03-06-2008, 01:20 PM
Jeez, what an interesting day, talking to all you and visitors at my place as well.
First, a wooden structure isn't a yurt, even if its yurt shaped. We must draw that line. I'm not sure it's fair to call a yurt a yurt if it isn't made out of yak hide, and don't laugh, because leather has very very different properties in the sun and wet than any canvas will. So while some might say that yurts have been around for a long time--true, but canvas or more properly acrylic yurts are very recently tried, and as far as I'm concerned unproven.
The military builds their tents out of cotton canvas with a oil based sealant. You could use latex paint, on canvas. Kayaks are made in this manner(george dyson) and are waterproof. The cotton is used for a very specific reason. While it is prone to rot, the UV won't touch it, and this is a very important issue.
Modern Acrylics, sunbrella etc. do very well in UV, and with silicon treatments handle waterproofing very well. What they don't do, at all, is handle chafe. The get very brittle and abrade badly. On a yurt, that's terrible, as in the wind they will beat against the roof poles and wear through. I'm a sailmaker and very familiar with these materials. Don't do it!
As for de-humidifiers--what is the point of a "green"(note the quotes) structure if you've got to run a diesel generator to keep it dry?
I'll start a thread on green building here in the next day or two, but it will start a firestorm, I'm afraid. It's more complicated an issue than people give credit to. But it is a timely issue, for sure, and really, I'd love to see it pan out for people. I'm in Hawaii mostly as an ecological refugee as it's one of the last places one can pull such a lifestyle off. But, it's not as simple as one thinks...
First, a wooden structure isn't a yurt, even if its yurt shaped. We must draw that line. I'm not sure it's fair to call a yurt a yurt if it isn't made out of yak hide, and don't laugh, because leather has very very different properties in the sun and wet than any canvas will. So while some might say that yurts have been around for a long time--true, but canvas or more properly acrylic yurts are very recently tried, and as far as I'm concerned unproven.
The military builds their tents out of cotton canvas with a oil based sealant. You could use latex paint, on canvas. Kayaks are made in this manner(george dyson) and are waterproof. The cotton is used for a very specific reason. While it is prone to rot, the UV won't touch it, and this is a very important issue.
Modern Acrylics, sunbrella etc. do very well in UV, and with silicon treatments handle waterproofing very well. What they don't do, at all, is handle chafe. The get very brittle and abrade badly. On a yurt, that's terrible, as in the wind they will beat against the roof poles and wear through. I'm a sailmaker and very familiar with these materials. Don't do it!
As for de-humidifiers--what is the point of a "green"(note the quotes) structure if you've got to run a diesel generator to keep it dry?
I'll start a thread on green building here in the next day or two, but it will start a firestorm, I'm afraid. It's more complicated an issue than people give credit to. But it is a timely issue, for sure, and really, I'd love to see it pan out for people. I'm in Hawaii mostly as an ecological refugee as it's one of the last places one can pull such a lifestyle off. But, it's not as simple as one thinks...