Build yourself a portable home - a mongolian yurt

Step 8Canvas components - roof

canvas components - roof
Roof Canvas Construction:
Buy 16 metres of roof canvas at approx 6' wide, and cut/sew it as per the picture below.

Notice how there are two sections 1800(6') wide, these are the full width of the canvas. The two smaller rectangles (top, and bottom) are from the same length of canvas, just split down the middle to half their width.

The "wedge" that is shown missing needs to be cut out and sewn up so that the roof canvas becomes "cone" shaped. to match your roof pitch.
I actually find it easier to just assmemble the whole timber structure in the back yard at this point, and hang the completed flat circle onto the framework/roof. Using a stepladder, and lots of strong pins, I can then pin the roof so that it's clear exaclty how much canvas (the wedge shape) needs to be removed, leaving the roof as a "good fit".

For the simple version:
Do a final Trim, and hem of the outer edge only after you have removed the "wedge" and sewed that bit up, located the roof on the structure again, and finally walked round the outside with a piece of chalk drawing a line where you think the hem should go. I didn't, and no matter how I tried to make it an exact circle, the hems are still a bit uneven. Oh well.


For the more complicated (but preferred) version:
I sew a flat and straight "band" of canvas, about 20cm (6") wide, all the way around the roof edge. This fabric is deliverately NOT curved to match the roof, it is instead straight to match the walls, and it hangs from the bottom of the roof, down the walls, and fully covers-over the wall->roof joint making is really wind/rain/sleet/bug/insect proof.
This also gives a nice professional finish to the outside of the yurt.
I only did this in my 3rd yurt, for which I forgot to take pictures, but believe me, it's really good having a nice air/wind-tight seal there ( my current yurt, the oldes one doesn't have this, and gets a bit drafty). Most of the pictures in this instructable are from my second yurt, which has "dagging" (ie zig-zag square shapes) around the roof edge, this was at the request of the "new owner", and is a bit prettier, but also less traditional, and not as airtight as the 3rd yurt with a solid band.


FINALLY: Don't throw out that "wedge" that you cut out from the yurt.... Cut the biggest equilateral triangle or circle that you can from it, and use that as the "cap" to go over your vent hole.
You'll need at least 24' (8m) of cord/rope to hold that 'cap' in place (three ropes that go from
the tips of the triangle or edge of the circle out to the the walls to be tied off.)
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Author:davidbuzz