living in a tee-pee

there's this guy my mom knows-he cleans our gutters-who lived in an insulated tee-pee for 3 years! i wonder where he got it from, that would be awesome

 

That would be really cool! Maybe he made it himself. Why don't you ask your mom to ask him.

 

hehe he's kinda stalking her, so i dont think she wants to talk to him...but he's really nice, but she has a boyfriend that he doesnt know about. but if i see him in town ill ask him about it

 

so he cleans moms gutters and she doesn't want to talk to him.......well hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph.......what is the world coming to?

 

LMAO

 

There are places that offer heavy items like that for extreme weather. They are not cheap by tent standards but cheap by house standards.


Look at a military wall tent. They have been used in extreme weather for years and years, set up with stove pipe fittings ect. Some people have used these as a means of shelter for a few years while they build, some have had the vinyl windows installed and built them on a wood deck and they are then permanet use.

http://www.tipis-tepees-teepees.com/tipi_makers.htm

http://www.sweetwaterbungalows.com/

http://yurts.com/?gclid=CJyjx6_8vIcCFSeZIgodHHUFGw

 

Yurts are more wind resistant, can sustain a heavier snow-load and have more head room. But tipis look way cooler.

 

Wow i like the yurts

 

Was just talking to my friend today about spraying some dupont expanding foam on a tent and then a fiberglass coating to make it rainproof and permanent. Instant tent into yurt. Quite insulated also.

 

sounds like alot of work for not much space...and have you checked the prices on expanding foam and the fiberglass and resin?...those are costly not only complicated to apply...and resin is just so fun to work with..

 

i'm gonna be doin that soon.
2 sites ilike are www.reliabletent.com & www.coloradoyurt.com
the yurts & tipi's on the 2nd 1 can even be used in truly artic weather, or dessert..

 

I've built yurts, if anyone is interested in one. I will take trades.

 

ahhhhh just dont be forgetting to check codes n such where you are wanting to put your yurt..... some places are hinky bout such structures etc,,,,,

as far as the foam stuff etc for insulating it,,,,, may as well build a log cabin for what you would be spending on having something like that done.... would be less $ in the long run and probably better insulated as well....

 

This is true but a log cabin can't be taken down and moved in a pickup truck. Most areas will let you put up any non-permanent structure without a permit.

 

the foam wouldn't bond to any sort of tent textile, except perhaps a coarse canvas cotton like material. You'd likely need to modify the frame to support the additional weight which sort of negates the whole 'simplicity' of it all. I'd also be hesitant to recomend sleeping in such a structer for an extended period of time as it would be offgassing a lot of nasty VOC's.

I'm curently looking at how to go about building a colapseable structure, no more then a 15' diameter, using huron or iriqouis based framing techniques. A yurt derrived structure is also possible, but which ever design I choose it will need to be able to support a snowload and a suspended baffled insulation system. My idea for the insulation is quite ingenious I must say, the required materials are rejected sheeps wool (the stuff not good enough for market which you get by the bag full from sheep farmers, stinks real bad but super insulative) and canvas or burlap sacs to put it in for use as the baffles. Now the wools natural oils already have insect and fire retardents and the sacs would be sized and oriented so they can be eaily lashed to the exposed frame. Then you have the matter of selecting an apropriate water tight membrane for the exterior, framing a platform which can rest on simple cinder block footings (or an insulated rammed earth pad). With a bit of ingenuity it probably wouldn't be to difficult to design a simple compost toilet with a removeable collection bin accessable from the outside under the raised platform of the sturcture. A woodburning stove wouldn't be a difficult edition either, and would take care of your heating and cooking needs, though this would likely lend it'self better to an insulated rammed earth pad which it could dump it's heat into.

Hope some of that made sense, but it goes to show if you just take the time and try to think about your actual *needs* and climate you can live quite comfortably in a safe and humble hut. In fact this is pretty much my plan for housing myself next year, I'll probably spend about $1500 building the place and about $300-$400 to rig it with a homemade composting toilet and woodstove. I'll likely get one of those super light duty solar panels and battery system that canadian tire sells so I can have electric light and occassionally use lite-applances like a small stereo.

 

Insulating a yurt is actually quite inexpensive. Any major home store will have a 5'x60' roll of space-pak. It's like bubble wrap sandwiched between two sheets of silver metallic mylar. It has an R-value of 8. Comine that with the R value of a vinyl treated exterior layer and a cotton duck inner layer and you'll approach R20. Not bad for a structure that you can pack up in a pickup and move anywhere in three hours.

As for snow load, without any additional bracing, a yurt using 2x4 rafters can withstand a 4" snow load. Beyond that, all you need to do is bracket a vertical 2x4 stud beneath each rafter, then bracket the other end of said stud to the floor. The entire snowload upgrade costs less than $200 off the shelf at any Home Depot/Lowes. This, BTW, also gives you space to insulate vertically with R-19 fiberglass just as you would in a mundane stick structure.

Looking for pics, know I have some. Back later.

EDIT - If you go to RanierYurts.com there is a picture of their snow load design that supports every other rafter. My design supports every rafter and should hold well under a 12 inch snow load. Of course, with a woodstove and ceiling fan operating in winter you should never accumulate this much load but it's nice to feel safe.

 

i'm impressed by the arctic reindeer people who live nomadic in yurts . they insulate primarily by convection . as the family cooking fire warms the air circulates round and round instead of directly escaping . the dwelling is round . inside the large family yurt is a smaller yurt for sleeping . this one has a raised platform and is lined with skins . air circulates around it . it can be heated to nude-comfort with only a candle .

i'd think to apply the concept to Hidatsa earth-lodge construction . the outer shell is just sticks and dirt and such , and a circular floor is dug down 4ft or so . the inner shell could be any sort of fabric , but would enclose the entire life space . a 4ft air space between the shells would allow an envelope convection effect .

in climates other than arctic or desert , condensation is a problem that must be addressed or you get moldy conditions . one modern builder of oldstyle structures suggests a method of de-humidifing the air . a buried length of soil-pipe intakes outside air , condensation takes place underground , then dry air rises through the pipe and into the house .

but for now , i'm camping in a little pick-me-up truck toasty with lotsa blankets in this damned frigidaire icicly cold-spell .

 

I'm familliar with the space-pak, I was just thinking of how I could go about insulating the yurt "au natural". I'm not a fan of heavily processed/industrialised building materials for reasons of embodied energy and VOCs. I'll likely have no choice with the exterior membrane though, sheeps wool can be be pretty stinky on its own, but wet sheeps wool? yikes!

Pictures would be apreciated for sure

cheers

 

I'm building a new one for Pennsic this year. The last one was 16' with 9' ring height, we built it in 4 days. Taking my time on this one, will take many pics. Probably 12 x 7 this time.

You might try quilts (furniture blankets or even down, though it is cost prohibitive) under a treated canvas cover. Pounding yak hair into felt then smearing it with sheep fat for waterproofing is not my idea of a good time...

 

zoomie hmm u build yurts? we'll definately be talkin sometime man...