Pro Yurts

Building a yurt may not be at the top of your desirability rankings in the dead of winter, but, with proper planning, a quality structure can be pre-fabricated, then assembled on site in a matter of a few days. While flexible-wall, tarpaulin yurts are the most popular structures in North America, it is the solid-wall yurt that provides the greatest protection, for the lowest cost in cooler and colder climates. Soft-wall yurts offer the primary advantage of being able to be assembled, then disassembled and relocated with relative we, while solid structures do not lend themselves well to relocation. The question then becomes, if you intend to relocate frequently, why not buy a tent or RV?

Our solid-wall yurt will stand for years, and has proven itself, already, to be a weather-tight, comfortable home. Although, due to our wanderlust and travelling nature in winter, we do not spent the deepest Part of winter in our home, it has endured the coldest, snowiest and windiest days of our Manitoba, Canada winters. If minus-40 is still too warm for you, then a yurt, of any variety, may not be a viable living solution!

By using 2-foot panels, assembled on an 8-degree angle to each other, we have constructed a 600-square foot (that's incorrect: hard to have square feet in a round building!) facility. Similarly, one could build a yurt in a variety of diameters (12, 16, 24, 32) with relative simplicity.

Simply construct the individual panels, cut the sectional top and bottom plates, build the roof ring and saw the appropriate angles into the roof rafters, and the entire package of components is ready to be shipped to your building site. Assembly on your pre-existing platform or floor should take two people no more than 12 hours. yurt builder. yurt builder. Slide the wall tarpaulins around this wooden framework, slip the roof tarpaulin over the rafters and install your doors and windows and your yurt is ready for the finishing inside touches.

The tarpaulin walls offer both aesthetic and practical benefits. As a Tyvek-type exterior skin, the tarp is impervious to the most violent winds, while repelling both rain and snow. The roof tarpaulin, however, needs to be installed tightly. This demands that the supplier manufactures it to your precise dimensions and pitch, and that your roof rafters and top plate assembly are equally precise. If the tarp is too loose, any flapping or vibration in the wind will act as a billows, and dislodge your roof fibreglass batt insulation, or break the seal on your foil-backed bubble insulation used to line the interior of the ceiling.

Within two days, your yurt metamorphoses from a pile of dimensional lumber and fabric in your garage to a fully liveable home, for less than 50% of the cost of a conventional flexible-wall yurt, and one twelfth to 1/6 of the cost of s similarly-sized conventional house. The added appeal is that this project can be undertaken and completed at any time of the year.