House Building Part 3: Roof Frame

The next step in the house building process, (my previous posts are here and here) is putting up the roof frame. The picture above shows what a completed roof frame looks like. Here are some of the steps to get there.

The roof frame is always done by men. The first step in a typical frame is putting posts in the ground all around the base of the walls. These posts will support the base of the roof frame.

These posts are thick branches cut so that there is a "v" shape at the top of them and their length allows them to be put about a foot into the ground. A hole is dug for each post and then filled with earth that is then packed down firmly.

This picture shows the walls and base supports for a large hut which will be used as a stable.

After the supports are up, a bundle of thin branches is tied together and placed in the "v" on top of the supports. The base of the roof frame will rest on this ring of branches.

The amount of branches used for this can be pretty impressive. Below is a close up of the support ring for the stable.

Next, comes the actual roof frame. Men do a lot of the work for this standing on a temporary platform that they've built in the centre of the hut. First they install the roof support poles.

Some of the supplies for this step:

Next, bundles of thin branches are tied in rows onto the support poles using strips of palm leaves.

I find it really interesting how the palm leaf strips are made. Experts were doing this right at the site.

Here's a video showing how they do it.

And here's another video showing how these strips are used to tie branches onto the roof support poles.