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Planning to build a yurt in Czech Republic

grandapajohn, if you're interested in reading a long and very detailed yurt build, from scratch, copy and paste:

clan yama kaminari-home

On the front page click on 'make it'. The scroll down to yurt/ger construction.

It's a good overview of a very strong ger built for minimal cash outlay. I built the 14' and 16' sizes. Photos of the 16'er is on this site under 'home made yurt'. I built the deck too. My grandkids love the yurt. Even Grandma likes it now that it's on the platform.
 
Thanks. Actually, I have called myself many names while making it, "smart" wasn't one of them :)
Anyway, I have the top layer trimmed and sanded now. Pics later tonight.
 
Dude it ain't any old knuckledragger that pulls off scratch building a round platform, and the yurt that sets upon it, with hand tools. lol

Gotta get back to work. I'm building a one off custom rail on a retired astronauts new $$$$ home. There's some knuckledraggin' goin on over there lemme tell yuz. lol Later.
 
Have fun there.

Here's the ring in current shape. You can see some of the holes (4 in total) are somewhat deeper cut than the rest. Those are the first testing holes that turned out to be unnecessarily deep, so I made the others smaller.


Now I need to figure out the top part of the tono. Still haven't fully solved the question of the enlarged rim that would overlap the edge of roof canvas. That leads to the question of getting the stove pipe through without letting rain and snow in. I was thinking about metal sheet with a hole for the pipe; this would cover 1/4 of the top dome. That itself would be easy, but once the rain flows over this metal, I still need it to go over the roof canvas, not under its edge. So at least the 1/4 with pipe needs some sort of extra rim around it. I'd love to make such rim around the whole ring, but as I mentioned before - how am I going to get the center hole in canvas over this rim? Should the canvas have a way to be choked around the ring once it's in place or something?
I don't know, maybe I'm just overlooking some obvious solution, as nobody else seems to deal with this issue.
 
Trying to choke canvas, huh? lol Now that's a new one. :D

I'm thinking trying to cinch up the entire roof canvas so it closes up kinda like the top of a sailors duffle bag, won't be either easy or neat. My roof canvas was heavy, bulky and stubborn to work with. I'd bail on the duffle close idea.

What I did on my yurt was make the covers smoke hole the inside diameter of the roof ring. I sewed 14 loops to the seamed edge. I lashed the cover to screw eyes set in the bottom of the roof ring. It works great for holding the smoke hole in exact position, and keeps the cover from shifting or lifting in the wind. Plus it's a snap to lash up from inside the yurt.

Now, covering the ring hole. Hmmmm. It sounds like you're wanting to do something more sophisticated than cutting a stove pipe hole in the center of a metal trash can lid, and just letting the pipe center it atop your yurt. lol-

My idea is to make a traditional looking upper assembly seperately It would include the 3 quadrants of glass and one quadrant of stove pipe exit. Make it the same outside and inside diameter as the roof ring. Make the bottom flat, just like your roof ring. The whole shebang would need to be be water tight.

To seal the roof, align the upper glass and pipe hole assembly atop the roof ring and screw the two together. Or caulk a fat bead of silicone between the two before you sandwich them together.

Just thinkin out loud here. I've never studied how to seal the yurt roof. All I know is there's gotta be a better way than my trash can lid. :D
 
You could also through bolt the two assemblys together, instead of using screws. In that case I'd think the roof cover would act as a gasket between the two. No silicone, no loops, no lashing necessary. Just another idea.
 
Well, making the top assembly separately also came to my mind, but it would be a problem to get it there. Would have to drag it over the outer side of the roof likely.
Since I want to have the roof part made of a PVC coated fabric, it won't allow to cinch around the hole. I could have a special collar sewn into the hole that would be made of thinner, softer (still waterproof) fabric and would be loose enough to allow the cinching? I guess that might work.
Another method would be having sort of fabric "skirt" around the ring, that would be placed over the roof cover edge.
There are other means to do this, but come on - I see pics of many yurts here that seem to have a permanently attached transparent dome over the ring. They must have the same problem as I, they must make some sort of overlap on the roof cover's hole to keep the rain out. So how do you guys deal with it? There are thousands of views on this thread, some of you must know the answer. Don't you let Bob to have all the fun :)

Today's progress: some imperfections on the ring filled and will be sanded tomorrow. Several roof rafters cut to fit the slots. Tension cable placed on the khana. Baganas are getting a coat of paint.
 
