- 1). Determine the size of your longhouse. Typically about 20 feet wide, they can be built anywhere from 40 to 200 feet in length, depending upon the number of families that are going to live in it. Your 10-foot posts should be spaced about 5 feet apart to frame the length and width and will provide the vertical support for your longhouse.
- 2). Dig holes deep enough to provide enough support to keep your posts upright. Set the posts into the ground, creating the framework for your house. Strengthen the sides of your house by horizontally lashing poles to the posts, along all sides of the longhouse.
- 3). Build the roof by lashing one end of a flexible tree to one of the 10-foot posts and then lash the other end, across the width, to the opposite side of the building, creating an arched roof. Once the initial framework for the roof is completed, lash other poles along the length of the roof to strengthen it.
- 4). Tie the bark sheets to the outside of the framework. Make small holes in each corner of the bark sheet for your lashing rope. Be sure you overlap the sheets to protect the inside of the longhouse from rain, snow and wind.
- 5). Lash another framework of small poles horizontally and vertically around the outside of the longhouse to hold the bark in place. The vertical poles of this outside frame do not have to be set into the ground.
- 6). Cut a smoke hole in the roof over the location of the fire pit. This allows smoke to exit the longhouse. If your house is long and there will be more than one fire pit, cut a hole in the roof for each one.
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