HexaYurts

[Elderberry]

Ill be curious to hear whether the paint helped (and that it didn't crack or peel,)

So how do you handle the tape anchors? I assume that you don't run tape over the roof from side to side when you make them, or you'd end up cutting your folding hinges when disassembling. Or do you even use tape anchors with that design?

Actually, the UV degradation of the tape is the main flaw in the folding Hexayurt design. If you have to replace the tape each year, I'm having a hard time justifying the extra work involved in the folding design only to have to redo it each year anyway.

Now if I ever find a bidirectional filament tape that is designed to resist UV radiation, I'd change my mind rather quickly.

I spray painted over some of my pre-taped roof joints with silver paint, some I left alone. I'm hoping the paint will have given the tape some kind of UV protection, but we'll see next August when I unwrap it. The semi-folding roof design worked like a charm and I'm glad I went to the effort to convert it - we battled annoying gusts of wind all afternoon on the 26th and had a very small window to put it up, only having to make one roof seam really sped up the process.

[ConnieH]

Ill be curious to hear whether the paint helped (and that it didn't crack or peel,)

So how do you handle the tape anchors? I assume that you don't run tape over the roof from side to side when you make them, or you'd end up cutting your folding hinges when disassembling. Or do you even use tape anchors with that design?

I integrated two tape anchors into the tape that sealed the one seam holding the two roof halves together. Make one anchor on the free end of the tape, and have another piece of pvc and 12" of cut tape ready for the other end when you tape the seam. We did three more anchors near the corners with the tape ends running up the roof and over the nearest hypotenuse roof joint (does that make sense?). The hypostenuse hinges are on the outside, so I just left the anchor tape tales stuck to the roof and cut off the pvc. We'll see what the tape tales do next year, they may come right off, or they may stick forever, either of which is fine with me so long and the hinge holds.

I may be wrong, but the UV worries you have would be right if the yurts were left out Months at a time. Yes? Now I have seen plenty of tape go south both in sunlight an stored in sheds. The sheds tapes get chalky and de-laminate. ( I use good duct tape )
So if the sun is the only concern about the tape and it's used 10-15 days a year, then it should last a few years before it goes south I would think..?

I've done this for 3 years, the UV worries are solid - I tear of a shit-ton of tape off the yurt every August preparing it for the playa. You can see which panels were exposed to the sun and which weren't - the tape on my interior wall panels looks almost as good as new after 3 years. I flipped my roof panels over this year, hopefully extending the life of it. I'll do the same with the walls next year when I want to invest in more silver spray paint to cover the R-Max logos.

[Elderberry]

Sorry, misposted.

[Rockstar Dicky]

So 2011 was my first burn, and there were 2 yurts in my camp that made me decide to build one of my own for next year. I had an idea for the windows, and have not seen any posts on here relating. I was thinking of somehow designing a sky light concept into the roof. Something that would function similar to a shutter, so that I could open it when I needed more light, then close it back up. One of the yurts in my camp had a velcro strap that they used to keep their door closed, so I'm thinking I could incorporate that same concept into the skylights. My idea would be to have a thick plastic/clear vinyl material on the outside of the yurt that would keep dust from coming through the skylight, then create a hinge on the inside to open up the skylight, then I could pull it back and velcro it to the inside of the roof when I needed light. Then when done close it back up. My only concern would be the strength of the roof panels. Does anyone know how much the strength of the roof would be impacted by skylights? They would be small, probably about 18 inches by 36 inches, and probably only 2 of them in the roof, just enough so that I could let in light periodically during the day so that I could have more light to see by.

[lucky420]

18 x 36 seems kind of big. The roof panels are made from a regular panel cut in half diagonally. Like a pizza slice...that's just my 2 cents. The sun roof would have to be lower on the roof panel. How far down were you thinking of placing them? I have windows on three of my wall panels. 2 windows on 2 panels and one rectangle shaped window on the third.

