Planning to build a yurt in Czech Republic

[Knecht]

Thanks, I think I'll raise the chimney a little.
May do something with the door yet.

[Bob Rowlands]

You got a really nice hand built yurt knecht. As I've said before, this thread is a big asset to the forum so others can see the build along. Again, VERY nicely done.

You have some nice

insulation

going on inside your yurt. It looks substantially warmer than mine. If you really want the heat to stay in, getting the door to close tightly against the jamb is a big deal, just like it is in any residential home. In fact even more important considering the yurts volume. A HUGE amount of air comes into my yurt at the door frame. That's the biggest source of air infiltration. If I was living in there, I'd add a door stop and reset my door.

[Knecht]

Thanks! You've helped me a lot during the whole build. Thank you and also big thanks to everyone else who helped and adviced!
It's still not complete, but the main work is done. I'll post pics as we improve the interier (currently refurbishing an old table we'd like to use) and also when we build the stairs.
Thinking about adding another set of roof laths, maybe just some lighter ones, that would help supporting the roof

insulation

. Been thinking about woodcscrew eyelets between current lath holes in the ring, plus a woodscrew hook on the lath. I think that would work.

I can't do much with the door untill it fully dries and gets stabilized. But I'll surely see about airsealing the door then.

[Knecht]

Here's a picture of the old table being refurbished. The board used to be coated in layers of cracked paint and filling of several kinds. I sanded it all off, pulled out several nails, got rid of some of the worst filling attempts, sanded off many dents and deep scratches...the table must have seen some really bad times, some old kitchen machines must have been viced to the edge countless times and when the board disconnected from the bottom, someone has just driven two large nails through the board, splitting one of the legs.... The board got two coats of linseed oil now. The bottom part and legs will be painted in ochre yellow.

The flash made some of the worst old fillings more visible, it looks much better in real.

[Bob Rowlands]

That table is very nice. I did a big built in for some clients in 2005. At the end of the job, I redid the top of their kitchen table. This wasn't a typical hardwood dining table. The clients had found the table abandoned along a road! and took it home. It was actually a picnic table built with construction lumber and 4x4 post legs-no bench seats. Four wobbly legs and a top so cupped there literally wasn't a flat spot anywhere to set the dishes on. I mean cupped. How cupped? After planing and sanding the top boards flat the thickness was 3/4 at the edge of the 2X6s! I had to reset all the screws to keep my planer blades from getting eaten, and to solidify the boards they were all loose. I told them a good finish would be several coats of WB poly.

OK so fast forward several years. They called me back to do some other built ins in their new home. Well I'll be darned if they didn't still have that same table in the kitchen! I checked out how flat the top had stayed. It was still dead flat like the day I redid it. Amazing! The mom wanted to know why the table top was always sticky. Well they had 5 kids by then and another one on the way. That poly had been wiped to death. lol

[Jafo]

Geesh, I have almost an identical table. I don't even want to tell you what I have done with it.. Okay, well it is outside on my deck, covered by the roof, where my deep fryer sits. It was a beautiful table at one point. I should probably take points from you and restore it.

[Knecht]

Bob, it's always nice to see your work after a while and find out it's holding up well!
Jafo, good luck with your table! I'm really glad I'm fixing this one. Despite being old and all messed up, such table is much more worth to me than modern overpriced and crappy stuff. We have another old table in the yurt, I guess it must be from the 50s at least and it's good to go, just needs the legs repainted. That table has survived all those years, then been used by my roommate back at the college, who brought it to our appartment and we used it for several years... Then I inherited it when he left and used it pretty roughly as well. Had it as a workbench, with a vice and my reloading press attached to it. Then it travelled across the whole country to my current yurt site, strapped to the roof of my car, in hard rain. Then I used it here as another workbench (most of my photos from making the roof ring show it). I don't know what the board coating is made of, but that stuff is indestructible, it's still flat and straight. Nothing got loose on the bottom part, either. Just needs some paint attention and it's like new. If I bought a new table back at the college for the appartment, it would be history long ago. Funny thing is, that table was likely made as a regular massmade kitchen table, not an undestructible workbench... there was time when people were proud of making quality items, unlike today.

[Bob Rowlands]

10-4 on 'built to last' comment Knecht. I won't go off on that, but, hand work has gotten so rare in this mass produced age that most folks wouldn't know well made unless someone that DID know showed them why the work is good. Suffice to say, the mark of the maker is seen in his work. Every last bit of work I've ever done has a stamp that says I did it. I've gotten get LOTS of compliments over the decades on the work I've done. Don't mean to sound like a jack@$$ but it's the simple truth. My work is my legacy once I'm gone.

[Knecht]

Continued working on the table restoration. The bottom part will be painted, so I didn't clean it to bare wood like I did with the desk. Just sanded off all the chipping old paint and then glued two spots where the dovetails got loose over the years. Tomorrow when the glue is set, I'll start painting. Will also work on restoring the two drawers it has.


As for progress on the yurt itself, I'm just arranging its internet connection with my web provider and what I also did today was I've wire-brushed the stove to get rid of the old protective paint, that didn't want to burn out itself. Then fired the stove to burn out some other paint and oil residues that still remain on the pipes and spark trap. Painted some of the remaining floor sections that only had base paint. I sincerely hate the brown paint now. Some of the oldest sections that I've painted like two weeks ago have spots where the paint has been torn and peeled off by recent use. Still wet on the bottom side. Really not happy about it. That damn paint was expensive and won't dry after two weeks. Never buying that brand again for any serious work.

[Knecht]

The table story continues...bottom is painted with basepaint now. Drawers are sanded, waiting for my wife to decide whether she wants them painted or just oiled (it will be mainly her table).
They won't have the color we wanted in local paint shop before Monday, anyway, so there's no hurry.
I'll see about restoring/building some more furniture for the yurt.