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Step 5Winter GerTee -- 2007-2008
Staying in a gertee though the winter was made possible after I got a job flagging and could afford to cover the Summer Gertee with stronger, new materials.
I had reassembled the frame on one Sunday afternoon in early August. It was a terrible assembly job, but my family had arrived and I too quickly jumped to give them my cabin. It's kind of embarassing the way this one was built, but doing everything backwards really helped me see how well constructed even a haphazardly set-up ger ends up being. No one would do this bad of a set-up on purpose.
My stupidly made first roof caved in and leaked several times while I was at work, and Nordica spent days filling up drip buckets and worrying about my things. I finally had time off from the job to fix the roof at least. I bought new 10x20' thin tarps and tied them over the roof in layers.
Then, heh, the floods came and about washed me away. (Pick a spot uphill from the floodzone.) By then we were fairly sure it was going to be one disaster after the next. But once I put down a plywood floor it changed everything.
An 18 foot ger is a great size because the floor works perfectly with 6 - 4x8 sheets of plywood. Only the corners have to be sliced off on 4 of the sheets. I flipped the cuts over and placed them in every corner. This uses all the wood and only leaves a partial opening on 4 sides of the floor, about a foot wide in the center and then tapering down to a few inches at each end. I filled in the doorway space with rocks and gravel and covered it with pieces of the heavy silver tarp I cut to cover one side of the roof. I never finished the other three sections yet.
I didn't use enough 2x4s to brace the plywood and it bends and isn't very even. But we got used to that. Covering it with rugs (I got three at Sallys for $30!) made it seem like a new place.
Here's another mistake I made: a 20x30' tarp will not fold around the roof at this angle. When ordering tarps or salvaging tent bottoms (or any waterproof materials) to cover the entire roof, make sure it's a square or round one. If you're piecing it together in layers then rectangles work best. Whatever you use needs to wrap around the roof snugly, and be secured somehow. I always have extra ropes around to keep tying down anyplace that flops too much.
My roofring is covered with a metal sign leftover from one of Tim's former dogteam sponsors. He cut it and bent it into a cone and put a couple bolts in to hold it together. It was slipped up over the stovepipe with a long pole after the roof was finished. One day the winds blew so hard it ripped the metal off and sent it flying into the yard. I made a tie down for it out of copper wire and rope and threw it over it. Been staying put ever since.
As the months wore on and it turned colder, I added more and more layers. I built a door out of a window and some 2x4s and leftover wall slats. All my concerns about the wall slats not being attached properly and the uneven slant of the whole building proved unfounded as far as the ger was concerned. I also used roof poles cut for a 16 foot ger to make an 18 footer. This flattened my roof out quite a bit, so I added one ceiling brace pole on the saggy side.
As can be seen in the pictures I used all kinds of different tarps for the outside and the inside.
For the roof tarps I cut 6 foot long pices of this super strong rope stuff that came off the City Electric cable job and tied a puller rope through every grommet hole. I used these ropes to pull the tarp pieces up over the roof and then to secure the tarp down to the sides. A staplegun is a must have for this kind of roof. I stapled the roof tarps all along the edges too. I used the shortest possible staples because it's a lot easier to pull them out later.
Make sure you put the wall covers on first and secure the roof cover over and down the tops of the walls for a good seal against the weather. A rope all the way around the top edge of the wall over the roof piece helps. (This is what makes the pool cover idea so possible... it comes with a cable stitched into the outside edge. Plus a 24 foot one is as low as $39. on ebay)
The plastic windows only worked until about October when it became necessary to cover the entire outside with another layer of wool. This was covered by a long piece of yellow PVC I found on ebay.My biggest mistake was when I put the shiny (waterproof) side facing the inside because I didn't like the way it looked. Duh. I had sheets of cut wool that came off the giant press machines the military uses to iron sheets and tablecloths -- it's fireproof too.
I made the door out of a window I picked up at a garage sale so we could have some outside light (my roofring is covered with a piece of metal so no light comes in from the roof). The door needed to be covered with with both RadiantGuard and curtains when it was 50 below.