[Elderberry]

First, if the only reason you are thinking of installing the skylight is for light, you don't need it. Enough light gets through the seems during the day.

That said, we have windows in every wall. You can buy plexiglass windows at home depot already cut to size. On our large yurt, the windows are 12" high x 24" wide. The smaller yurt has some 12" x 12" windows, and one window lower down by the wall with the bed so that you can see out at night. We cut out the holes in the panels about one inch smaller than the windows. We then hinge the cut-out pieces at the bottom to use to open and close the windows, either for privacy or to keep the sun out during the day or to see out at night--whatever. We tape the plexiglass on the outside after we assemble the yurts on the playa using 2" bi-directional tape and cut them off when we disassemble the yurts for transport back to defaultia.

Never much liked the idea of putting any in the roof.

[Canoe]

Sounds like a great window for rinsing out the inside of the yurt when it rains?

No practical experience with a yurt, but in general, round holes (preferably as close to a perfect circle as possible) provided they're not too big, will have minimal impact to the strength. They won't be a stress riser where a break can occur, as the forces move smoothly around the hole and are transferred to the other side. Next best is a hole with nicely rounded corners.

To help maintain the strength of the panel, on the inside, you can run the filament tape, pulled tight. For example, a rectangle: you'd want to run the tape from corner to corner. This will help support external wind load as the inside tape will resist stretching, thereby resist the panel bending inward, hopefully resisting it reaching the point where the panel breaks. For triangles, I'd GUESS you'd run it from a corner to the middle of opposite side? Hope someone who knows can chime in.

[Elderberry]

Sounds like a great window for rinsing out the inside of the yurt when it rains?

No practical experience with a yurt, but in general, round holes (preferably as close to a perfect circle as possible) provided they're not too big, will have minimal impact to the strength. They won't be a stress riser where a break can occur, as the forces move smoothly around the hole and are transferred to the other side. Next best is a hole with nicely rounded corners.

To help maintain the strength of the panel, on the inside, you can run the filament tape, pulled tight. For example, a rectangle: you'd want to run the tape from corner to corner. This will help support external wind load as the inside tape will resist stretching, thereby resist the panel bending inward, hopefully resisting it reaching the point where the panel breaks. For triangles, I'd GUESS you'd run it from a corner to the middle of opposite side? Hope someone who knows can chime in.

It's difficult enough keeping the rain out without windows in the roof. You can't be lazy with your taping.

Sounds like you are recommending taping the panels like you'd tape windows for hurricanes. We've brought our first Yurt to the playa now four years I think; and never felt the panels needed any sort of reinforcement.

[Canoe]

Sounds like you are recommending taping the panels like you'd tape windows for hurricanes. We've brought our first Yurt to the playa now four years I think; and never felt the panels needed any sort of reinforcement.

Yup.
But it's sure a cheap way to get extra strength, without a thicker panel or extra bulk. And depending on where you're putting a window in the roof, extra strength may be what you need, be it for strength or your comfort level.

[Elderberry]

Well I certainly can't disagree with you about that.

In fact, thinking more about it, it might help extend the useful lifespan of the panels an extra year or two as well.

Sounds like you are recommending taping the panels like you'd tape windows for hurricanes. We've brought our first Yurt to the playa now four years I think; and never felt the panels needed any sort of reinforcement.

Yup.
But it's sure a cheap way to get extra strength, without a thicker panel or extra bulk. And depending on where you're putting a window in the roof, extra strength may be what you need, be it for strength or your comfort level.

[waxpraxis]

Question... has anyone ever tried to do one of the folding setups and rather than tape used cloth/thick plastic and some form of permanent adhesive?

I'm starting to get the hexayurt bug, but the whole tape business really turns me off...

[Bob]

Why do you have to be different?

[FIGJAM]

Why do you have to be different?

It's the playa?

[waxpraxis]

I always tinker with everything. Been that way since I was 6 and took apart the door knob and lock to my room and my dad ended up having to come through the window because it turns out that yes, that "extra" spring was important.

