mrTOECUTTER
30th October 2008, 10:51 AM
My Girlfriend and I are moving out of Sydney to travel rural NSW in a yurt!
I went to Mongolia in 2005 and did a lot of drawings from actual yurts, or ger [gare] in Mongolian. I also found a great resource online here:
http://simplydifferently.org/
To break it down a bit more, a yurt is made from a few (5) lattice walls (khana) which are tied together forming a circle, with a single low doorway. These are kept in form with a rope which holds it all to a set length of circumference. There is a round wooden skylight in the centre which is held up by a series of wooden poles (uni) which are tied to the lattice walls. All this is covered by felt for insulation and a waterproofed fabric, and tied on with a network of straps and ropes which are pegged into the ground.
This picture should make all that make sense:
http://simplydifferently.org/Pics/yurt-details.png
I was thinking of using bamboo for the roof poles, because they have excellent strength and length (and I wouldn't have to do much to them to make them round!!)
I found an old round wooden table top which i was going to cut into to make the round skylight, and add a bunch of wood to to strengthen it.
What I am wondering about is which wood to choose for the khana (lattice walls) and the doorway. They will most probably be resting on the ground and they need the strength to support the roof poles. So I need to choose a wood which is durable, strong, resistant to moisture, and hopefully not too expensive!
The length of each of the pieces of the khana will be about 1.8m, with a cross section of about 8mm x 35mm, and joined through holes drilled in the pieces with a thick cord.
The doorway is about 800 wide by 1500 high, with four uprights (two each side) and 2 pieces for the top and the bottom: at the top, the roof poles have to sit into it.
This is the story so far!
I will post with my progress and look forward to any help you guys can give me!
Best Wishes
mrTOECUTTER
addendum: for the khana there needs to be about 160m. of this material (approx. 25 poles/slats per khana and five khana make up the whole wall)
I went to Mongolia in 2005 and did a lot of drawings from actual yurts, or ger [gare] in Mongolian. I also found a great resource online here:
http://simplydifferently.org/
To break it down a bit more, a yurt is made from a few (5) lattice walls (khana) which are tied together forming a circle, with a single low doorway. These are kept in form with a rope which holds it all to a set length of circumference. There is a round wooden skylight in the centre which is held up by a series of wooden poles (uni) which are tied to the lattice walls. All this is covered by felt for insulation and a waterproofed fabric, and tied on with a network of straps and ropes which are pegged into the ground.
This picture should make all that make sense:
http://simplydifferently.org/Pics/yurt-details.png
I was thinking of using bamboo for the roof poles, because they have excellent strength and length (and I wouldn't have to do much to them to make them round!!)
I found an old round wooden table top which i was going to cut into to make the round skylight, and add a bunch of wood to to strengthen it.
What I am wondering about is which wood to choose for the khana (lattice walls) and the doorway. They will most probably be resting on the ground and they need the strength to support the roof poles. So I need to choose a wood which is durable, strong, resistant to moisture, and hopefully not too expensive!
The length of each of the pieces of the khana will be about 1.8m, with a cross section of about 8mm x 35mm, and joined through holes drilled in the pieces with a thick cord.
The doorway is about 800 wide by 1500 high, with four uprights (two each side) and 2 pieces for the top and the bottom: at the top, the roof poles have to sit into it.
This is the story so far!
I will post with my progress and look forward to any help you guys can give me!
Best Wishes
mrTOECUTTER
addendum: for the khana there needs to be about 160m. of this material (approx. 25 poles/slats per khana and five khana make up the whole wall)