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Hi Knecht, I don't have feedback for securing the cover, but I have a suggestion for how to get it to the top w/o dragging it (as much) over your fabric. I've been actually working through this in my head for similar reasons.

If you get two sections of threaded metal pipe (say, a 10 foot and 4 foot section) you can connect them using a pipe fitting, and then screw a threaded base flange on both ends.
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You can use a carabiner to attach a pulley to one of the holes in the flange. That will be the top of the assembly. It should be taller than your yurt once it's standing up.

The bottom flange can be secured directly to your floor (but i doubt you'll want to do that) or you can build a stand using heavy wood that it can be screwed into.

Run some cable or rope through the pulley with a clip or hook at the end of the cable. Pop the top part of the assembly through the hole in your yurt and let it stand upright.

From the inside of the yurt(on a stepladder of course :P) , reach out and toss the cable with the hook/clip over the side of your yurt and secure it to a flat board or something that won't snag the roof fabric. Attach the dome to the board with rope or twine and start reeling in your catch!

The stress from pulling the load will be transferred up on the pulley and pipe, instead of down and on your ring and fabric.
 
Getting the top cap up into position without tearing the cover will be easy unless it's stupid heavy.

Borrow an extension ladder and a musclehead friend. Extend the ladder and flop it on the roof following the roof pitch, so it lays on the roof ring. Position the ladder legs uphill above your yurt platform. Adjust, dig holes, whatever it takes so the legs are solidly planted and can't shift. Adjust the length so it's just up on the ring and the ladder is straddling two adjacent rafters. Just point it at the center of the smoke hole and go for it. lol

Tie a stout rope to the cap through the stove pipe hole. You and muscles get the cap centered on the ladder rails. Have muscle boy climb the ladder positioned under the smoke hole. Flip the rope up to him. Now shove and pull that cap up the ladder. It'll ride on the ladder rails no problem as long as the helper does his job. Then just muscle it into position atop the ring. Drill through bolt holes, and anchor the cap to the ring. Piece of cake, I'm tellin yuh. lol

Just so you know I've flopped my 24' extension ladder on my yurt roof a couple times doing maintenance to the spark holes and installing a proper spark arrestor. It's worked good for that anyway. Don't blame me if you try my suggestion and end up in emergicare. :D
 
Have your wife take some photos of you two guys in action on the ladder. Post the coolest one on here. Caption it, "Why women live longer then men." lol
 
Good point Bob :)

Grandpajohn, that cross-section drawing might have just sparked an idea in my mind....need to think about it yet, but it's highly possible that you've solved my problem. Thanks!
 
Oh, maybe I have a great idea to deal with covering the crown against rain. Will require some work, but if it's functional, it would be perfect.
 
Thanks for posting the link John. I like sectional drawings.

It would be really cool if we could make freehand drawings on a post using the mouse. I have to repeatedly edit every one of my tedious drawn out 'build it' posts in attempt to make them understandable. A simple drawing would make it easy.
 
Roof testing day!
Since the rafters don't yet have their lower end tied or otherwise attached to the khana, they tend to slide of the ring slots and fall inside the yurt...

...so head protection is a must :D



Couple rafters skipped, either not done yet, or their slots were covered by ductape :) Anyway, the general shape is clearly visible now.





Rafters are getting the same dye as khana. Baganas and ring will be painted red. One of them partially is, the other has just white base paint now. I hoped to have them both painted for the testing and pics, but the red paint takes too long to fully dry, so I took them out as they were. They'll have enough time to dry now, as I'll be working on the ring top assembly.
 
Looks like you done a fine job on your build and a great job with the pictures on the progress. I am sure you will get years of enjoyment out of your yurt and knowing you built it all yourself.
 
Sorry about the delay, the work has not stopped though: lately I'm finishing the roof rafters, stain them and work on the tono upper assembly. Also, I'm just negotiating some details before final ordering the roof.
Took some drawknife work to shape the bottom ends of rafters to fit into the khana top crossings, but I enjoyed it, as I like working with drawknife, one of my favourite woodtools. Plus, the shavings are awesome kindling material. I also have to build a frame for the good old bucksaw, I'll need it for the ring parts. Guess I'll make that frame tonight.
 
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