How to Build a Native American Long House

Preliminaries

1). Determine the dimensions of your longhouse. The average longhouse is 20 feet wide, 20 feet tall and between 180 and 220 feet long.
2). Obtain wood required by your dimensions. The Iroquois could not go to a lumberyard and purchase wood--they cut trees by hand with axes made from stone, bone and antlers. If you have the trees, you can opt to cut your own. You need sturdy straight wood for poles and posts to ensure structural stability and flexible wood for the rafters because the roof is curved, not pointed.
3). Dig holes for base posts spaced evenly apart around the perimeter of the intended longhouse site. There should be four base posts at each end.

1). Build the frame. A longhouse frame is a structural grid with a rounded roof. Use the poles and posts to build a secure, long frame that is structurally sound. There should be a ten-foot walkway down the middle. Modern carpenters may opt to use nails, but the Iroquois used birch bark to secure joints. To use bark, tear it into strips, soak in water and braid it.
2). Cover the frame. Longhouses are covered with huge sheets of bark, primarily from elm trees. Prior to application, the bark should be weighted down to prevent curling. The bark is woven throughout the frame and smoothed for weatherizing. In the roof, spaced at 20-foot intervals over the center aisle, there should be holes that can be easily covered in the elements for allowing fire smoke to escape.
3). Reinforce. The bark is held to the house by an additional, but smaller scale, grid frame.
4). Insulate. The interior walls were traditionally covered with woven fabric and animal firs to keep it warm.
5). Design the interior. Traditional longhouses gave each family 20 feet on one side of the aisle where they built bunk beds for sleeping, sitting and storage. The two ends of the longhouse were used for communal storage. The center of the aisle was used for building fires for warmth and cooking.