Snowy home of the Eskimos. Refreshing post or Why only Eskimos can build igloos

Don't know how to entertain yourself and your child on New Year's holidays? Build a fairy tale with your own hands. Building a mysterious Eskimo igloo is not an easy task, and the more valuable the result will be. Follow our instructions carefully, and the snow hut will definitely decorate the winter yard of your dacha.

The construction of an Eskimo snow igloo house is a rather interesting idea that not only you, but also your children will like.

Tools you will need for work:

Probe for measuring snow.
Saw.
Kingpin.
Roulette.
Rope.
Shovel
Small bayonet blade.

Looking for snow

Work on an igloo begins with a blank wall material, and for this you need a fairly thick layer of snow. Because the optimal sizes for a block it is usually considered 600x450x200 mm, then the thickness of the snow at the excavation site theoretically cannot be less than 20 cm, but in practice you should look for a “quarry” of snow pie at least half a meter deep.

All necessary measurements we do it using a special probe, which can be purchased in a store or from a pre-marked metal rod.

Preparing the quarry

Before starting to manufacture wall material, the working quarry must first be prepared. For this:

We dig a trench at least 70 cm wide and 60 cm deep. If the thickness of the snow layer does not allow this, then simply to hard ground.

Important! The front wall of our trench must be perfectly flat - these are the edges of our future “bricks”.

We remove all crumbly snow at the excavation site and level the working area.

Preparation of blocks

We cut the blocks out of the snow pie entirely, while achieving their most ideal geometry. The more accurately the dimensions are met, the easier it will be to build. In total we will need about 50 snow bricks per igloo.

Preparing the construction site

You can only build an igloo in deep snow, no thinner than 40-60 cm, otherwise there will be problems with the “correct” arrangement of the entrance. If there is no such layer of snow in the place planned for construction, you need to make it yourself, simply by dumping it in required space big snowdrift. Then we level the construction site and compact it with snowshoes. For our work, a patch with a diameter of 3-4 meters will be enough.

First row

Before we start laying the first row, we make markings. To do this, we hammer in a kingpin in the center of the area we have compacted and tie a piece of cord or clothesline to it, on which we set a distance of 1.05 m. We mark the latter with a knot.

Now, using this “compass”, we draw a circle on the site with a diameter of 2100 mm - this will be the outer boundary of the snow wall.

WITH inside circle, strictly along its perimeter we build a snow wall exactly one block high. All bricks in the masonry should be heaped inward at approximately 17°; more precisely, we control the angle of inclination using our measuring rope. Since the igloo has the shape of a regular hemisphere, the measured 1.05 m will not only be the radius of the Eskimo dwelling, but also the distance from the center of the site to any point on the snowy facade.

When the perimeter is laid out and the blocks are fitted to each other from the formed snow ring, you need to cut out the screw with a hacksaw.

It is this spiral shape of the first row that is the main secret of the northern builders, which Europeans have been unraveling for centuries. Laying along serpentine lines is the only option to get a third support point for the “brick” and not fall.

Thus, each block rests not only on the row below it, but also on the side edge behind the standing wall element.

Further masonry. Keystone

Important! Because the mason is inside closed loop, For further work a helper is needed. It is he who must supply the snow blocks.

There is nothing complicated about the spiral masonry itself; you just need to follow a few basic points.

Tilt angle

We control the angle of inclination as before using a piece of rope tied to the kingpin. Only such a measure will allow us to build the right dome.

End trimming

For denser masonry, we cut the ends of the snow bricks at one angle.

The direction of the cut of the right edge of the block is set by the already familiar lacing.

We file down the left end, focusing on the already finished cut of the previous element. Sawing is done with an ordinary saw.

Keystone

The keystone is more difficult to trim. You need to work from the inside, focusing only on the finished working planes of already laid blocks.

Digging the exit

After finishing the masonry work, you can think about the door. This is the tunnel under the wall of our snowy hut (that’s why we needed deep snow on the construction site); it is this design of the entrance that ensures the free flow of oxygen into the room, but prevents warm air from escaping from the hut.

From the street, the “undermining” is decorated with snow blocks, making from the latter a kind of short snow pipe.

Video: how to build an igloo with your own hands

Facade finishing

When the walls are laid out and the entrance is equipped, we trim the sharp corners with a saw and seal the masonry joints with loose snow. That's all.

