The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin
during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the
United States. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals,
and fences, if the prairie lacked standard building materials such as
wood or stone, or the poverty of the settlers precluded purchasing
standard building materials, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was
abundant, free, and could be used for house construction.[full
citation needed] Prairie grass has a much thicker, tougher root
structure than a modern lawn.A type in Alaska is a
barabara.Construction of a sod house involved cutting patches of sod
in rectangles, often 2 ft × 1 ft × 0.5 ft (61.0 cm × 30.5 cm ×
15.2 cm), and piling them into walls. Builders employed a variety of
roofing methods. Sod houses accommodated normal doors and windows. The
resulting structure featured less expensive materials, and was quicker
to build than a wood frame house. However, sod houses required
frequent maintenance and were often vulnerable to rain damage,
especially if the roof was also primarily of sod. Stucco was sometimes
used to protect the outer walls. Canvas or stucco often lined the
interior walls.While the influence of the sod house cannot be
overlooked, stone or timber was preferred. Where railroads existed,
allowing easy access to building materials, most houses and buildings
of the period were framed. Sod house Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter