I've been working away on the door throughout the summer. It's a bit difficult because I am having to strip the paint and the surface of the door is uneven. But it's almost done, just need to sand and reassemble, cut, adjust, insert windows, and paint - and when finished, I should have a TARDIS style door ready for my yurt.
Adding to the expenses list are paint scrapers and sandpaper - let's say about $30.
During the last two years, I've accumulated a few sheep fleeces that should be good for felting. I think this is going to need a lot of practice to make large sheets of felt. But I don't mind, any excuse to work with wool.
The thing that really has me down with this project is that I've run out of funds. So I think I'll start selling seeds on my etsy shop. I have some winter vegi seeds ready, like medieval fava beans, and bread poppies. Soon I'll have some Mongolian Giant sunflowers that grow 12 to 15 feet tall. I grew mine this year with zero irrigation, in a nasty drought year. Ground water and dew were all it seemed to need. DEEP roots that grew quickly to draw up moisture and deep nutrients. Huge seeds, not to mention the stems can be dried and used as firewood (I'm also experimenting with them as a textile source). I think, for selling seeds for this project, I want to only use my more resilient seeds, ones that have been selected to grow with minimal external input like water and organic fertilizer.
Showing posts with label Door. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Door. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Better calculating the wall and door costs
My last post was a bit despondent. Now I've had time to reflect on things, I don't think that the dream has ended just yet. I just need to plan smarter that's all. There is a lot I can get started on my own and once I've made a move towards my goal, I just have to trust that something or someone will happen when I need it the most.
I'm also thinking that a yurt will be very handy for teaching. I'm amazed to discover that people are interested in learning some of the things I do regularly here on the farm, even cooking related things. There have been requests for lessons. The problem is, I don't have a proper space to teach any of it. Maybe the yurt will serve as a teaching space. I would really like that.
When it comes to spatial thinking, I'm pretty useless. Translating a bunch of measurements into an image of what it will actually look and feel like - and the other way around - is a challenge. To compensate for this, I got out the sidewalk chalk and did some life size drawings of what the yurt wall needs to be like.
This has given me a much better idea of what the lattice needs to be. I estimate that if the laths are 8 foot long and closer spaced together, I can use thinner bits of wood - like a 2x4 sliced in 4 lengths. Note, a 2x4 may claim to be two inches by four inches, but in reality it's significantly smaller than that.
I calculate that I need a little under 100 laths to make the wall section. That's 25, 2x4s which comes in at a little under $100 for the lot (after tax and stuff) plus a blade to rip them with. Assume the rawhide for joins will be made with materials here on the farm, that gives us $150 total for the wall, or $1.50 per lath. This is a hundred dollars less than my original estimate. Amazing what a little sidewalk chalk can do to make the day more cheerful.
Now the door - very intimidating part of the project for me. But then I saw to my surprise that the ramp to the chicken house we took down last week is actually a well weathered solid wood door. Perfect! It's even got that panel look to it I was hoping for.
It's in major need of love, but I can manage taking it apart, cleaning it up, putting it back together and painting it TARDIS blue. It will have to be upside down (the way it is in the photo) and I think I would take out the other two panels from the 'top' of the door and replace all three with something to let in the light. I also like the idea of making it a Dutch door by cutting out the center part and having a top and bottom section. This will also make the door just the right size at 5 foot high. Add the door frame in, and we will be just about the same height I estimate for the walls.
I still need to buy the frame, hinges, handles, latches, locks, primer, paint, sandpaper, &c. I don't know how much any of that costs, but I know a great salvage shop that has a basement full of that kind of stuff (excepting the frame, I'll have to make that). I have no idea how much that will costs, but I'm guessing a lot less than my original estimate. For now, I'll say $200 for the door and door frame.
So, yes, the door itself will be a lot of work, but it's something I can get started on right away. An actual physical action I can take in the real world towards acquiring yurt love. This makes me hopeful.
Update: I've upped the wall estimate back to $250 after doing more shopping around. Hopefully it won't be anywhere near that much, but we'll see.