Scratching random itches is in many ways both my main hobby and my profession.

[Elderberry]

Yes. Do a search...either somewhere in this thread or in a separate yurt thread, I don't remember. But I got into a ton of trouble voicing my opinion on it. I watched as this person posted detailed progress on the cutting of the fabric (canvas), gluing it, I think he even had some sort of zipper thing going on. I watched with eager anticipation. Then I accidentally ran into it on the playa and was extremely disappointed. Structurally it was a disaster and he needed two poles to hold it up. I hated to speak negatively about it, as he put in a tremendous amount of time and effort; but it just didn't work. (At least it didn't work to my expectations, he is/was still quite pleased with it.)

Question... has anyone ever tried to do one of the folding setups and rather than tape used cloth/thick plastic and some form of permanent adhesive?

I'm starting to get the hexayurt bug, but the whole tape business really turns me off...

[waxpraxis]

Hmm... good to know. I believe I tried searching, but I think that was before the most recent upgrades to the board that made search suck much, much less (this idea has been rolling around in my head for a while!). I'll definately give it a shot again later.

My shade structure this year was a tensegrity-based design that only used three 2"x4"s, guy wires, ratchet straps, and stakes for structurel. It worked really well and we had zero problems with it, but I really like the idea of just using it for a chill out area and having a yurt off to the side.

I believe can get ahold of some outdoor vinyl sheeting and I have the idea that it may be "tape-like" enough in terms of tension and seal to be a contender. If I do end up going forward with it I'll certainly post my findings!

[A Jester]

The yurt that Jkisha talked about disappointed him because of structural and design issues, not because of the tape or cloth issue. At least, that's what I remember from the thread.

I've seen a yurt out at SOAK (portland regional) for a few years that is held together with canvas. I haven't talked to the owner, but it's been out there for multiple years, and has dust all over it. So, I'm going to say that it works just fine.

Make sure your adhesive is the kind that won't melt in the heat.

[Elderberry]

WOW This just caused a light-bulb to go off in my head.

I've been thinking of trying that pre-taped semi-popup design (the exact name eludes me now and I'm in a hurry), but the problem was the UV degradation of the tape from year to year.

Using canvas and glue as the tape might just solve that problem.

[A Jester]

JK,

Did you ever find a way to make the entrance better? I'm just old enough to mind crouching all the time, and just young enough to want to kick the walls apart when my backpack gets caught on the top of the tiny hole I somehow managed to call a door.

I'm planning on just going for an 8 foot tall structure next year, but haven't seen much feedback about how they stand up to the wind.

[Elderberry]

JK,

Did you ever find a way to make the entrance better? I'm just old enough to mind crouching all the time, and just young enough to want to kick the walls apart when my backpack gets caught on the top of the tiny hole I somehow managed to call a door.

I'm planning on just going for an 8 foot tall structure next year, but haven't seen much feedback about how they stand up to the wind.

Yes, we built a second one with 6'high walls! The 4' one is now the bedroom and the 6' one is the main living area. We thought that the yurt was pretty dust free with one room, but now the bedroom is absolutely dust free!

So, I only have to bend over twice a day now!

[cullen]

I read in earlier post that someone wanted more light in the yurt. what about this?

[A Jester]

JK,

Did you ever find a way to make the entrance better? I'm just old enough to mind crouching all the time, and just young enough to want to kick the walls apart when my backpack gets caught on the top of the tiny hole I somehow managed to call a door.

I'm planning on just going for an 8 foot tall structure next year, but haven't seen much feedback about how they stand up to the wind.

Yes, we built a second one with 6'high walls! The 4' one is now the bedroom and the 6' one is the main living area. We thought that the yurt was pretty dust free with one room, but now the bedroom is absolutely dust free!

So, I only have to bend over twice a day now!

What made you decide to go for 6 feet? I have thought about that, but figured it would be just as easy to make one that was 8 feet tall, and involve less cutting. Did you make the walls 8 feet long, or did the whole thing shrink to six foot measurements?

