A traditional house; i.e., of traditional design with a four-pitch roof, hā'a, and built on foundation piles, tū'ud.
Nan baluy ya hay nahamad an āyiw di miyamma.
As for a traditional house, it is made of solid wood.
A typical house has a floor space from about 2.2 by 2.8 m. to 2.8 by 3.4 m., with the shorter sides at the front and back. The house interior is a single room which serves as a place to cook food, eat, and sleep. It serves as the place for performing several religious activities, bā'i. It is also used as a storage area for grains and vegetables such as beans, sweet potatoes, corn, millet and various vegetable seeds. Rice bundles are stored in the attic. The house is built on foundation piles, with the floor level, about 155 - 160 cm. above the ground. This provides a sheltered space under the house for purposes similar to an open room or balcony. Here social and some religious activities are carried on. It is also used as a place for cooking, eating and sleeping during hot weather and for storing lumber, hanging chicken baskets, and the like. Built off the ground with rat guards, lībong, it protects the house against rat infestation. A house is pegged together with tapered dowel pegs, pāheng. This allows the house to give during strong winds without breaking apart. It also allows a house to be disassembled and transferred to other locations. The roof is transported, a single side, hinhā'a, at a time, or one side in two or three sections. All other parts are completely disassembled. House moving allows an owner to move nearer to his and/or her pond fields when necessary. Newly married couples usually desire to live in a village separate from parents and siblings and houses are often moved for this reason. They are also moved to avoid continual sickness or death in a family or when sold to new owners.
baluy 1, Permanent Shelters,
banoh 2a, Legacies,