Finish facade finishing the needle can be trusted to nature itself. The very first snowstorm will turn our building into a cozy and warm snow house in which you can wait out almost any frost.

Don't be lazy, build a real Eskimo house out of snow - the children will thank you.

An igloo is a dome-shaped hut made of snow. Where there is no forest, this building can save you from the cold winter night. And if you build it in the forest, it can survive the entire winter due to its strength. The height of the igloo is usually one person's height, and the diameter depends on the number of people settling in for the night. The skills of how to build an igloo must be developed long before a planned trip to the steppe or tundra, because when extreme circumstances arise, especially in frosty and windy weather, efficiency in constructing a snow shelter is important.

Igloo

The igloo is built from bricks made from compressed snow. Ideally, the shape of the building should be round, since the area of a spherical hut can reduce heat loss. In addition, this form gives strength to the structure, despite the fragile “building material”. If the igloo is built in deep snow, the entrance to it is dug in the ground, and if the depth of the snow cover is shallow, a small corridor is attached to the hut, which protects the building from wind penetration inside. Warming inside such a home occurs with the help of a candle. The walls will melt a little, but not melt, forming a thin ice crust from the inside. The walls of the needle are capable of transmitting light and water vapor.

How to make an igloo out of snow: basic rules

Snow igloo

The tools used to build a snow hut are a knife, a saw, a shovel. If necessary, you can use a regular iron bowl. It is necessary to take into account that, than smaller sizes home, the warmer it is, so you shouldn’t make it too spacious. If the group consists of more than 4-5 people, it is better to build two igloos. The gaps between the bricks must be filled with snow. While inside the igloo, you will need to remove your outer clothing to avoid sweating. It is advisable to use waterproof fabric as bedding inside. To cut blocks, you do not need to go far from the designated area, otherwise you may get tired. You need to find the nearest snowdrift at least 1 meter high and start cutting. In addition, you need to follow the basic rules:

Construction of the igloos must begin before dark.
Rebuilding the shelter is strictly prohibited at night, as is leaving it at this time of day.
The entrance should be located on the leeward side
Inside the shelter you should always have a shovel or other tool to clear the entrance of snow.
Care must be taken when breeding open fire inside the shelter because there is a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
You should not drink alcohol inside the igloo or sleep if you are in danger of freezing.
The entrance to the igloo should be located below floor level. This will ensure stagnation of warm air, the outflow of heavy carbon dioxide and the influx of oxygen.
Tip: If you build an igloo on a slope, you will need to spend less effort building walls because there are fewer bricks to form.

How to make an igloo out of snow with your own hands: material

Making bricks from snow depends on its structure. If the crust is hard and durable, use a saw (you can use a shovel or a hacksaw) to cut out blocks slightly smaller than standard gas silicate bricks. Usually the dimensions are 60x40x15, but for the bottom row you need to make larger blocks for stability. Wet snow is difficult to cut, but it is sticky, and you can stick bricks. In order to mark the shape, you need to use a rectangular blank made from any available material. You can do this manually, choosing the size by eye. Bricks from loose snow are difficult to make without a blank, since it will crumble. The snow is placed inside the mold, compacted and moistened. After removing the mold, the blocks will harden in the cold. Thus, you need to make the required number of blocks depending on the size of the igloo. You need to cut blocks from a snowdrift on the side from which the wind blows. But still, the best snow for building a snow shelter is considered to be dry snow with a density of 0.25-0.30, which has a uniform structure. Snow with a denser structure has greater thermal conductivity, weak adhesion and fragility (at low temperatures).

Beautiful igloo

Before you make an igloo out of snow with your own hands, you need to mark the area of the building. Use a knife to mark a round area with a diameter of 3 meters, marking its center with a stick. You should immediately mark the entry point into the needle. As noted above, it needs to be arranged on the leeward side. But, if the parking is planned for a long time, the entrance is arranged at a right angle to the windy side. The circle should be made as regular as possible, and no more than three meters, since otherwise the stability of the igloo will decrease. After marking, the site must be leveled and compacted. The layout of the snow house should be such that the bed is placed opposite the entrance and above it.

