Hadn't thought about the foil sheeting, Joshua, because I'm not using it. Can't get that stuff here.
I'm going with the 8' tall wall hex shaped model. Not sure what the naming convention is. Would that be an H-18, since it uses 18 4x8 panels? I'm using the coral-colored poly -- 2" thick and sandwiching it in poured paper-claycrete panels and then spray claycrete stuccoing it inside and out. Also, I'm experimenting with using flashing and roofing adhesive instead of tape. Will be adding a second tension ring of flashing and second set of flashings on all joints before the final spray on the exterior. Mine is for a permanent install. Going to see how it handles the snow load here. It will have at least an R-30 rating, walls and roof, and a hard clay shell, in and out, when I'm done with the paper-clay-crete mods. Also, I'll be testing the Bucky Fuller cooling effect system. Saw a nice 17x17 hooded roof vent for roof part of that at Home Depot for about $12 the other day. Will be picking that up, too. Am framing in one salvaged sliding glass, screened patio door on the south facing panel and will have two black painted 55-gallon drums of water sitting on the inside floor in front of the window as thermal mass for winter heating. Should be a nice little winter room so long as it doesn't collapse under a heavy snow load. TAPING QUESTION: Since mine will be a permanent install, and will be using flashing and roofing cement adhesive, am thinking of using Liquid Nails's foam-friendly adhesive to connect panels initially instead of tape. Then use the flashing as "tape" for the tension ring and to seal the joints at each corner of the walls and at each joint of the roof. See any problems with that? Haven't yet engineered the tie down, but it will definitely go over the roof and secure the building on at least two sides, probably four. We get fierce spring winds here. Considering using just sandbags for the footer, though I do have an excavator coming out in about 10 days and may change my mind by then and go ahead and trench a below-the-frostline footer and use graduated size gravel in it and then a foot height in sandbags at and above ground level. If this tests out OK, I'm going to engineer a much larger model with a taller roof pitch. It will be framed and will use no foam. Only poured paper-clay-crete panels and sprayed paper-clay-crete stucco. Would like to go to a two-story, two-floor framed version -- possibly octo instead of hex -- with 10' long panels. Has anyone attempted a two-story, two-floor model with the hex shape? If so, can you share your experience with it? Will be documenting as I go along with notes and photos and some crude video and will share from time to time. Actual build on the first pod starts, I think, right around Aug. 15, if not before. Haven't yet built my tow-behind papercrete mixer. The papercreting and stuccoing may not start until around beginning of September. So the thing will be coral colored foam exposed to the elements for a few weeks. Anyone see problems with that? This is the monsoon season here and so we have rains happening some days. Will the foam get damaged if it gets wet? Will it soak up the water and lose its R-value and structural integrity? Do I need to buy some monstrously huge tarp and keep the whole works covered until I hardcoat spray it? Advice, suggestions welcomed. -- ken winston caine ----- Original Message ----- From: Joshua Keroes To: hexayurt@googlegroups.com Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:49 AM Subject: Re: [hexayurt] Harbor Freight sells hot knives $15-20? That's not much more than going the utility knife route. I'm really hopeful that this will work. The big question to me is: how will a hot-knife deal with the aluminum sheathing? If it's thin enough, it may melt, and we've got a new solution. If the sheathing doesn't burn through quickly enough, it may conduct heat away from the cut and melt more foam than necessary. One possible workaround would be to pre-score the aluminum with a utility knife, but it would be really tricky to pre-score both sides of the cut. Also, it would require three passes; utility knife on each side and then the hot-knife. That's too fussy to be a workable solution. >From the land of remote possibilities, maybe bolting a utility knife blade >against the hot-knife blade would permit one-pass cuts. Great idea, Joshua On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 10:35 AM, ken winston caine <k...@mindbodyspiritjournal.com> wrote: No need for me to experiment with devising my own. Harbor Freights sells two -- one for $15 and another for $20. http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=hot+knife -- ken winston caine -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hexayurt" group. 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