Building a yurt from begining to end

[Bob Rowlands]

There are pics of my scratch built (<1K) 16' yurt on this site. Type 'Homemade yurt' in the searchbox.

Find the basic plan I used online here:

clan yama kaminari yurt

A 16'er is great for a nomadic camping yurt, but realistically speaking it would be WAY too small to be a permanent home. IMO. I'd most definitely opt for the 19'er.

But in fact by using the plan I just mentioned you could get about 21' for a few hundred $ more than I spent, and 21' beats 16' in terms of long term living. Use 1x4 for rafters, not 1X3 as in the plan. The roof ring would need scaled up to accept 1x4 rafters. I'd widen the plywood ring to 36" inches in diameter, 6" in width, and use 4x4 for the spacers, not the goofy little 1x3s in the plan.

To find the EXACT rafter cuts, do a full scale lay out of wall lattice and ring centerline, and heigth differential. Lay a 1X4-10' on the marks and mark the 'master rafter'. Cut it to the layout marks and you'll be golden. It will be on the money.

Good luck.

[Bob Rowlands]

BTW, If you do EVERYTHING yourself, including making the cover from canvas tarps, as I did, you could likely build the whole 21' yurt for <1.5K, and that would include a really nice canvas wall and cover.

For covers, consider a canvas tarp.

Here: Cover me tarps and canopies. Get the 17 oz.

Have fun.

[ktm2racing2001]

This is great I'm so excited! I will have more questions. What did you do for winter

insulation

and how long did it take you? Thanks

[ktm2racing2001]

And i would like to have 21 feet

[Bob Rowlands]

My yurt is not insulated. Canvas cover only. I've gone through one winter here in CO with it, and if I were living in it through winter, it would be insulated. Period. If you are living in it through a NY winter,

insulation

will DEFINITELY be necessary. So will a wood stove. Be advised, the larger the yurt, the more space you need to heat. A 21' yurt is HUGE in comparison to a 16'er.

Unfortunately, I can give you no advice on yurt insulation. I do know nomadic Mongolian yurts traditionally used felt. Perhaps the ger supplier you spoke of in your first post would be able to help you with insulation? Of course insulation will add to the cost of making the yurt. How much over ~1.5K I haven't a clue. I'm guessing it will not be cheap though.

If you are considering building the yurt yourself, read through the construction details on the site I mentioned. If you aren't a carpenter, or very handy with tools, be advised you need to really consider whether a yurt build is doable. I'm a carpenter and I thought it was a snap. It is alot of work. It took me a little over a week of full days to build.

If you aren't a carpenter, but are very determined - 'I'm gonna do it so help me.' -
maybe you have a friend that is one, that can help you with the build, and with tools? Again, read through the construction details. They are very good, well written and thought out. Many people have built that yurt, and I can tell you it is a very good yurt.

You have to be determined to pull it off. It's all about your attitude. "I'm GONNA do this by God." is a good start.

Good luck

[ktm2racing2001]

yes I will do this! I have helped my friend build several houses so i am handy. I am good at following directions. I apologize in advance of any novice building questions.... " do a full scale lay out of wall lattice and ring centerline, and heigth differential.'' Do i need software for this?? Im sorry i just want to be clear i will be doing this so i want to make sure i have everything exact.
Thank you for all the posting!

[Bob Rowlands]

You'll need a garage floor or equivalent. To determine how to make a precision cut of your 'master rafter' you need to lay out a full size cross section from the yurt wall through the roof ring centerline. Then you lay your rafter stock on the layout, transfer the 'fit' marks onto it, and you'll have it exactly correct. It will be spot on the money in every respect. No math no computer program, no calcs. I laid mine out this way and first yurt assmbly, dead on the money.

Say you want a 21' wide yurt, and you want a roof ring 36" in diameter. The distance from the center of the wall through the centerline of the roof ring is 10.5'. Draw two parallel lines 10.5' apart. The centerline of the roof ring is exactly half the yurt dia.

Now, draw a baseline perpendicular (90degrees) to those two lines.

Where the baseline crosses the wall line, that point is the heigth of your wall, where the rafter notch sits. You need to know how far above wall heigth the roof ring sits. Lets say the bottom of the roof ring is 3'8" above the wall heigth. Measure up 3'8" above the baseline and draw in the cross section of your roof ring, parallel with the baseline, and on centerline.

Now that you have the roof ring drawn in section, take your rafter stock and lay it on the wall intersection at the rafter notch, and atop the ring section where it fits into the ring. Transfer the angles and marks onto the rafter and you have a perfect pattern. for every rafter except those two or three above the door.

For any of this to work, you need to know exactly how the yurt ring is constructed to get the idea of a 'section' through the ring. Read the 'clan yama kaminari' plans carefully to get ring build clear.

This is very easy to do, if someone shows you. It definitely isn't easy to explain on paper. But, there you go.

[Bob Rowlands]

A very good 'trad looking' yurt roof angle is 22.5 degrees, which is a 5/12 pitch. That's 5" of rafter rise for every 12" of horizontal rafter run. So, to get this angle laid out on the garage floor, you need to know the run length of the rafter from the wall to the rafters insertion point into the roof ring.

If the yurt is 10.5 feet in radius, subtract half the 3' roof ring in width, which is 1.5'. That makes the horizontal run to the outside edge of the roof ring 9' from the yurt wall. So, 9' of run, x 5" of rise = 45" rise from the top of the wall, where the rafter sirts. Layout the bottom of the roof ring cross section at 45" above the wall, and on the radius centerline, and you'll have a 5/12 yurt roof.

There's nothing wrong with a lower or higher pitch either. You can play with the 1x4-10 rafter on the floor, laying it on your layout. Raise and lower the roof ring section until you are satisfied with the pitch. I'll bet you'll find 22.5 degrees is a very good pitch. Plenty of headroom, not too tall, not too low. But, it's your yurt. You be the judge.

Have fun.

[Jake]

I have settled on rug felt for insulation, its standard sizes, and you can put it on in multiple layers. Felt is what is used in Mongolia for their -54 degree weather, with winds blowing.

Layout organization is crucial, remember, in Mongolia whole familys live in 16' dia gers. 21' is very comfortable if you lay it out in an organized way. Put the stove in the center so it can radiate in all directions. I have one of those little heat actuated fans that set on top of the stove and moves air around. No cost in using it, the rising heat does it. IN NY state for sure you must have insulation! I would do the floor too. Actually you could put a double layer of the rug felt down on the floor also. Ditto the roof.

There is a yurt company just over the border in CA from you,

Surely Yurts

, Yves can deliver to you, their yurts are made in Mongolia. He also has traditional Mongol furniture. I will get my cover from him. I think he is on this site somewhere.

This is a great site, lots of info here. If you are interested in what a particular company has, ask here, all companys in NA are known to folks here.

Good luck,

Jake

[ktm2racing2001]

Thanks for the response! Its very hard to follow directions on paper... I think I may understand I will try to make a diagram based on your instructions to see if I fully understand!