Comments | fintan99701: Was looking out my office window

fintan99701

Was looking out my office window

Jun 20, 2007 16:47

and across the street was this young man on the roof of the Visitors Center here in Fairbanks, watering the sod roof. I just had to go get my camera and shot this out of my office window. I don't know of another city in North America whose visitor center has a roof that needs to be watered and mowed!

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Comments 5

sin_agua June 21 2007, 01:26:42 UTC

Did they make it that way to encourage others to do so, or just to be "artistic"?

fintan99701 June 21 2007, 04:11:49 UTC

Actually turn of the century Fairbanks had a quite a few, and they are being used in rural alaska today. The thick sod made excellent insulators against the bitter winters and surprisingly warm summers. It was 85 and sunny today. No one has air conditioning, of course.

sin_agua June 21 2007, 05:36:09 UTC

Fascinating - I hear they had sod houses in Kansas and Oklahoma, out on the treeless prairies, back in the frontier days. Thanks!

LOL blueeyedangel07 June 21 2007, 04:23:15 UTC

WOW!!! I really missed alot of Fairbanks for my first summer here last year... I sure didnt know they did this (til you told me about it) Wonder what the touristas who hang out out front of there think about that! lol

Re: LOL fintan99701 June 22 2007, 17:51:29 UTC

I'll try to get a shot of them with the lawn mower up there mowing the roof.
When we relocated our offices, we looked at a log building on the river that had a similar roof. One of the stipulations was that the tenant was responsible for mowing the roof! We did not rent it due to the layout, NOT because we had to mow the roof.