Building the Aroura

[Andy_in_Germany]

Thanks to the help I'm getting here and books by the like of Paul King and Dan Frank Kuehn, I'm able to start making sketches of our Yurt. Because I'm a romantic old softie I've taken to calling it the Aroura, hence the odd title.

Anyway, the first very rough sketch should be attached to this post. I work on the basis that if I start sketching and working things out I'll gradually come to a final design I can build. I'm aiming for a 12 foot/3.65m diameter Yurt.

So the first questions for the Yurt frame:

1: How wide are the wall lattice poles? I was aiming for Ash or Beech square section poles (bear in mind I work at a carpenters workshop: making this from planks is fairly simple). I'm assuming a cross section of 19mm by 19mm (3/4 of an inch square) will be enough. Is this correct?

2: What size should I make the rafters? I'm assuming I'll need 39 rafters (as suggested by Paul King), and I'l make then with pine or spruce. King suggests 32mm x 32mm (1.25in square) but this seems small especially if they have to carry snow (even with Baghana roof supports) and suggestions?

3: In some yurt pictures I've seen vertical supports going from rafters to the ground where they meet the walls. Are these snow supports or for exra security?