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Figure 14. A smaller room formed in the same way as the large one: a stone wall
over which the roof cap is placed [Мања просторија формирана на исти начин
као и велика: камени зид преко кога је постављена калота крова]

RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
General characteristics of houses

Houses are built on ridges, as high as possible above the valley. The
reasons for this are better ventilation and smaller temperature fluctuations than
in the valley. The house usually consists of two units: the house itself and the
fenced yard in front. The main wall of the house and the fence of the front yard
are built in the same way, using broken stone laid as dry stone or with a mixture
of clay and grass. The height of the wall is about 120 cm, and the width varies
from 120 to 200 cm at the bottom and 80–120 cm at the top. The wall does not
have deep foundations because the bearing stone layer is very shallow relative
to the ground surface. The wall enclosing the front yard has an identical cross-
section. The floor of the house and yard are also treated in the same way:
polished clay, or today, cement mortar. The house consists of two structural
units: a stone wall and a roof cap.
The roof cap rests on two points: a beam supported by two columns placed
in the center of the room, and the top of the stone wall. The two central columns
are slightly embedded in the ground, and at the top, they have forks that support
a horizontal roof beam. Both the columns and the beam are made of untreated
wood from which the bark has been removed. Due to the specific climate, the