Building my first yurt

[ryankal]

Hello everyone,

I recently decided to leave the city life and am building a yurt on my aunts farm to get back to nature for a year or two. Im actually planning my trip to the lumber yard tomorrow to pick up the materials I need, and while doing some last minute research I came across this site.

I am building a 12 ft yurt and have purchased my Tono, roof

dome

, roof and wall covers,

insulation

, door frame, and window frame from Hal at

Laurel Nest Yurts

. He was and continues to be very informative and really helpful. I am building my platform, khana, and rafters and will assemble it. I am sure I will have questions along the way, but I am hoping to receive a bit of input on some decisions I made due to my needs. As a fore warning, I don't do as well with precise instructions versus figuring things out as I go along.

First, I decided to design my platform with a large center post that is buried and set with stones below the frost line, but due to the size of my yurt and my relatively short stay, I don't plan on pouring deep footers for the rest of the support. I plan on using preformed concrete piers that are designed for a 4x4 post buried about a foot below grade.

(I live in Western MD and had minor concerns with frost heaving, so I decided to keep the platform about 1.5-2 ft above grade on a fairly level area. If I decide to stay longer I will likely move my yurt location and build a more permanent platform. I feel pretty comfortable with this and understand the issues this could present down the road.)

From the center post that I will have 2x8's going to the 4x4 posts set in the concrete pier. Between these I will have additional 2x8's as support braces. (I don't have a carpentry background so my terminology may be incorrect or unspecific) I have attached a diagram. Any thoughts or concerns here?


I was going to use 2x12's as my flooring, until I found Jafo's post regarding 2x6 TG. If I can find the TG in my area I will be using that. Otherwise I will use the 2x12's and apply a bead of silicone/caulk to increase the connection/weatherproofing between each board. On the outside of the 2x floor I plan on attaching a plywood band to act as an attachment for the khana. I will drill a hole in the plywood band which will connect to the khana at the lowermost hole.

Everything else I am planning is fairly standard in regards to the research I have performed. I hope my questions make sense and I wish I would have found this forum a month or so ago!!

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Ryan