Modifying hexayurt design for permanent dwelling?
ken winston caine
Mexico's high desert winters. (Occasional 3' to 4' snowfalls where I am, but
usually, a fraction of that. Summer days rarely above the mid-90s. Extremely
fierce spring windstorms and sandstorms (and maybe four or five of them
other times of year).
I am looking at the 12' center-height model's design. I really like that
there is NO waste using readily available sizes in building materials.
My biggest concern right now with the 12' hexayurt design is whether the
roof could support a snow load. With no truss, no rafters, I'm very dubious
that it would, but perhaps I am missing some important design consideration.
(Is there some tension/compression thing happening that I am not grasping
that makes this a strong, self-supporting roof structure?
Also, I'm considering how to get the roof to overhang the edges and support
guttering for water harvesting and to provide summer shade and winter solar
gain. At that point, I am no longer using a single panels of 4x8 material
cut diagonally. And the overhang may play havoc with the hexayurt's
structural integrity.
And rather than use tape, am considering flashing and tar.
Since my installations are intended to be permanent, I need not be so
concerned with lightweightedness, though I expect I'll still have quite
lightweight structures. (Unless, as a friend suggested I build with rammed
earth, load-supporting walls. Since I'm looking at a permanent install,
I'll want a well-prepared, well-drained building site with trenches for
plumbing the solar and water and drains, and will probably use adobecrete
or rammed earth or similar for flooring.
So.... really, I'm looking at major mods -- and will be figuring out how to
install triple pane glass sliding doors with screens on the south face (for
solar gain) and will need to build some thermal mass -- probably the
flooring and possibly some rammed-earth furniture in inside of that
southfacing glass; maybe a wall. I've used all of those before to good
effect (but not in a hexayurt).
Before I came across the hexayurt, I was considering (still am) a 4x4 pole
building (4x4s planted in cemented postholes approx 8 feet apart at each
hexagonal angle and a top lateral 4x4 connecting each, then 2x6s for roof
supports put basically where the tape would go (for a hexayurt) on each
diagonally cut roofing piece.
Am thinking that, for permanent installs, that might give a very sturdy
frame. Even with that design, though, I'm still wondering about snow load.
The roof pitch on my mini model is not very sharp.
That more permanent frame could support any variety of wall materials and
skin. (And should include a mylar reflective sandwich to maximize insulating
quality of any wall unit.
It could incorporate strawbales, aluminum can building blocks, the hexayurt
foam board, or for a simple shell, just stucco wire and adobe (or gunnite
even).
Doors and windows would have to be framed, of course.
Am really happy to have discovered this group because I want to build small
compound of modified hexayurts on my semi-wilderness property. Stumbled
across the term "hexayurt" while looking for plans for hexagonal buildings.
Or maybe I was looking to see if anyone had ever built Buckminster Fuller's
multi-story Dymaxion house. (With centerpole elevator or staircase.)
Am excited to see that Vinay Gupta is behind this. And hope to become a
regular contributor over time as I play out my ideas and tests.
Is anyone else looking at developing the hexayurt design basics into a
permanent, low-cost, highly energy-efficient, low-waste, low-toxic dwelling?
Or is that concept/intention too far off-base for this discussion group's
focus?
Best,
kwc
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Vinay Gupta
Well, there's a lot of ways to look at this.
First off, Wil Fidroeff has a good dome design that I did some work
on in the mid-1990s. Wil's approach looks very sound to me:
http://www.bfi.org/taxonomy/term/266/all
It's not zero-waste, but the choice of materials is very insightful:
2x6 beams, with a cement board covering, and then an elastomer over
the cement board to make it waterproof. The cement board doesn't
shrink and grow much with heat, so it's idea for the waterproof
coating to stick to.
I think you could do a hexayurt exactly this way and it would be
great. You could even go the whole hog and precision cut the beams
the way that Wil does it.
The other approach is Serious Panels, where you'd get some panels
custom made by some outfit like Bellcomb. I wouldn't want to guess
the spec, but it'd be something like 4" or 6" polystyrene with an
aluminium face, say. In terms of joining those, I don't know the best
way to do it - perhaps you'd seal the edges and then use epoxy, or
perhaps you'd use steel straps. Some engineering would be required,
and then you'd have a very simple Structural Insulated Panel (SIP)
house.
I'd really like to see what you come up with and what other people
suggest. There's no reason this should not be possible and extremely
successful!
Vinay
--
Vinay Gupta - Designer, Hexayurt Project - an excellent public domain
refugee shelter system
Gizmo Project VOIP: 775-743-1851 (usually
works!) http://hexayurt.com/
Cell: Iceland (+354) 869-4605
Skype/Gizmo/Gtalk: hexayurt
People with courage and character always seem sinister to the
rest Herman Hesse
RichShumaker
96 square foot home concept as the idea.
I was looking at building the 12' as well(bigger than 96 sq. ft.).
With a possible bathroom hexayurt next to it.(Adding on to a Hexayurt
is easy. Build another one next to it and knock a wall down or put a
door in.)
I do not have the resources to do it now. So for now it is a Dream.
You may also want to look at using Hexacomb paper. I also looked at
Hexacomb metal but I didn't like it as much.
The paper would be a similar idea as the insulation with that being
the interior frame that you would then put something on the outside to
support it.
I am sure there are plenty of things that should be done to make it a
more 'solid' building. I am not a builder so I am not the best person
to ask about that stuff.
As far as the roof goes and needing more support. It may not or you
may be able to brace it instead of running a pole down the center.
If I am going to take this step I will probably create a more
realistic scale model(in your case you might build the model with
similar materials to try load bearing the roof to see where it will
break). I just finished my BM paper models. Next will be finding the
materials and buying what I need online to get it in time for the
event.
Rich Shumaker