There are two ways to lay bricks: circular and spiral. In the first case, the blocks are laid row by row, in the second, only the bottom row consists of rectangular blocks, and all subsequent ones are trapezoidal in shape. When laying spirally, after forming the bottom row, any three bricks are cut diagonally (any bricks can be cut, except those located near the entrance area). The third block is cut to half. Next, the laying of the second row begins: the brick is placed in the recess of the third, cut brick, then the next one is laid.

Longer and wider snow bricks are laid in the bottom row, with a gap between them to avoid being squeezed out under the weight of the upper rows. Blocks with defects cannot be used.

To obtain required angle slope, you can trim already laid bricks, or create the desired slope before laying. To prevent the top snow bricks from falling and increase their stability, you need to make a bevel between the top and bottom bricks, for which a cut is made internal corner the upper brick for its tight fit to the lower one. During laying, each brick is tightly adjusted to the adjacent one, and is gradually processed outer wall. All cracks must be filled with the snow formed during fitting; it acts as cement. Around the bottom Part of the igloo needs to be built from the remaining blocks to protect it from the wind, which can blow snow between the bricks of the first row.

After this, the cracks inside the igloo are sealed, a trench is formed up to the entrance and covered with blocks. While it is being formed from the outside by one builder, the second is paving an exit into it from the inside. The entrance hole in the wall of the igloo is carefully cut out with a hacksaw. The block cut out at the entrance will subsequently need to be moved towards the entrance hole in order not to release heat and to protect it from snow drift and wind.

At the top of the igloo, the arch of the last block row creates a hole that needs to be sealed with a wedge-shaped brick. In order for it to tightly close the hole, the size of the brick should be slightly larger than it.

After the igloo is erected, holes must be cut in its walls for ventilation against the accumulation of carbon dioxide.

It's no secret that people, since ancient times, began to use materials that were nearby for their needs. Those who live in forested areas have long built their houses from wood, but if there is clay nearby, people create bricks from it and build brick houses. What then can the Eskimos do if they have nothing nearby but snow? Of course, build your homes from snow and ice.

Igloo, translated from Inuktitut (as most Inuit Canadian dialects call it), means “winter dwelling of the Eskimos.” The igloo is a dome-shaped building with a diameter of 3-4 meters and a height of approximately human height. They build it from what is at hand, and in the winter tundra from building materials only snow is at hand... The igloo is built from snow or ice blocks compacted by the wind. If the snow is deep, the entrance to the igloo is made in the floor, and a corridor is dug to the entrance. If the snow is not deep enough, you have to make an entrance in the wall, and an additional corridor of snow blocks is added to it.

Alone, an Eskimo builds a spacious snow hut for his entire family in three quarters of an hour. The strongest snowstorm is inaudible in the hut. The snow bricks grow together tightly, and the hut freezes over as it heats up inside. They say that igloos can even withstand the weight of a polar bear.

How can you breathe under the snow? Fine. After all, if the entrance to the needle is located below floor level, then the outflow of heavy carbon dioxide from it and the influx of lighter oxygen in return are ensured. In addition, this location of the entrance hole does not allow leaving the home. warm air– it is known to be lighter than cold. However, for ease of breathing, a ventilation hole is punched in the vault with a needle.

As a result of heating, the internal surfaces of the walls melt, but the walls do not melt. The colder it is outside, the higher the heat the igloo can withstand from the inside. After all, wet snow loses its heat-protective properties and allows the cold to pass through more easily. Having made its way through the thickness of the block, the frost freezes the inner surface of the walls, which has begun to melt, and the temperature pressure outside and inside is balanced.

In general, the thermal conductivity of a snow dome is low, and it is easy to maintain a positive temperature in a hut; often the heat generated by sleeping people is sufficient for this. In addition, the snow hut absorbs excess moisture from the inside, so the igloo is quite dry.

Today, igloo huts are used in ski tourism as emergency housing in case of problems with the tent or a long wait for better weather. However, polar travelers did not immediately learn how to build igloos. For a long time It was believed that only a native Eskimo could build an igloo.

Canadian Vilhjalmur Stefansson was the first to learn how to build an igloo in 1914. He wrote about this in his book and in articles, but even from them it turned out to be difficult to learn how to do it. The secret of building an igloo was the special shape of the slabs, which made it possible to build the hut in the form of a “snail”, gradually tapering towards the vault. The method of installing the slabs also turned out to be important - resting on the previous ones at three points.

