Stilt Houses: Everything You Need to Know

Stilt houses have been around since millennia, against popular belief. The first recorded instance of a stilt house occurred in the European Alps, built over 6,000 years ago. A stilt house is an ancient architectural marvel that enables settlements to dwell in areas that are prone to permafrost, flooding or other natural calamities that make life on the ground problematic.

A stilt house in the modern day serves more than just a functional purpose, though. Today you will find many stylised examples of stilt houses around the world built with materials that are sturdier and contemporary. Let’s now learn everything there is to know about a stilt house.

What Is a Stilt House?

A stilt house is a house that is built by raising the plinth significantly – about five to ten feet – above the ground. This platform is supported by an architectural element called “stilt” – hence the name “Stilt House”.

Stilt houses are life savers in regions that are prone to frequent flooding, loose snow or ice, and even permafrost. By raising the houses above the ground, the inhabitants of the structure stay protected from the elements of nature wreaking havoc on the ground.

People living in coastal areas or regions where there is a risk of permafrost adopt stilt housing as a primary, vernacular style of building a home. However, modern design has made stilt houses popular as a personal design choice, and you can spot many such marvels constructed across the globe, floods or not.

A fantastic example of a modern stilt house is demonstrated by Villa Grieg, a cosy log cabin home built on stilts on the banks of Lake Nordas in Bergen, Norway. The stilt house is supported by metal stilts and is raised above the sloping hill to allow for better views of the lake through the indoors.

Why Is a Stilt House Built Above the Ground?

Stilt houses serve one purpose: to protect the inhabitants from floods and permafrost. In 2022, the world is battling with melting polar ice caps, rising temperatures and unpredictable weather conditions. The recipe is perfect for flash floods, untimely rains (heavy rains), and other problems that may result in waterlogging, ponding and even flooding in areas close to water bodies.

Coastal regions have been hit the worst in the past years, with the most recent instance of floods in India occurring in the month of peak summer, May 2022 (India-Bangladesh floods). Assam was hit with the worst flooding two years ago during the 2020 pandemic.

In such situations, people who live in high flood-risk areas benefit from living in a house built on stilts. It saves them from drowning in floods and risking it all. It gives them a safe haven to climb into until the waters recede.

Stilts also serve another major architectural purpose of giving stability to the raised house. They have the capability to run deep underground and provide a stable foundation to the house above where the soil is loose or unsuitable for constructing anything.

The Best Materials to Build Stilt Houses

Stilt houses are versatile structures. They can be built using a variety of construction materials; there are multiple ways to go about building a stilt house.

You can take the purist approach and build the entire structure with a single material. For example, the Assamese people build their stilt homes from bamboo. The reasons make complete sense:

• Bamboo is available in abundance in Assam, making it the economical choice for building materials.
• It is easily pliable and can be turned into any structural element at will. Bamboo can be used as beams, pillars, flooring, and walls, and you can even make a roof out of bamboo. It truly is a versatile material.
• It has good water resistance properties and saves the structure from water decay. Structures made from bamboo last longer in moist areas as compared to other elements like wood.
• Bamboo doesn’t need much maintenance and can be easily replaced with little cost and labour. This is a desirable property of the material for people who frequently sustain water damage from floods or other natural elements.

Here is a stilt house image of a typical Assamese house made from bamboo.

The builder has constructed the entire house from bamboo, with the exception of some wood in the staircase that leads up to the porch.

In other regions of the globe, depending on the environmental and climatic conditions, peoples use a variety of materials to build their stilt houses. For example, a stilt house built on stone stilts is called a neolithic stilt house.

In the image below, the stilt house has been built over water, making it essential to have the pillars made from a material that does not decay in water – and that is stone. Over the platform, the houses have been constructed using local materials like mud, clay, grass and bamboo.

The more modern take on stilt houses is experimental and based on aesthetics more than function and concept. The best example is the stereotypical duplex house with stilt parking that resonates perfectly with the requirement of a modern family.

As families own more than one car, they need to economise the built-up area on their land to accommodate the parking requirements. Raising the house above the ground creates a huge space to park cars while still retaining the floor area that a large family needs.

Bamboo: The Wonder Material for Stilt Housing

Stilt houses require specific specialities from the construction material because they need to withstand floods. The material with which the stilts are built needs to be capable of handling water flowing at high speeds and still keep the superstructure stable and safe enough for the inhabitants. Furthermore, if the area is flood-prone, it can be expected that the life of the people in the settlement is economically tough.

Not surprisingly, bamboo has all the qualities that a good stilt material should have. With a few minor and economical augmentations and tried-and-tested structural design, you can build a strong foundation for a stilt house.

