quite a few church towers up this way with round towers - but I think that's more to do with the lack of stone than the devil.
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Littlestone
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 12:34
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You need collars - cross members at first floor level - to prevent the roof thrusting the walls outwards. Once you have those you're bound to lay timbers across them to form an upper floor.
Ahh, there you have it then. You'd need a central opening for the smoke to get up to the thatch but that wouldn't reduce much of the upper floor space (and you'd be closer to the ham up there as well : -)
It all makes sense.
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StoneGloves
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 13:51
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One of the series, or perhaps two of the series, of Northern Exposure had one of the residents of Cicely, Alaska, living in a geodesic dome, which is a round house. It looked ok. Problems are supposed to be getting furniture to fit and condensation! Hut would have had a different association, back in the day. It is the old term.
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drewbhoy
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 15:45
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The round house at Birnie, Moray is described as multi storey. Hope that is a wee bit of help. The P and J reprt is on TMA.
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Megalithics
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Re: round houses
Aug 13, 2010, 17:15
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Littlestone wrote: It's a real pain trying to fit your books into a round bookcase though ; -)
Yeah, our Ikea sofas would have to go the journey as well.
We visited the reconstructed Bosta "jelly baby" house on Bernera last month, very cosy, they had installed a partial upper floor (more of a hay loft really) complete with ladder. The nice lady told us that things were much better inside since they made hole in the roof for the smoke.
Only took us three baths to stop smelling like kippers.
Maggie & Keith
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