The Eskimos skillfully transform their winter settlements into a complex complex of snow buildings and, in bad weather, can visit neighboring huts without going to the surface. Rasmussen, in his book “The Great Sleigh Road,” talks about snow villages with covered passages between igloos, entire architectural ensembles erected by the Eskimos with amazing speed, and large hut-houses.

“The main housing could easily accommodate twenty people for the night. This part of the snow house turned into a high portal like a “hall”, where people cleared the snow off themselves. Adjacent to the main dwelling was a spacious, bright annex where two families lived. We had plenty of fat, and therefore 7-8 lamps were burning at a time, which is why it became so warm in these walls of white snow blocks that people could walk around half naked to their fullest pleasure.”

Interior The igloo is usually covered with skins, and sometimes the walls are also covered with skins. Fat bowls are used for heating and additional lighting. The Eskimos cover the bed with a double layer of reindeer skins, and the bottom layer is laid with the flesh side up, and upper layer- flesh down. Sometimes old skin from a kayak is placed under the skins. This three-layer insulation serves as a comfortable soft bed.

Sometimes igloos have windows made of seal guts or ice, but even without that, the sun penetrates into the igloo directly through the snow walls with a soft light of different shades. At night, one candle lit in the hut brightly illuminates the snow-white vault, and at the joints of the bricks this light breaks through more thin layer snow.

Outside, in the freezing darkness of the night, the igloo glows with a web of blurry lines. This is truly an extraordinary sight. It’s not for nothing that Knud Rasmussen called the igloo “a temple of festive joy among the snowdrifts of the snowy desert.”

The Arctic Training Center, located in the village of Puvirnituk, a few kilometers from Nunavik (Northern Quebec), teaches survival skills and the art of igloo building. Teachers from the Inuit tribe teach disciplines necessary for life in this inhospitable region.

Paulusi Novalinga, 56, was born and raised in an igloo. For many years he hunted and fished with his father, as their ancestors had done, and traveled across the frozen desert on dog sleds. Times have changed now, but 12 years ago Novalinga helped found a “school of survival” in an attempt to save ancient skills from oblivion. The school accepts young village boys and trains people from the outside - military, polar pilots, tourists.

Ideal material for the construction of an igloo - deep, dense snow that fell during one good snowfall. Such a snow mass does not have layers that could later cause the destruction of the building. In addition, it is better to take snow from the windward side of the hill, since under the influence of the wind it is packed into a denser mass.

The peoples of the north showed miracles of ingenuity by inventing their own igloos. For this construction, material that is always at hand and the simplest tools are used.

When trying a crust with a “panak” (homemade machete), they choose the most appropriate place and cut out rectangular building blocks. One such brick weighs approximately 10 kg, and its texture resembles foamed polystyrene.

A circle three meters in diameter is drawn on the snow crust. The first block is laid upright directly on this line, cutting the left edge so that it coincides with an imaginary vertical plane passing through the center of the circle. Then they take the next block, trim its right edge so that it fits closely to the left edge of the previous block, and move the blocks together. You need to carefully monitor which side of the block should be facing up and which side should be facing inside the needle. The Inuit believe that improperly laid blocks can cause storms.

Chain arch vault

In cross-section, the igloo has the shape of a chain arched vault. If you hang a chain or very flexible cable, they take a specific shape that can be described by a function called hyperbolic cosine. This perfect shape for a vault that does not require additional columns or struts to support its own weight. Similar designs They work almost exclusively in compression - no stretching, bending or shearing, therefore they are very strong and reliable, especially with a material such as compressed snow. The chain arch vault was used by the famous Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi in his Casa Mila building in Barcelona. The giant 192-meter Gateway Arch in St. Louis has the same shape.
The weight of each row of bricks is carefully distributed across the row of blocks underneath and across the rows below, ensuring the stability of the entire structure. Arctic magazine from December 1973 shows calculations according to which the stability of an igloo is determined by the ratio of height and diameter. Its minimum value is 3:10. In other words, an igloo with a height of one to eighty meters and a width of three meters (ratio 3:5) will stand quite securely, but an igloo with a height of one and a half meters and a width of seven and a half (ratio 1:5) will almost certainly collapse.

