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 relat9ve 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. 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.