I built the arctic entryway out of slab wood I bought for firewood and one sheet of 4x8' plywood. I made a sunporch cover with a clear heavy garbage bag and covered the back with the leftover yellow PVC wall canvass.
As of March 1, 2008 this gertee is still standing and it's very livable. The door frame cracked because I attached the hinge to the thinest piece of wood, but overall it's kept us warm and happy.
I had reassembled the frame on one Sunday afternoon in early August. It was a terrible assembly job, but my family had arrived and I too quickly jumped to give them my cabin. It's kind of embarassing the way this one was built, but doing everything backwards really helped me see how well constructed even a haphazardly set-up ger ends up being. No one would do this bad of a set-up on purpose.
My stupidly made first roof caved in and leaked several times while I was at work, and Nordica spent days filling up drip buckets and worrying about my things. I finally had time off from the job to fix the roof at least. I bought new 10x20' thin tarps and tied them over the roof in layers.
Then, heh, the floods came and about washed me away. (Pick a spot uphill from the floodzone.) By then we were fairly sure it was going to be one disaster after the next. But once I put down a plywood floor it changed everything.
An 18 foot ger is a great size because the floor works perfectly with 6 - 4x8 sheets of plywood. Only the corners have to be sliced off on 4 of the sheets. I flipped the cuts over and placed them in every corner. This uses all the wood and only leaves a partial opening on 4 sides of the floor, about a foot wide in the center and then tapering down to a few inches at each end. I filled in the doorway space with rocks and gravel and covered it with pieces of the heavy silver tarp I cut to cover one side of the roof. I never finished the other three sections yet.
I didn't use enough 2x4s to brace the plywood and it bends and isn't very even. But we got used to that. Covering it with rugs (I got three at Sallys for $30!) made it seem like a new place.
Here's another mistake I made: a 20x30' tarp will not fold around the roof at this angle. When ordering tarps or salvaging tent bottoms (or any waterproof materials) to cover the entire roof, make sure it's a square or round one. If you're piecing it together in layers then rectangles work best. Whatever you use needs to wrap around the roof snugly, and be secured somehow. I always have extra ropes around to keep tying down anyplace that flops too much.
My roofring is covered with a metal sign leftover from one of Tim's former dogteam sponsors. He cut it and bent it into a cone and put a couple bolts in to hold it together. It was slipped up over the stovepipe with a long pole after the roof was finished. One day the winds blew so hard it ripped the metal off and sent it flying into the yard. I made a tie down for it out of copper wire and rope and threw it over it. Been staying put ever since.
As the months wore on and it turned colder, I added more and more layers. I built a door out of a window and some 2x4s and leftover wall slats. All my concerns about the wall slats not being attached properly and the uneven slant of the whole building proved unfounded as far as the ger was concerned. I also used roof poles cut for a 16 foot ger to make an 18 footer. This flattened my roof out quite a bit, so I added one ceiling brace pole on the saggy side.
As can be seen in the pictures I used all kinds of different tarps for the outside and the inside.
For the roof tarps I cut 6 foot long pices of this super strong rope stuff that came off the City Electric cable job and tied a puller rope through every grommet hole. I used these ropes to pull the tarp pieces up over the roof and then to secure the tarp down to the sides. A staplegun is a must have for this kind of roof. I stapled the roof tarps all along the edges too. I used the shortest possible staples because it's a lot easier to pull them out later.
Make sure you put the wall covers on first and secure the roof cover over and down the tops of the walls for a good seal against the weather. A rope all the way around the top edge of the wall over the roof piece helps. (This is what makes the pool cover idea so possible... it comes with a cable stitched into the outside edge. Plus a 24 foot one is as low as $39. on ebay)
The plastic windows only worked until about October when it became necessary to cover the entire outside with another layer of wool. This was covered by a long piece of yellow PVC I found on ebay.My biggest mistake was when I put the shiny (waterproof) side facing the inside because I didn't like the way it looked. Duh. I had sheets of cut wool that came off the giant press machines the military uses to iron sheets and tablecloths -- it's fireproof too.
