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The completed byre walls at Tyrfingsstaðir – the loose torfur on top will be rearranged later to bed the roof timber structure.
Gable wall showing the turf and stone wall base, overlaid with
klambra laid in classic herringbone pattern.
The main turf section of the wall was
formed by laying a continuous strip of
strengur with the square edge facing
outwards along the face of the wall,
followed by a course of klambra laid on
their side, thick end outermost, and closely
packed together. The process was repeated
on the other side of the wall, then the void
in the centre of the wall filled with torfur
laid longitudinally with one laid transversely
as a cross-tie every metre or so. The gaps
were filled with loose turf material then
compacted by tramping until the core was
level with the top edge of the klambra. A
second layer of klambra was then laid and
the fill process repeated, finishing off with a
layer of strengur around each face and
further fill as before.
After compaction the outer faces of the
wall were trimmed using the lau to
produce a smooth finished surface. Turf is
in the year and will comprise a basic timber
frame overlaid with several overlapping
layers of torfur. The uppermost layers are
laid with fresh live turf facing upwards such
that the development of a robust root
structure is encouraged, binding the roof
together. As timber has always been a
precious commodity in Iceland due to a
distinct lack of trees, roof structures were
typically constructed using whatever wood
material was available, often recycled from
previous buildings or salvaged driftwood.
A well built and maintained turf building
might survive for up to around a hundred
years, however the friable nature of turf and
the vulnerability to wear and tear (and the
odd fire!) inevitably mean that major
reconstruction is inevitable at some point.
Often the simplest option is to start again
with a new building close to the site of the
original, or added as an ‘extension’. At
actually a very forgiving building material as
misshapen material and construction errors
can usually be corrected by on-the-fly
trimming and re-profiling. When viewed in
plan our building end walls were square on
the inside, but rounded on the outside. This
was achieved by trimming an angle on
either side of klambra as they were laid to
‘bend them’ round the profile of the curve.
Unsalvageable reject turfs became fill
material. Nothing is wasted!
In the finished wall the green ‘top’ turf
layer of each klambra is clearly visible on
the outer face as a series of regular lines on
a 20-30 degree slant. By laying alternate
layers of klambra on the other edge a
herring bone pattern can be readily
created, but on our building the klambra
were laid in the same direction to match
the original construction.
The roof of the byre will be added later
These two vernacular 19th century timber buildings were rescued, transported to Glumbaer and restored for use as a shop, café and offices.
20 I
THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND
I
AUTUMN 2014