Building a Yome Home

Building a Yome Home

Part yurt, part dome this “home” is more spacious and open without any fence-like latticework covering the walls and windows.

We purchased a “do it yourself” kit which meant that we received the covering for the structure, the hardware (like bolts and nuts etc.) and “instructions” on how to build it.

Before we received the kit I received the exact dimensions for building a platform for the yome to stand on.

The yome is a “SeptaYome” meaning that it has seven sides and so it was easiest to create 7 triangle frames to create the 7 sided 200 sq. ft. platform.

 

 

 

At the end of August I started making the frame pieces and a week later I was ready to build the platform.

We decided to first build the yome in the area where the fire-pit is located because it is such a nice spot and it is flat.
I put all the triangular frame pieces on concrete blocks and leveled it out so the whole structure would be completely level.

Once I had the whole frame level I drilled two holes in each triangle’s side and bolted the pieces together to have a solid frame.
After this I got standard plywood and created a deck surface.

 

 

 

Then the “yome kit” arrived and since many truck drivers are uncomfortable driving into our property I went out to the road and we transferred the kit from the delivery semi to our truck and I was ready to begin the building of this yome home, at least that is what I thought.

The instruction book was printed on different types of paper, some of which is “labeling” paper and the quality of the imagery was extremely poor.

Then I found that you really needed to use the instruction manual in combination with their instructional videos and of course the video material was delivered on a DVD which we have no player for. Neither of our computers have a DVD drive but I assumed they would have all the videos online as well, but no such luck.

So I dusted off one of our ancient Macs and there I had a working DVD drive.

I popped in the DVD and am confronted with a video that looks like it was shot in 1976, poor quality and slapstick music combined with no specific instructions on the type of yome we had purchased.

And to make it even worse the DVD was pretty scratched up and had problems playing at times.

But having gotten the general plan I assumed with the written instructions it just couldn’t be that hard.

I did find that I needed to make the yome frame myself since all the frame pieces were non standard sizes, thus a trip to the store was added to the plan to purchase a table saw.

By the time Reverie Retreat is up and running I will own every tool known to mankind.

Once I had the table saw it was smooth sailing creating the poles needed to build the roof and side frame.

 

 

 

The center piece for the roof was provided with the kit and I was proud to have assembled the roof frame so fast and quickly was able to cover it.

After the roof cover was on I needed to weather proof it with a sealant that was included with the kit.

A new problem arose there since the sealant was bright white and we wanted a color so that doesn’t show every speck of dirt on it.

I took my sealant to Home Depot and asked if they could tint it for me… I received a no, so I asked if they could sell me the coloring so I could mix it myself. Again I received a no.

Apparently the fear of unhappy customers with a color prevents a lot of businesses from mixing a paint not sold by them or from selling you coloring.

I finally found a local paint store that was willing to sell me black tint only on condition that I could not come back and complain if I was unhappy with the outcome.

I mixed the sealant and started painting the roof cover.

 

 

 

Once it had dried I was ready to raise the roof with the side poles I had made. Everything was ready for me to do this and I was already imagining having dinner under this beautiful canopy.

Slowly I started raising one side and then the next to attach them together when suddenly I felt the whole structure move in an odd and unexpected way.

I jumped quickly to the other side and tried to counter the movement when I noticed that my actions were only having unexpected responses and suddenly I hear a CRACK and the whole thing collapse.

 

 

 

They might have heard my cry of dismay down by the river as I found out that multiple roof rafters had “broken” joints.
And so I walked away, got a beer out of the fridge and pondered what could have possibly gone wrong to have this disaster.

to be continued….

1 thought on “Building a Yome Home”

  1. NOOOOOO!!!!!!

    The color looks great from the picture, at least. I hope the next blog entry reveals a happy ending. Good luck!

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