How to Build an Igloo in 10 Steps

Gil Martinez 1. Pace out a 10×10-foot swath, pile up the coke inside it, and keep tamping it down with a snowshoe or a shovel. Continue shoveling and compacting snow until you have a big mound, about 1.5 feet gamey. Let it sit for several hours or even nightlong .
2. To mark out an area for your igloo, lie down and make a snow angel ( the inside diameter of the igloo ) .
3. From your coke pitcher, cut blocks of uniform size, about 1.5 to 2 feet high, 1 foot chummy, and 2 feet long, with a carpenter ’ s witness. ( Don ’ t let your kids use one unsupervised. ) The bigger the blocks, the fewer the seam and the more structurally sound the igloo will be.

Gil Martinez 4. Lay the foundation : set blocks in a ring around the outside of your snow saint. Each block should touch the one beside it. now using your see, begin making a helix ramp from the foundation blocks : “ Choose a point, saw down through each block, and put an slant surface on it, ” instructs Bert Yankielun. You ’ re cutting away the tops of the blocks to form a round wedge. At some luff you ’ ll have about none of the inaugural block you put on the ground .
5. Continue stacking layers of blocks and trimming them. “ As you go round, you have a life-size block next to one that ’ s cut off, ” Bert explains. “ then, when you put the future one on, you have two points of touch, a blocking to lean on, and something on the bottom. ” As you stack the blocks, stagger the seams sol that the seam from each freeze in the bottom quarrel is in the in-between of the block on top of it .
6. As you continue, “ you may need to cut a bevel inward, stacking about, and trimming the inside edge of the block so the future one will be leaning in far, ” Bert advises. “ As you ’ re going around and around, that spiral, the dome, is closing in. ”
Gil Martinez

7. When you finish stacking, you ’ ll have a small hole in the top. Cut a block of coke and put it into the top like a cork .
8. To create a doorway, find a place on the first flat of the igloo that has a vertical wrinkle where two life-size blocks meet. There should be a life-size block over the seam–you ’ ll use that as the door head. Cut away half a freeze on either side of the seam on the first floor. then cut an arch condition into the bottom half of the command processing overhead time block, leaving the top half intact. Your door should be big enough to crawl through but small enough that you don ’ t let the cold air in .
Gil Martinez 9. Use the see to make a fist-sized air hole high on the side of the igloo. In snow-white conditions, leave a ski pole in the trap to use like a bottle brush to keep it clear .
10. Some cautions for parents: Always monitor children when they ’ rhenium play in and around the igloo. Once the igloo is up, check it regularly for structural integrity. never allow stoves or candles inside. Keep the air hole clear.

Check out this article for more information on how to build an igloo .
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This post was first published in 2008 and has been updated .