I made the door out of a window I picked up at a garage sale so we could have some outside light (my roofring is covered with a piece of metal so no light comes in from the roof). The door needed to be covered with with both RadiantGuard and curtains when it was 50 below.
I built the arctic entryway out of slab wood I bought for firewood and one sheet of 4x8' plywood. I made a sunporch cover with a clear heavy garbage bag and covered the back with the leftover yellow PVC wall canvass.
As of March 1, 2008 this gertee is still standing and it's very livable. The door frame cracked because I attached the hinge to the thinest piece of wood, but overall it's kept us warm and happy.
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Apr 10, 2009. 11:15 PMpatrickshay
says:
I have access to a large stand of bamboo. Do you think that would work? I love this Instructable!
Reply
7
Apr 12, 2009. 12:44 AMAlaskanTentLady (author)
says:
I know it will. Read down, tallfuzzyone just built one of bamboo! I cut hundreds of bamboo trees out of my yard in Seattle years ago and threw them all in the dump. What a waste, huh? It may be harder getting the walls tied at first cause they might roll around a bit, but I'll bet you can use the bigger ones for roof poles and the skinny ones for the walls. I'm off on a whole new thing now putting lovely fabrics up on the interior roof. Changes the whole feel of it. So many varriations and possibilities. Have fun!
Reply
Jul 3, 2011. 10:11 PMshammontree
says:
I'm currently in the process of building a small yurt out of bamboo. It'll probably be 10-12 ft diameter. I'm making the tarp out of fused grocery bags. Thank you for posting this and sharing your knowledge. If people want to see photos of my work in progress: http://strangerock.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/a-yurt-in-progress/
Reply
7
Jul 4, 2011. 7:20 PMAlaskanTentLady (author)
says:
what an inspiring story! we're finding the 12 foot Traveler to be a very nice, workable space, much better than we imagined. Your idea with the bags is so, SO good, and sharing things like recycled paint is really helpful too. Great job! TY!!!!
Reply
May 31, 2009. 4:19 PMsamadhi
says:
hi am new to this ger building and one question I got after reading this post. according to what you said it looks to me that the wall pieces of wood are smaller (thinner ?) than the roof ones..?.
Reply
Apr 13, 2009. 8:22 AMpatrickshay
says:
That's so strange! I grew up in Seattle (Redmond, really) and one of things I always hated was every few years trying to get rid of the bamboo my father had planted in the yard in the early 70's. Man! you just couldn't control that stuff. Wish I knew then about all the wonderful things you can do w/this wonderful plant!
Reply
7
Jul 4, 2011. 7:23 PMAlaskanTentLady (author)
says:
No kidding! in 1999 I cleared a ton of bamboo out of my N.E. 65th Street yard over in Roosevelt, and we took it ALL to the dump. :( It takes over wherever it's planted and there are a lot of varieties too. I'm guessing it's one of the strongest poles we can use... and someday maybe someone will build an entire house using bigger bamboo for water pipes and foundations.
Reply
7
Jul 4, 2011. 7:25 PMAlaskanTentLady (author)
says:
well I should have read all my replies before i wrote this!
Reply
Oct 17, 2008. 9:49 PMjottoh
says:
Its refreshing to see folks really using and reusing their yurt, its components and improving/experimenting. Building with whatever materials you can find is also a breath of fresh air. Its on the other end of the scale from the turnkey, $16K ready made yurts that most think of. I love it! Keep up the good work.
Reply
7
Jan 27, 2009. 7:57 PMAlaskanTentLady (author)
says:
Yeah it's been a lot of fun cause it looks different every time! I have to say though that if I had the money I'd love to have a new 24 footer from Nomad Shelters in Homer. They make special Alaskan insulated gers and they perfected their design in Nome. Of course they knew how to get a grant and make the high end ones; it took somebody like me to figure out how to make the low end. :) Thanks for your encouragement. I will!
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