After inserting the next block, you need to cut out the excess snow from the middle of the bottom edge. To do this, “panak” is inserted into bottom seam and they scratch there with a blade. Here it is - the secret trick to building an igloo! Each block should rest on the underlying row only with its lower ribs, working like a small arch. The blocks climb up in a spiral. With each turn they are placed with an increasing slope into the building. Upper blocks are laid almost horizontally. Their own binding bonds operate here, since snow at the microscopic level is constantly in the process of melting and freezing. But now the last block has been inserted, having irregular shape, and the igloo is ready. Novalinga won one of the competitions by building such a dwelling in 20 minutes.

For the Inuit, an igloo is a home and hearth, the center of their universe. But as an attribute Everyday life it is already erased from their memory. Someday Novalinga will stop teaching others the secrets of building igloos, and this art will fall out of the hands of the people for whom it has been the basis of life for many centuries.

I built this igloo with my own with my own hands by Popular Mechanics Jeff Wise.

How to build an igloo

Material

Dig a trench in the snow, well compacted by the winds. This will help you cut out your first snow blocks. Using a snow cutter or saw, cut out blocks measuring 30 x 60 x 45 cm.

Foundation

Select the center of the future igloo and draw a circle around it with a diameter of 2-3 m. Lay out the blocks along this contour, adjusting their edges so that they fit tightly together.

Construction

Cut off the top underneath inclined plane, which should start between two blocks and continue half the perimeter of the bottom row. Align the top planes of the blocks so that they coincide with an imaginary line from the top outer edge of the blocks to the center of the floor of the future igloo (1). Each freshly laid block should rest on the base only with its lower ribs (2).

Output Formation

Dig an entrance tunnel. It is better if it faces down the slope to better retain heat.

Last steps

Push the last block sideways through the remaining hole, turn it horizontally and stick it in place (3). Wall up the remaining cracks with snow. Make holes for ventilation.

People have long learned to use the material that is nearby for their needs.

(the video is even more refreshing, so be sure to watch and dream about snow :)

What is an igloo

Igloo, translated from Inuktitut (as most Inuit Canadian dialects call it), means “winter dwelling of the Eskimos.” The igloo is a dome-shaped building with a diameter of 3-4 meters and a height of approximately human height. They build it from what is at hand, and in the winter tundra the only building materials at hand are snow... An igloo is built from snow or ice blocks compacted by the wind. If the snow is deep, the entrance to the igloo is made in the floor, and a corridor is dug to the entrance. If the snow is not deep enough, you have to make an entrance in the wall, and an additional corridor of snow blocks is added to it.

From a physics point of view

Secrets of the Inuit

So, an igloo is an Arctic dwelling in which you can survive even without heating.

It is known that Finnish snipers and mountain rangers of the German Wehrmacht were trained in the skills of building igloos. Today, igloo huts are used in ski tourism as emergency housing in case of problems with the tent or a long wait for better weather.

However, polar travelers did not immediately learn how to build igloos. For a long time it was believed that only a native Eskimo could build an igloo.

Arctic and Antarctic explorer Irishman Shackleton once complained about the difficult fate of explorers of the Southern continent: “There are no Eskimos in Antarctica that we could hire, as Peary did, to build snow houses for us.” So Amundsen, according to Shackleton, although he experienced a temperature of 62 ° C during the expedition to the North Magnetic Pole, was much happier: “It should be remembered that there were Eskimos with him, who built him a snow house every night.”

Experience shows that for a person who knows how to build an igloo, it is enough to have a saw and a shovel to quickly build a shelter wherever night or bad weather overtakes him.

Life under the snow

Snow hut interior

The interior of the igloo is usually covered with skins, and sometimes the walls are also covered with skins. Fat bowls are used for heating and additional lighting.

The Eskimos cover the bed with a double layer of reindeer skins, the bottom layer being laid with the flesh side up, and the top layer with the skin side down. Sometimes old skin from a kayak is placed under the skins. This three-layer insulation serves as a comfortable soft bed.

Sometimes igloos have windows made of seal guts or ice, but even without that, the sun penetrates into the igloo directly through the snow walls with a soft light of different shades.

At night, one candle lit in the hut brightly illuminates the snow-white vault, and at the joints of the bricks this light breaks through a thinner layer of snow.