I'm assuming that you alternated the orientation of the boards, so it's ||=||= (vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal - if that makes any sense.

I also assume you've never had a wind issue...

[Elderberry]

We just felt that 6' height would be safer in strong winds. And no, we kept the panels horizontal. Maybe next year we'll nestle another one in there with 8' walls, who knows!? They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

yurt2011a.jpg

JK,

Did you ever find a way to make the entrance better? I'm just old enough to mind crouching all the time, and just young enough to want to kick the walls apart when my backpack gets caught on the top of the tiny hole I somehow managed to call a door.

I'm planning on just going for an 8 foot tall structure next year, but haven't seen much feedback about how they stand up to the wind.

Yes, we built a second one with 6'high walls! The 4' one is now the bedroom and the 6' one is the main living area. We thought that the yurt was pretty dust free with one room, but now the bedroom is absolutely dust free!

So, I only have to bend over twice a day now!

What made you decide to go for 6 feet? I have thought about that, but figured it would be just as easy to make one that was 8 feet tall, and involve less cutting. Did you make the walls 8 feet long, or did the whole thing shrink to six foot measurements?

I'm assuming that you alternated the orientation of the boards, so it's ||=||= (vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal - if that makes any sense.

I also assume you've never had a wind issue...

[deutlich]

Small question -- let's say I wanted to paint over the reflective part of the insulation. Is there foil-like/silver paint that will keep reflecting sun that I could use to paint the yurt with?

If there is, I wonder if I can add color to the silver paint or perhaps find various colors of the paint (IF it even exists).

[Elderberry]

I don't really know the answer to that question, but I'm going to take a guess.

First, in the real world, those panels are designed to be used underneath whatever the final surface might be--wood, brick, stucco, etc. So, since that would mean that they wouldn't be reflecting sun directly to work in their primary application, my guess that painting them with any light colored house paint would probably not affect the insulting properties all that much.

But that's just my guess.

[Nipple]

Ooo!

I saw your yurt out there. I was explaining to someone how it looks like your 6' walls would fold nicely so that two wall panels fold into a 4'x8' rectangle three sheets deep. Though, I also see you have a box truck, so you probably didn't need to do the protective plywood sandwich like I did!

[Elderberry]

Yup, they do fold up and pack as well as the 4' yurt, just 3" more space.

Yes, you're right, we wrap them each in a tarp, tape them and stand them up on their side and tie them to the wall of the truck, but we do have some plywood protection sheets because we have folding furniture and a bed that is built from plywood from the Playtech specs.

[MOOP_Czar]

CRAP!! I just tried to post this and my internet dropped... grrr.

Here is the story - The wife and I are picking up my car in Carson City after we fly into Reno. Looking at the yurt option, but this car is a VW Bug - 1974. Tow hitch is possible, but a logistic nightmare.

Recommendations? Laughter? Offers of help?

I can probably get out there early and build the damn thing, but then we still have to get it to the playa... thus my dillema.

[Nipple]

Oh, I didn't even think of that.

I made a 6' stretch yurt. It folds into the neat 4'x8'x10" with a few spacers made from the scrap. Then I have a plywood sheet on each side, and I ratchet strap the whole shebang together. That's nice, but it leaves me with things to put back on the trailer until I'm ready to pack up.

I'll have to investigate what I can do with those plywood sheets... OR, I could make some flat pack pieces of playatech to shove into the sandwich and reconstitute on site...

Awesome idea! Thanks!

[ConnieH]

Small question -- let's say I wanted to paint over the reflective part of the insulation. Is there foil-like/silver paint that will keep reflecting sun that I could use to paint the yurt with?

If there is, I wonder if I can add color to the silver paint or perhaps find various colors of the paint (IF it even exists).

We used cheap silver spray paint, about $2/can, it works just fine covering up the logos and hasn't peeled off in three years of use. You could use chrome spray paint, too, but it's way more expensive, like $5/can.