03-07-2008, 08:00 AM
Hey april, thanks for the thanks.
Here's the key to your round structure. You'll see with a tip its easy and fast.
Find your lot, and find a nice dead bugfree tree with few neighbors. In an area with ohia dieback there will be plenty of that.
Build a square deck of say 24 x 24 around it out of 2x6 lumber. Regular standard or better fir is fine. 24 by 24 so you don't waste any lumber, see, as 8 footers work out.
Tie a rope to the tree when you're done, take a pen to the end of it at the appropriate length, and scribe a circle around the tree that will be the footprint of your structure.
Find the circumference of the circle, and start building 2 x 8 foot walls and tacking them around the rim. 2 footers again as an 8 foot sheet of acx will go on, ripped, with no waste. Keep going around the circle until you get the odd spot where the 2 footers wont go--there's your front door. Plan it a bit.
Run 2x6 lumber glued and sistered to make the appropriate length to the tree in the middle, at a sensible height(yurt like, see) You can leave the tree or pull it when your done. Your roof rafters, see? I'd leave it as it's cool. This is where the cost comes in, as to put the plywood sheathing up there involves a lot of waste, as you're cutting wedges, but as you'll be building shelves and such for a round interiour it won't be as bad as you might think. If you're hard at cutting weird shaped peices of wood that fit, don't panic, make patterns of thin sticks with a hot glue gun where the panels need to go. That's a boat builder's trick and you can't miss.
I'd sheath the roof in cedar shakes, as they work well on round, but you could go composite too, or if you want ultimate durability you could use ferrocement.
2 months tops for the shell. Only two sizes and types of lumber, and you're good to go. Hire a local kid to help you hold a board. Plant enough koa that it will grow the volume of lumber of your house in 30 years. Good to go!
Here's the key to your round structure. You'll see with a tip its easy and fast.
Find your lot, and find a nice dead bugfree tree with few neighbors. In an area with ohia dieback there will be plenty of that.
Build a square deck of say 24 x 24 around it out of 2x6 lumber. Regular standard or better fir is fine. 24 by 24 so you don't waste any lumber, see, as 8 footers work out.
Tie a rope to the tree when you're done, take a pen to the end of it at the appropriate length, and scribe a circle around the tree that will be the footprint of your structure.
Find the circumference of the circle, and start building 2 x 8 foot walls and tacking them around the rim. 2 footers again as an 8 foot sheet of acx will go on, ripped, with no waste. Keep going around the circle until you get the odd spot where the 2 footers wont go--there's your front door. Plan it a bit.
Run 2x6 lumber glued and sistered to make the appropriate length to the tree in the middle, at a sensible height(yurt like, see) You can leave the tree or pull it when your done. Your roof rafters, see? I'd leave it as it's cool. This is where the cost comes in, as to put the plywood sheathing up there involves a lot of waste, as you're cutting wedges, but as you'll be building shelves and such for a round interiour it won't be as bad as you might think. If you're hard at cutting weird shaped peices of wood that fit, don't panic, make patterns of thin sticks with a hot glue gun where the panels need to go. That's a boat builder's trick and you can't miss.
I'd sheath the roof in cedar shakes, as they work well on round, but you could go composite too, or if you want ultimate durability you could use ferrocement.
2 months tops for the shell. Only two sizes and types of lumber, and you're good to go. Hire a local kid to help you hold a board. Plant enough koa that it will grow the volume of lumber of your house in 30 years. Good to go!