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Planning to build a yurt in Czech Republic

Ok, thought I'll show you the saw. It's just a quick made one, more like survival style, but it works perfect. Side bars are made of rose hip branch, that wood will crack lengthwise but won't break. This one has been drying for several years now, so it's good and ready. Should last a lifetime. Make sure to pick some when clearing a rose hip bush, this thing makes great canes, clubs and shafts (if you don't mind the lengthwise cracks, but you can always wrap the handle with something). Middle bar is just a copper pipe leftover I grabbed for this, as it had the exact length I needed. Just flattened the ends a little and chiseled a pocket for them in each of the side bars. Top tightening bundle is made of tarred bankline, shouldn't break and shouldn't care about moisture. Blade is Bahco drywood blade, brand new. Bahco makes good saws. The blade is the only part I had to buy to make myself a perfect handsaw. Guess I'll have to replace the copper pipe with something sturdier, as it's likely gonna bend at the ends, but should last long enough to help me in the yurt finishing. Then I'll either use some good hardwood or iron pipe.
 
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Great stuff, thank you for the updates! Just a quick q please - I think you're building a 6m yurt with a 1m ring? I saw the chat between you and Bob on pg 6 of this thread so I'm getting a feel of measurements and pics here.

Also, please how heavy is your center ring? It's a beauty, by the way :D
 
Yes, 6m yurt, 1m ring.
Not sure about the weight of the ring (my yurt build happened mainly because I had to move and now lots of the things from my old apartment are stuffed in garage, including my scale). My guess would be around 5-6kg. I didn't really care about making the ring too heavy using solid lumber, as I knew I'll be making the baganas to support my roof against snow.
I've just tested the saw today, been cutting some beams while rebuilding my smithy. Need to have it functional ASAP, both to make door hinges and other metal stuff for the yurt and for earning some money doing custom work (orders accepted via PM :D )
 
Looking forward to more photos. A sharp drawknife is a great tool.

Good job as usual knecht. I'm hoping this thread gets a few other folks building their own yurt.
 
Thanks. PM seems to be available when you click someone's name, a menu pops up, including private messages
 
knecht, I sent you a PM. I'm computer challenged, but it says I have no reply. I'll have to check tonight because I'm very busy fixing my work van. Later. Bob
 
I got the message and I surely wrote an answer...now, did I actually send it? Not sure...I'll send it again.
 
While waiting for the roof to be made, I got a great deal today. Went to a store here in town that carries hardware, builder's supplies and also has a large bargain room, where they sell all kinds of stuff by weight. Anything from tools to shoes there, often it's stuff that was discarded for hawing some minor flaws and such. Anyway, I scored a roll of felt there and grabbed it. Paid ~$35 for it. Light brown. Two holes and some dirt on the end, guess the roll fell of a truck or something. At home I measured it and the undamaged part is over 20m! More than enough to put it around my khana. Not very thick (like 3mm), but it will make a great under-layer before I put on the main layer of hemp fiber insulation and will also be much nicer to see from the inside. Plus, will add to the authenticity feel a bit. It's 1,3m wide, so it won't cover the whole height of the khana, but the remaining space can be easily filled with something else.
Burned a piece of it and it seems to be pure wool!
 
Thanks, I'm really happy with it.
Not sure about the roof insulation. The hemp fiber will come in rolls, guess 1m wide, which means two around the khana, that's no problem. What about the roof? Put stripes on it, like a star pattern? Then fill the remaining triangles with something? I have several old army blankets saved for that...I was also thinking space blankets, those are cheap and should reflect the heat nicely, but I guess the condensation would be terrible on them.
 
I don't know how tough the hemp insulation is, or how bulky and unwieldy it is. I'll just assume it is tough enough that you could join strips of the stuff on edge. In effect you'd be making a 'tarp' of the stuff. Hopefully it wouldn't fall apart. How you'd join the edges beats me since I haven't seen the insulation.

But if you can, make a square of the stuff that's a few feet larger than the diameter of your yurt. If you cut a wedge shape out of the square, and join the 'cut edges' where you cut out the wedge, you'd have a cone. Then cut out the smoke hole. Slide that huge China cap up into place and anchor it.

Another route would be to just roll the insulation over the roof and overlap it like the Mongolians do, and call it good. Good luck.
 
I could stitch the insulation together with a big sail needle, I've thought about that before. But would it hold together? If I try to drag it over the roof? That's unsure. My guess is it would tear away the stitches with it's own weight.
How exactly do the Mongolians insulate their roof? I remember a photo of a recent ger that seemed to have the insulation sewed together from all kinds of fabric, likely blankets as well as discarded clothes (a back part of a jacket with the "Panthers" logo was extra cool :) ) but it wasn't clear what's attached together and what's just overlaid.
 
Firstly, I'm no expert on yurts so keep that in mind. In particular I know zilch about yurt insulation.

I've watched a couple YT vids of Mongolians erecting their yurts. The felt cover in those vids isn't one big yurt sized piece like I described. Actually they were several large irregular sized pieces flopped into place atop the liner and lapped to get full coverage. Get them up over the roof liner, roll them out, and shift around until covered.

Once the final yurt cover gets installed, they threw ropes across the structure in criss cross fashion and stake them to the ground. That holds everything in place. No muss no fuss no tools no carpentry nothing fancy. Easy to erect and take down. Perfect for breaking camp a few times a year. A brilliant home design IMO.
 
Allright, I may do something like that as well. Guess the PVC coated roof fabric will be sturdy and heavy enough to compress the insulation a bit and straighten the irregular surface under it.
I was thinking about some ropes over the whole structure then, maybe make some sort of very loose net or something. Or maybe a loop that would go around the roof in about 2/3 height and then several rope beams coming from the loop to ground.
 
knecht- How I stopped the cover from flapping in the wind. I took an old retired 11mm climbing rope and cut it into thirds- about 55' in length for each section. Out of one length, I made a rope 'bridle' that sits atop my yurt cover about half way down the rafter length.

I have five loops spaced evenly in the bridle. Each of the five loops are secured with additional rope to the cable/concrete anchor system I installed around the perimeter of the yurt, prior to building the platform. No matter how hard the wind blows that cover doesn't billow up and down and flap against the rafters like it did beforehand.

I know your yurt is securely anchored to the platform. For those folks that aren't aware, securing the yurt to the ground with a bridle or criss cross of rope is a very wise move if you live in a wind prone area. Otherwise you just might lose your yurt like I did.
 
I think you had similar idea to what I was describing, if I imagine yours right.
Guess I'll solve this when I get there...I need to finish the ring before the roof tarp arrives, but also need to finish an order of some 9th century spurs replica, which I have to ship by Monday...so annoying item to make!
 
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