Introduction: Starting the Yurt Journey - Washington State

[zschwarzmiller]

Greetings Yurt Community:

My name is Zach. My wife, friend and his fiance were looking for land to purchase in SE Washington State near the Oregon boarder and came across a fantastic 20 acre property with two Yurts. We set up a time to go view the property but just before the Sellers decided they were going to keep it afterall. This got us interested in and beginning the journey to start researching and finding another property with Yurts and/or buying unimproved land (or somewhat improved - well, septic, etc) and building our own Yurts.

We have just began this journey so we are still acquiring lots of knowledge. The goal is to have a few Yurts and a homestead on at least 10 acres; however, we are eyeballing another property at the moment that is just over 100 acres. Nonetheless, were getting pretty excited.

There seems to be a lot of options for Yurts out there, so were trying to realistically dial in a company to buy one from for the first one. As time would be of the essence, we'd probably look to hire help to build 1 or 2 of them and then look into building a couple more ourselves after we were established.

I am starting to connect with other Yurt lovers and would love to meet anyone in my area who has a Yurt if you'd be interested in meeting and talking with me.

Look forward to getting to know these forums a bit more, asking some questions, and hopefully providing some insightful feedback to others once I have some understanding.

Thank You!

[Jafo]

Well nothing says "Yurt in Oregon" like a Pacific Yurt, as the company is located in Cottage Grove. You would save a LOT of money because you could pick up the yurt yourself instead of paying over $1,000 in shipping.

Good luck on your journey!

[Freedom Yurt Cabins]

Zach,

Greetings! As you have found, yurts come in various sizes and materials. I invite you to consider Freedom Yurt-Cabins. We manufacture a solid wall Yurt-Cabin kit that can be assembled in a weekend by two people with average handyman skills. The Yurt-Cabin comes complete with a floor structure, eliminating the need to construct a separate platform.

Feel free to contact me if you want more information about a Freedom Yurt-Cabin.

Good luck on your journey. It sounds like an exciting venture.

Randall Bowers
Freedom Yurt-Cabins
303-344-0499

[hierony]

Hello Zach,

I'm up around Whitman & Latah county--I know of several yurts around here, including my own, of various styles (not for sale though). I recently helped some friends disassemble a modern yurt (Rainier?). There was a yurt installer that came down from CDA/Spokane area that oversaw the takedown--seemed he had some carpentry experience and had also made a mongolian yurt of his own. He might be available for consulting and such.

Suntime Yurts

I believe has a couple mongolian yurts in Eastern Washington--talking to them would likely prove informative. Otherwise

Rainier Yurts

in Western Washington is close/Pacific Yurts in Western Oregon.

Best of luck & hope you find some land!

Jeremy le Va-nu-pieds

[Gummery]

Wife and I are likewise looking for 10+ acres in SE Washington and are considering living in a yurt for a few years as a primary residence (which would let us use the capital for a downpayment on more/better acreage.)

We don't live in the area yet, but would love to keep in touch either via this forum or privately as we (all) pursue yurtification projects.

One thing that concerns me is permits. Do you plan to live completely off-grid? We do not (off-grid power for our needs is prohibitively expensive). Preliminary research causes me quite a bit of concern at the prospect of obtaining a NSFR permit for a yurt. Have you looked into that at all and at what it would take?

[Blue_Eagle]

I'm thinking of making a yurt like structure in my yard to be an outdoor living space, I noticed the lattice for walls and was wondering if the plastic lattice you can find at Lowes or Home Depot can be used. I am considering leaving it as an open air structure and just using white gravel for a floor. I haven't decided on what to use for polls yet either. I want to make a steam of water around it and create a rounded arbor to enter it and have flowering vines grow up the lattice that will hold up where I'm living at; I'm considering using that smoked ridged plastic for the roof to allow plenty of light and still offer protection if it rains. A small bridge willl lead to it. I'm not sure if I want it to be a strictly relaxing space or what, I can also use it for martial arts practice if i went with sand instead of gravel. Im also considering using a yurt design to add a gym, man cave, and an art studio. I have a couple of acres to work with.

[Jafo]

The problem with plastic is, one crack, and the entire lattice will be finished. Instead, I would look more into camping/portable yurts.

[Bob Rowlands]

Blue Eagle, Jafo is right. The cheapjack plastic lattice that you see down at Depot is for decorating the bottom of your front porch. It is strictly decorative, short lived. Very definitely not a load bearing material. Certainly isn't designed to be bent into a curved wall.

Don't think about using the decorative wood lattice at Depot either. It is cheapjack wood strips loaded with knots, stapled together, will break and fall apart when bent to a curve, and simply won't hold up to any stress in the long haul. Total waste of money for yurt wall.

You need to consider building or buying a real yurt wall for any long term dwelling. To get an idea of what is entailed in building a yurt wall, google: Clan Yama Kaminari yurt. Scroll to yurts on the front page, and read up on the wall consytruction. It can be done very cheaply if you have the tools and can follow the instructions. Good luck.

[Florida]

Sounds very nice indeed