Building a yurt in New Zealand

[Bob Rowlands]

As far as I'm concerned, if the North American engineering stamp is on the plan, you're golden. If you've made reasonable attempt to slog through bureaucratic mud, and are bogged down, I'd just go ahead and erect the yurt. Make sure the platform is safely constructed so nobody gets hurt, get the yurt up, and get on with your life. Buzz kill bureaucracy...I'm tellin ya.

[nicola]

Am currently planning on re locating back to NZ and also to the West Coast.
How did your journey go with your Yurt construction and Council approvals .
thanks
nicola

[Kiwispirit]

Tena koutou am glad to find this site. We are looking at buying a yurt too. We live in the North Island and have searched the few sites available that sell them here in NZ. One thing I haven't been able to find, is any mention of if any

insurance

companies would be prepared to insure both the yurt and contents. I am also curious as to how secure they would actually be against break in? We would be living in a small town not out in the boonies and I wonder, would it be easy to just slash into and then break the frame?
Another question is who has bought one from NZ and which company did you use? Most seem to use acrylic for windows.. wouldn't they be easy to scratch?
Would love to hear everyone's thoughts please :-)

[Bob Rowlands]

A yurt is a tent. Be assured that any dirtbag that wants into your yurt is gonna get in there. Assuming you don't stop them in the process.

[skihuckster]

Living in the boonies, doesn't really matter what you have. You can learn how to pick almost any lock on YouTube these days, and then there are angle grinders, cutoff wheels, crowbars, axes...the best deterrent is having people around and/or not having anything worth taking. A yurt would be easier to get into than a framed house, yes, but the lattice is still going to make entry harder than a pocketknife.

Acrylic is definitely soft and will scratch. It can also craze with certain solvents like nail polish remover. But it doesn't break like glass. If you can frame a pane of acrylic, you can frame a double pane glass window, and honestly the cost difference is probably negligible

[Harnold]

Hi, I live at the top of the south island, and quite a few people are living in yurts around us. I am a yurt builder with quite a few friends living in one.

To answer your questions:

1) noise: They do insulate well, but you will notice the element more than in a conventional building. Some people would say that is also the charm of a yurt, as it makes you more connected with your environment.

2) mould: Mould comes down to good airflow management. People who get mould in their yurts generally don't ventilate enough and/or don't get enough sunlight on their yurt to dry it in the wintertime. It all comes down to ventilating it regularly.

I am also interested in hearing about any potential problems with council approval for the dwelling, although I realise this varies due to location.

Plenty of yurts have been consented to in the past, especially at the top of the south island. However, there is a new building code with increased

insulation

values since last year. I have researched it, and I am confident we can meet the new criteria. Feel free to contact me if you have any further inquiries.