Building in AK

[DillandLyshAK]

Hi, my wife and I are living in anchorage Ak and was hoping we could get some insight from anyone up here on building and foundation information from those who have done it. We are going to be hopefully purchasing a Nomad yurt from Homer AK and possibly building in the Palmer-wasilla area. Any help is appreciated!

[Bob Rowlands]

I live in CO. An insulated platform would be a good start. My platform has no

insulation

, but if I had actually lived in my yurt, I certainly would have insulated it with foam board.

If your platform is larger than the yurt, so that there is a deck around the perimeter of the yurt, I suggest building another platform on top of the first that is your yurt diameter, and insulate it. I'd use foam board between the framing members.

As for insulating the yurt, I have no advise. Mine were uninsulated. Hopefully others that have insulated yurts will comment. Good luck.

[DillandLyshAK]

Thanks for the suggestion! More specifically, what about the foundation? Concrete piles or those earth screws or what?

[Bob Rowlands]

The absolute best and certainly most costly elevated yurt deck is gonna feature poured reinforced concrete piers set below frost line depth, with treated 4x4 wood posts, and supporting an engineered frame. A perfect example of this is under every deck in every home I have worked on in my 47 year carpentry career. The holes are frequent bored with a two man auger. I have done that a few times, and also with a one man auger as well. And spud bar-years ago.

Note: In a code enforced jurisdiction like the one I live in, that is what I'll deem 'standard engineering'. All bldg. depts want a stamped certified engineer plan for the deck, or you won't get a permit. They merely inspect what is on the plan. There is no pour unless they inspect/approve the forms.

They could >totally care less< what kind of financial hardship that places you in, and have zero interest in what kind of hassle it might be. It's stamped engineers plan or no permit. Period.

If you are not in a code enforced circumstance, or have a financial reason to build lighter, precast piers from Depot or Lowes should work. Add 4x4 posts atop those and frame the deck. If the deck is four risers or >30" in height, xbrace the snot out of the frame.

My deck platform sits on 12" concrete pads laying on top of the ground-not IN the ground- so I avoided a 'permanent structure-permit needed- so kiss my gov't @$$ restriction. I have 49-12" diameter x 3" to 4" inch thick pads supporting a treated 2x4 frame on 19.2" centers. No 2x4 spans more than 4' anywhere. Deck is one rise off the ground. Built in 2013, and bombproof in every way. No soil shift around here it is silty sand. This is for a 16' diameter platform, and it couldn't be any more solid.

Other decks I am not familiar with. Must be alot online with some research. If you want to see my deck, in google images search for: Bob Rowlands home made yurt. My yurt is the rustic one with green door and rafters either side. There are a couple deck details in the photos.

I don't know squat about screw piers so no comment.

Good luck.

[Sasquatch]

Talk to NOMAD yurts out of Homer

While not in Alaska, I commercial fish up there and am going to be building a 16 footer for myself, gonna probably buy a pacific yurt out of Oregon and just drive down (live in wa) get it. As far as a foundation? Get on Pacifics site and find their download section and look at the base they recommend. I’d cover the underneath and add as thick of
An

insulation

layer as possible and build on that!

[Bob Rowlands]

Thanks Sasquatch for the link to

Pacific yurts

platform plans. I just looked that up for several yurt sizes. Good plans lots of exacting detail. If you did not need a stamped engineers plan, you could buy materials and build a platform with those plans. So, a big thanks as well to

Pacific yurts

.

[JillEA]

I put up a 24-foot Nomad Shelter yurt this summer. Shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] if you want info about my experience.