Planning to build a yurt in Czech Republic

[Bob Rowlands]

You're off code. lol So..what is wrong with the stairs?

[Knecht]

Some of the planks don't fit all that well between the side boards. No matter how precisely I've tried to have everything measured and straight and accurate, it's not. However, it works fine, so I'm not really that worried about it anymore. Need to put some linseed oil on the whole thing yet. Not sure if I should keep it natural bright or put some stain paint on it as well.

[Bob Rowlands]

Based on the photo it looks reasonably safe. It isn't easy fitting treads between heavy stringers and getting them tight if there is cupping in the stringers. If you get the money to blow you could drift lags from the outside of the stringer into the tread. That'll tighten the joint somewhat.

[Bob Rowlands]

Just talking out loud here not criticizing. If you were to dismantle the stair for any reason you could mortise the treads into the risers. A router and a jig makes this easy, but it can be done freehand and I have done it that way. If you are happy with the tread layout pencil around the tread at the riser. There's your layout.

fwiw I inherited my moms condo. The main entry stairs built similar to yours. They were constructed in 1973 and still work just fine. No work redoing anything. Just saying.

[Knecht]

Thanks for the ideas. I don't plan to redo the stairs any soon unless necessary. At first I wanted to make cutouts in the sides for each step, but went the lazy way. Must focus on making stuff for sale, can't spend so much time on the yurt.

[Bob Rowlands]

You got your priority right.

[Knecht]

It's getting cold here lately, had to fire up the stove today, after a long time. Still works fine. Already learned to heat the pipe first with a torch of rolled newspaper, to get a nice draft. Works every time.

[Jafo]

Your stove is significantly different than mine. You seem to have some kind of heat exchanger off the back of it?



That has to cause some draft issues on it's own. I have two 90 degree angles in mine:



There is the one in the black stove pipe, and then one on the outside of the wall to the chimney. This week, I will be swapping out the 90 inside and will go with two 45 elbows. One on the collar of the stove, and the other on the thimble of the through the wall kit. The manufacturer of the stove and countless others at various wood stove forums recommended I do that for a better draft. Draft is very important for a catalytic stove.

It's too bad you couldn't set yours up so the pipe goes directly straight through the roof from the firebox. It would save you a bit of room for sure.

[Knecht]

The device behind the stove is a spark trap. The whole set is army surplus, likely made in 50's or so. It was made for large army tents and various semi-permanent installations. Very primitive design, all cast iron, no linig. On the other hand, there's very little to break on it. I don't really mind the extra room it takes, it hardly sticks out of the bagana area. Plus it surely helps to keep some of the heat in. I saw pics of some other Czech's yurt, that guy also used this stove setup and had couple bricks stacked on each side of the spark trap, to accumulate more heat. Maybe in winter, I'll do it as well.
The trick to heat the pipes is nothing new, really. It was a common thing back when woodstoves were in every house. Many blacksmiths also use it, to get the draft started when they fire up the forge (I have an outdoor forge without chimney, so I don't have to)

[Jafo]

Do you have access to soapstone?