Traditional Korean roof construction

They are made of neowa (shingle), giwa (tiles), byeotjip (rice straw), stone giwa (tiles), eoksae (eulalia) and gulpi (oak bark) Neowa (Korean: 너와) refers to shingles for roofs.

Such roofs can especially be seen in mountain villages (for example, in Gangwon-do), since these are places which are hard to get materials, such as giwa and byeotjip.

Instead, it is made with the pieces of thick bark of about 200-year-old red pine trees which are easy to get.

To protect neowa from the wind, heavy stones or logs were put on the roof.

Neowajip has rooms, a kitchen and a cow shed under one square roof, to protect domestic animals from mountain beasts, and to keep warm in winter.

Then amkiwa is extended upward and downward, and sukiwa cover joints at right and left side.

By classifying giwa through materials, there are togiwa made by kneading and baking clay, cement giwa-made by mixing cement and sand, and metal giwa made by cutting and making form with metal plate.

Byeotjip protects residents from the sun in summer and keeps them warm in winter, because it is empty inside.

It is put over another byeotjip every year, and it shows clean and new feature without any special effort.

The gentle roof is used like a farm for drying crops like red pepper and planting pumpkins or gourds.

But it was possible to put this roof only for certain social classes because of the difficulty of purchasing and transporting the materials.

At first, the oak bark is peeled at the time of Chuseo (one of the 24 seasonal divisions, about August 23).