I'm also thinking that a yurt will be very handy for teaching. I'm amazed to discover that people are interested in learning some of the things I do regularly here on the farm, even cooking related things. There have been requests for lessons. The problem is, I don't have a proper space to teach any of it. Maybe the yurt will serve as a teaching space. I would really like that.
When it comes to spatial thinking, I'm pretty useless. Translating a bunch of measurements into an image of what it will actually look and feel like - and the other way around - is a challenge. To compensate for this, I got out the sidewalk chalk and did some life size drawings of what the yurt wall needs to be like.
This has given me a much better idea of what the lattice needs to be. I estimate that if the laths are 8 foot long and closer spaced together, I can use thinner bits of wood - like a 2x4 sliced in 4 lengths. Note, a 2x4 may claim to be two inches by four inches, but in reality it's significantly smaller than that.
I calculate that I need a little under 100 laths to make the wall section. That's 25, 2x4s which comes in at a little under $100 for the lot (after tax and stuff) plus a blade to rip them with. Assume the rawhide for joins will be made with materials here on the farm, that gives us $150 total for the wall, or $1.50 per lath. This is a hundred dollars less than my original estimate. Amazing what a little sidewalk chalk can do to make the day more cheerful.
Now the door - very intimidating part of the project for me. But then I saw to my surprise that the ramp to the chicken house we took down last week is actually a well weathered solid wood door. Perfect! It's even got that panel look to it I was hoping for.
It's in major need of love, but I can manage taking it apart, cleaning it up, putting it back together and painting it TARDIS blue. It will have to be upside down (the way it is in the photo) and I think I would take out the other two panels from the 'top' of the door and replace all three with something to let in the light. I also like the idea of making it a Dutch door by cutting out the center part and having a top and bottom section. This will also make the door just the right size at 5 foot high. Add the door frame in, and we will be just about the same height I estimate for the walls.
I still need to buy the frame, hinges, handles, latches, locks, primer, paint, sandpaper, &c. I don't know how much any of that costs, but I know a great salvage shop that has a basement full of that kind of stuff (excepting the frame, I'll have to make that). I have no idea how much that will costs, but I'm guessing a lot less than my original estimate. For now, I'll say $200 for the door and door frame.
So, yes, the door itself will be a lot of work, but it's something I can get started on right away. An actual physical action I can take in the real world towards acquiring yurt love. This makes me hopeful.
Update: I've upped the wall estimate back to $250 after doing more shopping around. Hopefully it won't be anywhere near that much, but we'll see.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Planning the Yurt Door
To begin with, one door should suffice. The beauty of a yurt is that you can add doors and windows as needed. So plan to make more in the future, but for now, just one.
Perhaps my most important qualification for a yurt door is TARDIS Blue. It doesn't necessarily have to be TARDIS shaped door, but something like this looks lovely in blue. Maybe with windows at the top to let some light in, maybe not.
I would also like my door to be what they call a Dutch or Barn door. What I call, a door in two parts where you can open the top, the bottom, or both. Something like this, only perhaps with the door swinging out and a bug screen on the inside.
How to build the door and frame? Time to go back to The Library.
Looking at traditional yurts, one can see all manner of doors. Some a simple frame with a heavy drape of felt covering the entrance, to heavy duty wooden doors. Felt makes a lighter and less fragile door for travel, but it is also less secure against raccoons and other monsters.
Going back to: The House that Jack Built; Circle Houses; Yurts, Tipis and Benders by David Pearson, an inspirational book with a small bit of how-to hidden at the back. It's such a small section about the door, which basically says we can make a Kyrgyz-style door frame with four posts that slot together - this is the type of door that works well with canvas or felt. Alternatively a Mongolian-style door is "fixed to a solid frame, this can be a single or double and looks wonderful when carved and painted." From looking at the photos, it's the frame that is single or double. I like double best.
Or maybe it is the door after all that is double? Bumming arround the internet I keep seeing doors like this:
There is a solid outer door, and then two inner doors with windows (sometimes with glass, sometimes some other way to let in the light).
I wonder if this would be more difficult to make than a Dutch door. Three sections instead of two makes it seem harder to the untrained eye - but then again, depending on what materials I use, it might be easier.
