Greetings, good sir, and pentayurt enthusiasts, I apologize I've been a touch behind in my email, I've been wrapped up in a conference I was head of programming for, so, please pardon the tardy reply.
On Mon, 2010-02-08 at 22:51 -0500, Brian Chabot wrote: > Hello all, > > As an experiment while on a long conference call for one of my other > endeavors, today, I fashioned a 1/12 scale pentayurt out of some thin > cardboard sign material and stuck it together with some tiny pieces of > scotch tape. > > The design I used was a 5-sided version of the "8-foot Hexayurt" > > I was pleasantly surprised at how sturdy it was, even with such a flimsy > material. > > After construction, some things were easier to measure than calculate: > The structure is about 11 feet high and 12+ feet across (I estimated a > little under 14 feet, side to opposite corner). A 6-foot head-room area > begins about 2 to 2.5 feet in from the 4-foot walls. > > For those who remember, I'm trying to figure out a winter-capable > structure that would mix the ease and simplicity of the Hexayurt design > with the strength needed to withstand snow loads and insulation needed > to house people in cold weather. My initial idea was a Pentayurt > designed after the 12-foot Hexayurt with guy lines inside at the roof > edge (forming a 5-pointed star pattern) and custom cut sheets of > insulation to block off the lower 8-feet from the roof area, essentially > forming a cold-storage area attic for light storage. Ahh ... I live in the Northeast (near Boston, MA) and I have a "shed" in my backyard designed as a pentayurt. I've not finished it (which is why no pretty pictures) but the pieces I have had up, have been up now for 2 New England winters, without a problem. It is a 5-sided (pentayurt) roof, cut from 4x8 pieces of oriented-strand-board 3/8" ply, with pine 2x6 inside at the strait edge to give it a bit more support (just screwed to the ply, nothing else) and piano-hinges running down the corners (because I couldn't find anything decent cut or formed at 72 degree angles) on the inside, painted with exterior paint (black), with foil, self-sticking weather-stripping running down the outside. It is water and snow-tight. This is currently sitting on a 2' high, 5-sided wall made of cinder block (3 courses of them) and will (when I ever get the time) be sitting on another 2 courses of cinderblock, and 4' walls (5 more 4x8s, with one with a notch cut for the door) probably with some heavy ratcheting strap around the outside, replacing the standard yurt cable, and possibly some minimal framing for the corners and the door. > While the structural integrity of a 6-sided structure is impressive, > that of a 5-sided structure is *really* impressive. The key points of > failure in my mini model were the bits of tape holding it together and > not in the stiffness of the materials. Indeed, such was my model's result, as well. > With the strength I'm seeing in my model, I think a full-sized Pentayurt > could withstand moderate (2-3') snow loads if made from properly > fastened 1/2-5/8" plywood. Past endeavors in wood seem to have used at > least a partial internal framework of 2x4's. I'll probably follow suit > at least around the base of the roof and possible half-way up to > reinforce the long roof seams. I'm also considering coating the outside > of the roof pieces and the lower 6" or so of the walls with driveway > sealant if/when I build out of wood. That's a good idea. I was thinking of putting on actual roof tiles at some point. > In the mean time, as I refine my idea for a winterized structure, I have > good news to report! > I've acquired (definite and enthusiastic) permission to build a > Hexa/Pentayurt on some property in Canaan, NH! I'm organizing a late > May Day / Beltaine celebration at a farm and spiritual retreat up there > on Memorial Day weekend and the land owner would love there to be a > workshop on the subject. I've already asked Vinay if he'd be willing to > come up and help us out, but he doesn't think he'll be able to be in the > country (US) at that point... Let me know when! I'm not that far south of there, and I'd be delighted to be part of it. > So my question to the good folks here is whether anyone with some > experience in building this sort of structure be willing to come and run > the workshop? We're running on a shoestring budget, so we can't pay you > but we will definitely waive the gate fee for the weekend. It'll be hard > enough (financially) to acquire 10-15 sheets of insulation and a couple > rolls of tape... Let me know what you come up with. If people are willing to "adopt" them later, for Burning Man or the like, you might be able to have everyone bring an extra sheet, and then, we build a whole bunch of them, collapsible-style, and the extra sheet goes to the property, for theirs. I've also wondered if it would work to use stucco on the outside, to both increase it's solidity, and it's stability ... or one of the burlap-crete solutions over the outside of the structure. > If anyone is interested and can make it please let me know and I'll get > you on the guest list. If anyone would like to come and attend, > teaching or not, the details of the event are at: > http://www.aspcanaan.org/wp/?page_id=209 Thank yoU! > I can probably arrange transportation for one possibly two or three > people from Manchester (Boston Regional) Airport (MHT) if you are flying > in. ASP has a van we could commandeer for the purpose. And I will probably be doing a run up from Boston so we could get people from Logan, as well. > I'll post more when I finally get out to a local building supply store > to price out options in building materials in the area. > > > > Brian Percival -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hexayurt" group. 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