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Question about cover material.

R

Robo

New member
Hi guys. New guy here. I'm Robo, and I'm a yurtaholic. lol After carpentering for forty years on square buildings, I got the urge this year to build something round for a change. So I've scratch built a 16' camping yurt from construction lumber, using plan found on the 'net. Google 'rotten luck guild- yurt' and click on the pics link you'll see a yurt like mine.

The build has been a snap, but now I'm dead in the water trying to figure how to get the roof covered. I got the wall covered, and for the last couple weeks I been out there at night hanging by the wood stove, a small tarp tied up above me and the wood pile.

I gotta get this dude covered with something better than the cheap jack Depot painters tarps I made into the wall cover. I was thinking 12 oz double fill sunforger canvas? Other? Suggestions? I sure need help guys. Any of you guys know of a good source for canvas online? I'd sure appreciate any advise from those that have been there done that. I got access to an industrial sewing machine.

Thanks in advance. You all have a good day.
 
On covering your yurt: To do this in a way that you'll end up smiling, you need to ask yourself what you're gonna use your yurt for. Will it be a semi-permanent spare room in your yard? Or do you plan to take it to weekend events and camp? How setting-correct does it have to be?
Someone suggested used billboard skins. They're heavy and they don't breath. But they are relatively cheap, and not an altogether sucky choice for a fixed structure. You can band them on as-is, (like any flat-panel roof tarp) and hide the folds in the back of the ger if it matter to ya. For a fitted roof, you can cut the folds and glue or heat-weld the seam with a hot-air tool for PCV membrane roofing.
Then there's canvas. It's more expensive, and more work. But I think it's a better choice for a mobile camping yurt. Sunforger is a good choice- I use the 10.10 oz., but lotsa folks like the 12 oz. too. It's lighter, breathes better, and the light color helps keep the tent cooler in the summer. You'll need a canvas-capable sewing machine, and the burliest cotton-wrapped poly thread your machine can handle. Making good seams is available lotsa places on the 'net. Be wary in your planning though- even pre-shrunk Sunforger will shrink a little more once wet.
And then there's the third option: white plastic tarp. Even cheaper, light, compact, and totally rain-proof, I've skinned "budget yurts" with this stuff before. I know it's not "authentic", but it works. And in white, it doesn't look that bad. The only real down sides are again, breathability (ventilate as necessary), and the horrifying racket that accompanies serious rain or hail. Best of luck, fellow yurt-monger! :)
Cheers-
Alchamar
 
Thanks for the replys guys. I'm leaving the yurt set up out back for now. I'd only consider a billboard tarp if it featured an Amazon sized Harrahs casino chick, otherwise I'll pass. lol

Alchamar, gotta suggestion for canvas online? I'm also considering a 12oz sunforger tarp from cover me tarps, folded up like you said. Heard of them?
 
How about an 18ft pool cover it's cheap durable and it comes with it's own draw string thing. fits a 16 foot yurt like a glove. the blue yurt in the picture section has a pool cover roof. The walls are covered with white tarps from those white portable garages you see all over.
 
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A couple of billboard skins cost about $250-$400 (depending on where ya find 'em). Sunforger canvas- about $500 give or take. White plastic tarp'll run ya under $200.

Cheers, Alchamar
 
Be sure to take extremely careful measurements of everything first (roof pitch, dome opening diameter, fastening system, etc.) before trying to interchange/adapt home built stuff with commercially produced yurt parts. These things are definitely not one size fits all.

just FYI
 
Just wanted to let you guys know I finally got my yurt covered. I ended up buying a 20x24, 17 oz double fill canvas tarp. I custom modified it to fit the roof framing. The sewing and detailing was a LOT of work, it took two days. It came out great.

You all take care.
 
I know what you mean by takes time. i took a tarp to an upholstery shop said they could do the roof hole for me.And after weeks of them stalling me.I went and got the dang thing bought a palm stitch er and did it my self took me a whole day but turned out really well.
 
Nobody asked, but I laid the tarp atop the roof, aligned it, and cut slits where the roof hole was going to be. Then, I cut from the outside edge of the cover up alongside a rafter up to one of the smoke hole slits. That freed up the tarp so I could overlap the cut edges and snug the tarp over the conic shape of the roof. I then marked where the second matching cut needed to be, using the cut edge as a guide, and made registration marks for alignment when sewing.

That was an empirical easy way to make the cover fit correctly. No math and head scratching necessary. After stitching the seam I reinstalled the cover and was pleased to find it fit great.

To detail the smoke hole I simply sharpied the location from inside the yurt, cut to within an inch of the line, triple hemmed and triple stitched the hem. Then stitched 14 webbing loops to attach the cover to the anchor cable strung through the roof ring eyebolts. Worked great.

I did all the stitching using nmy moms 1951 sineger portable, with a size 18 needle and heavy polyester thread from Walmart. I ended up using 700 yards of thread. :D
 
You guys rule.. If I even tried to fire up a Singer, you could pretty much take it to the bank that I would sew a couple of my fingers together.
 
My mom taught me to sew. I been sewing and repairing this an that since I was in my late teens. I'm 59 now. That Singer is one superior piece of U.S. machinery. It handled four fat layers of canvas just fine. Didn't even break a needle either. Cramming all that canvas through that tiny portable while stitching a flat fell seam was a trip though. ;D
 
I'm told it's easy to figure out, mathematically, how to make a roof. But I think this is much more likely how I'd do it. Except I'd probably replace the Singer with my bottle of H-66 (which I still haven't used yet).
 
Robo: If you are going to use it for camping, you want a canvas material. I forgot where I got my my canvas, but it was on-line, and by the short bolt (fifty yards) cost less than the thirty I needed. If you make the top as the Mongolians do in two overlapping sections fit is not a problem. There is photograph of mine in the Glamping section.
Woody
 
Cant help you about the canvas but just to let you know we used Tyvec I think its called as our yurt wrap first and then the canvas...its supposed to be breathable and waterproof and has done well for the last 3 years. We pieced it together with tuck tape and in the summer we roll up the tyvec under the roof
 
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