The book Tipis & Yurts; Authentic Designs for Circular Shelters by Blue Evening Star has some very specific instructions on building a door and door frame. In this book, the door is canvas covered framework. It would be quite nice as a summer door but I wonder how well it would stand up to our wet winters here. Remember, this book has a blend of Western technology and Traditional Mongolian inspiration for the yurt design.
The door frame is very complicated to me with extra braces made from plywood and a great many screws. The advantages of this kind of door frame is that it would be quite stable, the disadvantages is that it doesn't seem overly portable. It also seems to take a lot of wood.
Most other resources gloss over the door building element. Basically, there isn't a lot of info about building a yurt door in print format, so it's off to my old friend Google.
Some yurts have regular house doors, others doors much larger than the walls of the yurt. Neither appeals to me. Although... a house door already in a frame could be adapted to fit a yurt, so long as it is solid and can be cut down to size... then again, that would also be a heavier door than needed and not necessarily separated into two parts.
Basically google has lots of lovely images of yurt doors but precious few details on how to make them. So I guess it's such an obvious thing that everyone in the world already knows how to make yurt doors from scratch that they don't need to write about it in books or websites... ?
This is the door frame of OB1's yurt.
What I like best about it is that the lattice fits inside the frame - the uprights have two walls... how to explain... maybe the threshold and the top of the frame are 2x4s and there are 4 uprights, two on each side, maybe 1x4s. The uprights attach to either side of the horizontals so that there is a gap between the uprights that the lattice can fit in between the uprights... my words are making things confusing, but maybe you can get the idea from the photo.
Another good thing about this door frame is that it folds up nicely. When erected, each corner of the frame has two bolts, but take one bolt each from each corner and it can collapse for easy transport and storage as you can see at the top of the next photo.
The biggest problem with having a wooden door on a collapsible frame is that it would need to be rehung each time we move the yurt.
The Yurt Workshop people have some interesting things to say about the difference between a house door and a yurt door:
Woodland Yurts, a UK company has my favourite door of them all, even if it isn't TARDIS blue. If I had a door like this, I think I could survive without painting it.
It's made from oak and they call it a stable door. Heavy, but strong and beautiful. Maybe something similar can be made from reclaimed wood, only without the curved top - now, where to find the wood?
What skills do I need to make a door and frame for my yurt?
How much to budget for the door?
Most yurt companies doors start at about $450, and quickly go up from there. I don't think making my own door will be that much... at least not for material cost.
Although I plan to use reclaimed material where I can, I'm going to assume the worst and price it out like I'm buying the materials. Better to overestimate the cost that way when things come out cheaper, one can be pleasantly surprised. Also, any extra money left over can be used to host a yurt party for everyone who helped.
So I'm going to budget $450 for the door - because if I can't learn how to build one myself, that is the lowest price I can find for a pre-made yurt door.
Update: I found a door that may be salvageable, so estimate for the door and doorframe is now at about $200.
Perhaps my most important qualification for a yurt door is TARDIS Blue. It doesn't necessarily have to be TARDIS shaped door, but something like this looks lovely in blue. Maybe with windows at the top to let some light in, maybe not.
I would also like my door to be what they call a Dutch or Barn door. What I call, a door in two parts where you can open the top, the bottom, or both. Something like this, only perhaps with the door swinging out and a bug screen on the inside.
How to build the door and frame? Time to go back to The Library.
Looking at traditional yurts, one can see all manner of doors. Some a simple frame with a heavy drape of felt covering the entrance, to heavy duty wooden doors. Felt makes a lighter and less fragile door for travel, but it is also less secure against raccoons and other monsters.
Going back to: The House that Jack Built; Circle Houses; Yurts, Tipis and Benders by David Pearson, an inspirational book with a small bit of how-to hidden at the back. It's such a small section about the door, which basically says we can make a Kyrgyz-style door frame with four posts that slot together - this is the type of door that works well with canvas or felt. Alternatively a Mongolian-style door is "fixed to a solid frame, this can be a single or double and looks wonderful when carved and painted." From looking at the photos, it's the frame that is single or double. I like double best.
