building a yurt for the winter...

[njtool]

I will be building a yurt to live in this winter. For reference, I live in north west new jersey.

I have been researching yurts for almost a year and I am ready to get started but I have a few questions that I hope some people will be kind enough to help me out with.

The only calculator I have found so far is simplydifferent.org. even though its in metric, i have muddled through it. However, I have a few concerns with the site. First of all, the wall angle on the site is 90 degrees, it the lath was 90 it would be verticle. Am I missing something here? 90 degrees is used throughout the website so it doesnt appear to be a one time error.
I want the walls to be 6'. I input 60 degree for the angle and it gives me a length of 7'7" for the lath. The site recommends 7 holes in the lath with 1' spacing and 16" left over on one end. That math doesnt add up if the lath is 7'7"long.

Is there another calculator out there that I cant find? My parameters are; a 20' yurt that will be built on a platform. I will be milling all the wood myself, im planning on making the walls from beech and im not sure about the roof poles yet.

Is bending the individual lath before assemble a good idea? How big of a radius bend will give me straight walls when its assembled?

So many question. Any help would be aapreciated.

Thank you

[Bob Rowlands]

a2 x b2 = c2 This formula will give you alot of unknown lengths.

Bending lath before assembly into wall is absolute essential, if you intend to bend them.

Laths on a 45 degree angle relative to the platform, are at a 90 degree angle relative to eachother. The laths form squares when you look at the wall. This is a very quick reference when expanding the wall sections, assuming you planned on the wall having squares. The wall doesn't have to be squares, it can be diamonds. Your choice. Raise the wall and the diamonds narrow, and the inside diameter shrinks. Of course you need to have this planned out or the roof pitch will change, and the wall cover will beshort. You need to have all that worked out before hand. Diamonds I don't know jack about. My 12'7" yurt is squares.

You migfht want to google: Caln Yama Kaminari Yurt click on yurt build and read the instructions. I have built the 16' 14' and now the 12' version. Good luck.

[hierony]

I forgot about the simplydifferently being a pain with the metric. I'd sketch the bits out by hand and label everything just to make sure I was doing it right--every now and again I get my conversions ways off...

The lathes don't need much of a bend. The lathe in my purchased traditional yurt has a bend ~2/3 up the wall of just a few degrees. Paul King's The Complete Yurt Handbook has directions for such things.

[Bob Rowlands]

Google: steam bend yurt laths youtube

[njtool]

Thanks for the replies. I finally got the yurt handbook and its filled with great info. My son and I framed out a deck this weekend. Next we have to build a circular platform on top of the deck.
This weekend im going to take down a beech tree to make the lath out of. My experiment will be to put the lath in a bending form wet and see how well they hold their shape when they dry.
While they are drying I will tackle the platform...

[Bob Rowlands]

Good idea. Let us know how that works.

[njtool]

I thought I would share my progress so far. I cut down 2 beech trees, both had hearts that were less than perfect but I worked around them. I have about 62 slats so far, about half of what I will need. The slats are a little over 10 feet long, I will cut them down once they are dry then I will drill the holes.

I've been thinking about sealing the slats. Is there a preferred finish for the slats, if any?

[njtool]

I'm not sure if the pics loaded properly. Here they are again...

[Bob Rowlands]

Good job dude. Needless to say I am VERY impressed by your effort. Nicely done.

As for finish of laths, I painted mine with two coats of hunter green Rustoleum enamel. That paint is bulletproof. If you want a clear finish you could use either oil or wb polyurethane. I happen to like oil based coatings because they are very durable. I'm sure some manufacturers use a dip tube filled with finish because labor is money.

Keep after it. Thanks for the photos.

[njtool]

Thanks,
I guess I will use boiled linseed oil if I have time for them to dry, I like natural wood
I still have a bunch of slats to cut and get in the racks, my large beech trees had rotten hearts im glad I got rid of them. I will have to take down another tree to get my quota.

Ive been thinking about the best way to build the base and the best

insulation

. I think I have a source for raw wool that I can wash and use. As for the design of the base, im thinking that beams radiating out from the center with a pine sub floor then a finished floor would be sufficient. Does anyone else have a better suggestion?