Montshire Minute: Igloo Building

Originally aired during the week of December 10, 2003

Monday

What if I told you could build a sturdy, insulated house using nothing but a few gallons of water? Yes, there is a catch. The water has to be frozen in crystalline form. In other words, the water has to be snow. Packed snow has surprising insulation value, and the dome shaped igloo is a very strong structure, strong enough to hold your weight if you were standing on its roof. An expert can whip up a decent igloo in 45 minutes to an hour. With a little bit of know-how, you too can build an igloo. In fact, we invite you to the Montshire Museum Saturday, February 15, where engineer Bert Yankielun will share his knowledge of snow construction.

Tuesday

The Inuit has built igloos for centuries. Some of them are used as temporary shelters for hunters as they track game over the Arctic tundra. The snow in these far northern regions is deep and naturally packed by high winds. This makes for a great building material, because snow blocks cut with a saw or a long knife are light and don't break apart easily. Snow in our region late in the winter is usually heavier and can be crumbly. But here are a few helpful hints to build your own New England style snow house. First, try packing the snow in your yard with snowshoes. You'll find the tramped snow can be cut into blocks with a snow saw or even a carpenters saw. When you have selected your building site, lay down on your back and make a snow angel - this makes a more or less circular area with the right dimensions for your igloo.

Wednesday

With Montshire's Igloo Build approaching on Saturday, February 15, we've been passing along some tips on how you can build your very own igloo, with little more than a carpenters saw and a few hours of elbow grease. If you lie flat on your back and make a snow angel, you've established the circular dimensions of the igloo. You'll want to be able to lie down comfortably inside it when you are done. Using the saw, cut some pre-packed snow into rectangular blocks. The first few blocks laid end to end should be tapered up in a corkscrew fashion. In other words, cut the top of the blocks at an angle. This way, the next tiers of blocks will lean against each other, making the structure stronger and easier to build. You'll also want to bevel the top of each block slightly so the walls slope inward. Sound easy? Well, your igloo may resemble more of a cone than the classic dome. But hey, you've only been at this for a little while right?

Thursday

We're passing on some tips about igloo building this week, and we've just about got our structure complete. The trickiest part may be laying the capstone or the "king block" which is at the very top of the igloo dome. This piece is beveled all the way around so the builder - working from the inside - can lay it on top of the last tier of blocks. There we go! Now, we just remembered something. We have no way to get out. Not a problem! The sign of an expert igloo builder is when he cuts out the door from the inside! Now we can do all sorts of customizing - like building an entrance tunnel away from the wind. We can fill up any cracks with loose snow, and cut a small ventilation hole through the middle of the king block. Hey, it's not exactly the Hilton, but you'll find it very comfortable and snug inside with a small gas stove or even a few candles burning.

Friday

In his book The Indians of Canada, Canadian anthropologist Diamond Jenness described what it was like inside an Inuit igloo. In his words: "On the right (or left) two feet above the floor is the lamp filled with burning seal-oil, and with a stone cooking pot suspended above it. Behind the lamp are some bags containing meat and blubber. A low platform covered with skins occupies fully half the floor space. There, side by side with their heads facing the door, the inmates sleep in bags or robes of caribou fur. If you stand at the edge of this platform, exactly in the center of the hut, you can place both hands on the ceiling and almost touch the wall on either side. A thermometer three feet from the lamp, will register one or two degrees below the freezing point of water quite a comfortable temperature if you are enveloped like the Eskimo in soft, warm garments of caribou fur."