The following benefits make bamboo a highly suitable material for constructing stilt houses:

Bamboo is Versatile

You can construct any building element using bamboo. It is suitable not just for stilts. You can make plinths, floors, walls, roofs, cladding and even balusters and railings from bamboo. The shavings from bamboo can be used to make mats for the floor. It can be stripped and bent to make baskets, curtains and other things that you require in your home.

Bamboo is Vernacular

In tropical and subtropical regions, bamboo grows in abundance. Especially in Assam, bamboo is cultivated in each household in a portion of the land they own (called “bari”). Since it is so easily available in these regions, there is no extra or heavy expense in sourcing bamboo for constructing a home. A walk around the neighbourhood will leave you with enough raw material to begin your stilt house project.

Bamboo is Low-Effort

The best part about using bamboo for the construction of stilt houses is that it does not require any expertise that you would need to hire skilled labour. You don’t even need heavy tools to handle the material; a traditional machete works just fine for chopping. Bamboo is bendable as well and can be carved easily to create joints. It is extremely easy to work with for building stilt houses.

The best part is that bamboo can be easily replaced in case a structural element gets compromised – that too without much effort.

Bamboo is Great with Water

Bamboo is a good material to be used as stilts in stilt houses. This is because it is a flexible material that has the potential to be resilient in speeding waters. By painting it or coating it with economical waterproofing agents, it becomes highly durable even when submerged in water for long periods.

A Stilt House Has Many Benefits

Stilt houses are popular in coastal areas because of the plethora of advantages they bring with them. The five major advantages of stilt houses are listed below.

Protection

In areas that are prone to ground-based risks, houses built on stilts are a safe haven for the dwellers. In Assam, for example, the people worship the Brahmaputra. However, the river is moody and is known to lash out in heavy floods that submerge the areas surrounding its banks. The frequent floods leave the population grappling for survival.

In such scenarios, stilt houses are a great advantage as they protect the occupants and aim to minimise the disruption and dislocation caused by floods.

In the year 2020, Golaghat in Assam experienced perilous floods post which the people underwent tough survival challenges. A community shelter was then built by SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society) in Golaghat which was a structure raised on stilts.

It is only suitable and logical that a disaster shelter for floods is raised above the level of the raging waters; the solution – a stilt house.

View

The views that a stilt house commands are incomparable. The plinth of the structure is raised about five to ten feet above the ground, helping the occupants get a better view of the surroundings. The views may not challenge those from a tree house; however, they are still beautiful and something that all the modern stilt houses vie for.

Especially if the stilt house is situated close to the beach or a waterbody, it is better to have a stilt house to battle the incoming tide while still giving the occupants an unobstructed view of the beach, river, or lake.

Stability

Not all the regions on the planet have stable ground over which you can build a structure as heavy as a house. It is possible that the land you own has shifty, sandy soil or soil that swells and contracts, is loose or completely gravelly.

In such situations, building your house atop stilts is a great option for stability. Stilts can go deep underground and provide sturdy anchoring for the plinth over which you plan to build your house. They also allow the soil to move around of its own will, not obstructing the natural course of the ecosystem.

Ventilation

In coastal areas that are supremely humid and balmy, stilt houses can provide natural cooling benefits. The structure of a stilt house allows the natural draught of air to pass underneath the house between the stilts. This natural circulation of cooler air beneath the plinth keeps the house itself cool during the warmer months.

Additionally, the humidity near the surface of the water is high, which can be totally avoided by raising the house over that threshold a little bit. The interior of the stilt house thus remains relatively habitable in warmer, more humid conditions.

For those with respiratory issues, a stilt house is a boon.

Conclusion

The modern stilt house is rapidly rising in popularity because of the multi-fold benefits it provides. Whether it is safety from floods, good ventilation or even unique aesthetic value, a stilt house checks all the boxes of a beautiful, durable design.

At Homelane, you will be able to discover stunning interior ideas for your stilt house using the best materials suitable for tropical or colder conditions. To know more, visit Homelane.

FAQs

1. Where Is a Stilt House Found in India?

Stilt houses are majorly found in the state of Assam in India. Since there are regions in the state that are prone to frequent flooding, there is a great benefit to adopting stilt houses in Assam.

2. What Is a Stilt House?

A stilt house is a structure that is elevated from the ground by five to ten feet with the help of stilts. The gap thus created helps to keep the house protected from flood waters and permafrost.

3. What Is a Stilt House Made Of?

Stilt houses can be made from any material that is friendly to the local environment and availability conditions. For example, stilt houses in Assam are made from bamboo. The stilt houses in Malaysia are made from wood. You can also construct stilt houses from other sturdy materials like stone and metal.