Or maybe it is the door after all that is double? Bumming arround the internet I keep seeing doors like this:
There is a solid outer door, and then two inner doors with windows (sometimes with glass, sometimes some other way to let in the light).
I wonder if this would be more difficult to make than a Dutch door. Three sections instead of two makes it seem harder to the untrained eye - but then again, depending on what materials I use, it might be easier.
The book Tipis & Yurts; Authentic Designs for Circular Shelters by Blue Evening Star has some very specific instructions on building a door and door frame. In this book, the door is canvas covered framework. It would be quite nice as a summer door but I wonder how well it would stand up to our wet winters here. Remember, this book has a blend of Western technology and Traditional Mongolian inspiration for the yurt design.
The door frame is very complicated to me with extra braces made from plywood and a great many screws. The advantages of this kind of door frame is that it would be quite stable, the disadvantages is that it doesn't seem overly portable. It also seems to take a lot of wood.
Most other resources gloss over the door building element. Basically, there isn't a lot of info about building a yurt door in print format, so it's off to my old friend Google.
Some yurts have regular house doors, others doors much larger than the walls of the yurt. Neither appeals to me. Although... a house door already in a frame could be adapted to fit a yurt, so long as it is solid and can be cut down to size... then again, that would also be a heavier door than needed and not necessarily separated into two parts.
Basically google has lots of lovely images of yurt doors but precious few details on how to make them. So I guess it's such an obvious thing that everyone in the world already knows how to make yurt doors from scratch that they don't need to write about it in books or websites... ?
This is the door frame of OB1's yurt.
What I like best about it is that the lattice fits inside the frame - the uprights have two walls... how to explain... maybe the threshold and the top of the frame are 2x4s and there are 4 uprights, two on each side, maybe 1x4s. The uprights attach to either side of the horizontals so that there is a gap between the uprights that the lattice can fit in between the uprights... my words are making things confusing, but maybe you can get the idea from the photo.
Another good thing about this door frame is that it folds up nicely. When erected, each corner of the frame has two bolts, but take one bolt each from each corner and it can collapse for easy transport and storage as you can see at the top of the next photo.
The biggest problem with having a wooden door on a collapsible frame is that it would need to be rehung each time we move the yurt.
The Yurt Workshop people have some interesting things to say about the difference between a house door and a yurt door:
A yurt door is unlike a conventional house door, yurts generate stresses in the opposite direction to those on a conventional door frame, and this needs to be understood if the door is to be made correctly. After studying the yurts and the craftsman from Mongolia and Central Asia we implement their understanding and craftsmanship into our doors and door frames. The best pines are selected and we use traditional mortice and tenon joints, secured with the traditional wooden pegs, and in addition, for added protection we use boat makers glue to make sure the joints are sealed and they give many years of trouble free life. So, no matter what design you choose, you can be reassured of a quality and attractive door for your yurt.,
Woodland Yurts, a UK company has my favourite door of them all, even if it isn't TARDIS blue. If I had a door like this, I think I could survive without painting it.
It's made from oak and they call it a stable door. Heavy, but strong and beautiful. Maybe something similar can be made from reclaimed wood, only without the curved top - now, where to find the wood?
What skills do I need to make a door and frame for my yurt?
- evaluate and choose appropriate wood
- recondition or reclaim old wood (if I can find any suitable)
- Construct a sturdy frame
- Construct a sturdy door
- Hang the door (attach hinges in the right place, and stuff)
- Cut wood to right size
- probably drill holes for lock and stuff
- attach hardware
That's a lot of skills to learn for this project. A lot of skills I don't have yet.
How much to budget for the door?
Most yurt companies doors start at about $450, and quickly go up from there. I don't think making my own door will be that much... at least not for material cost.
Although I plan to use reclaimed material where I can, I'm going to assume the worst and price it out like I'm buying the materials. Better to overestimate the cost that way when things come out cheaper, one can be pleasantly surprised. Also, any extra money left over can be used to host a yurt party for everyone who helped.
So I'm going to budget $450 for the door - because if I can't learn how to build one myself, that is the lowest price I can find for a pre-made yurt door.
Update: I found a door that may be salvageable, so estimate for the door and doorframe is now at about $200.
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