Insulating a yurt roof

[MT Rod]

I am just throwing ideas out here...

If you are concerned about losing heat through your

dome

, try putting a layer, or heck 2 layers, of the clear bubble wrap that is used for packing on the inside of the

dome

. Put the bubbles together in the middle. It shouldn't stop too much of the light, and it should add a pretty good

insulation

layer to the dome.

The yurts that I have been in during nasty weather did not have a dome. They used a piece of canvas that was insulated with a quilted felt backing. I know that works, because it was -28C outside, and it was sweater - flannel shirt comfortable inside with a small wood stove, just a short time after the fire was started. This was in a 23 foot yurt, not huge, but not one of the baby ones.

Sort of cut down on the ambient light though...

Rod
rodyurtlocker.com
Home Page.

[MT Rod]

For sure you are right about the dome and ventilation, Jafo, but I was thinking of sealing the dome to be more like a blister, not blocking the air exchange. It would still be insulated, but open-able.

As I said before, just throwing out ideas.

Rod
rodyurtlocker.com
Home Page.

[Ronjf1]

I am working on various solutions for roof and walls. Price per square foot is an issue of course. Then their is also the desire for a flexible or rigid material, how much space do you have to work with and what values are you trying to obtain. Are their any building codes you have to meet?

[P&K]

We live in our yurt year round in Canada where we routinely get -30. We have the outside covered in the reflective

insulation

directly under the tarp. Then we have fiberglass insulation between the rafters and another layer of reflective insulation inside. We found that we had to tape each seam other wise we have Mousie problems in the fiberglass. Our dome is also insulated and that made a huge difference. Feel free to ask any questions!

Originally Posted by lizsteve

We're in upstate NY and thinking about adding extra insulation to our ceiling. any thoughts on this? Will just the roof insulation keep us significantly warmer anyway?

We are thinking we'd stuff in-between the rafters with fiberglass, buy roof insulation from Colorado Yurt Co to fit our 27' size and pin this to the rafters with wooden battens to hold the insulation in. But the insulation is $1300 from CO Yurt Co. so also looking for other options to keep insulation in place.

Other ideas?

[Berenike]

How thick is your fiberglas insulation? Is there any problems with condensation water under the tarp? If the roof is very tight insulated, is there some need for some ventilation hole on the roof? I just imagine, I will not open the dome during the winter time. The dome which I bought is the three layered arctic window.

I am just plannig my yurt in arctic Finland and the roof insulation is the thing I think constantly.

[Corinarose]

Reinvent or,
I, too am in Vermont
When you say you used R13 is that fiberglass?
I plan on using Roxul with a parachute (used) to cover the insulation
Glad to hear that it helped, did you cover your walls?

[Groovyyurts]

Mongolians (and most central Asian yurts) use the "urgh" : a square (or star shaped) piece of insulated canvas. Fixed with 4 ropes that run all the way to the side of the yurt. The 4th rope is used to open / close or remove the flap completely.

[deppeana]

Reinventor,
My family and I are in the process of insulating our 16 ft yurt roof similar to the way you explained with the roll out insulation between the rafters. I was wondering how you placed the painters canvas on to the roof? Did you tuck it under the rafter, sort of like weaving? If you would be willing to expand a bit it would be very helpful or even pictures.

One idea we had was to fill in the spaces between the rafters, cover the entire roof with canvas then staple some type of a strapping (function or decorative) on each rafter to secures the cnavas thus holding the insulation in place. I do not want to loose the rafter exposure if I do not need to!

Also, I just finished sealing our roof with the roofing paint you suggested in another post!! I think it will not only buy us some time before we have to completely replace our roof but it was also easy to put on.

Thank you!

[Reinventor]

Cool! Glad my trial and error is helping someone else.
We cut the insulation for the upper part into trapezoids so the edges tucked under the rafters and tacked it in place with tape strips between sections of insulation.
As we did this, we put up thin mm clear plastic to keep the fibers sealed in and fully taped the seams of it.
We then threaded the canvas under all the rafters, pulled it taught and overlapped the seams pinching them diagonally behind the rafters.
I don't know how to post a picture on here, but you can email me at gyak@vt.edu.

[Jafo]

Originally Posted by Reinventor

I don't know how to post a picture on here,

http://www.yurtforum.com/forums/yurt....html#post1832