Looking for yurt experts as consultants

[Wintergreen282]

mahendra,

With all due respect, how do you know you can make a yurt for $1500us if you don’t know all “the small details”? A long term yurt company might say this $500 hardware detail is absolutely critical. Or any covering you want to last will cost X. If you use Y it will break down much sooner. That, structurally, you must use wood of this type or quality or the pressure points won’t hold.

Trust me. In the US, where capitalism is often king, a company who makes a product for $1000 and sells it for $40,000, will soon have MUCH competition. Americanized yurts (big, windowed, high-walled, no center beam, etc) are engineering feats. Materials and workmanship must be of very high quality. Designs followed exactly by workers who care.

Though I’ve lived full-time in such a yurt for the past 8 years, I can see a more traditional yurt would be far cheaper to make and to live in. If I were buying a yurt now, I might go that route. (Even though my friends already think I’m crazy for living as I do.

It’s possible no bigger US yurt company has responded because their tips and tricks really wouldn’t work for an India company who sincerely just wants to provide affordable, low-cost housing. I can almost guarantee, no America yurt company is getting rich selling yurts. I’m sure (like yourself) it’s a passion to supply more natural and affordable housing in their area.

Right or wrong, much of the exorbitant cost of things in the US are from high wages, regulations,

insurance

, taxes, etc. The materials you buy might be from businesses who also have these costs. The high wages are necessary because things are so expensive.

Best of luck with your project! Even without direct help, I think with some digging this site will be a wealth of information.

[TSRalex]

Originally Posted by Wintergreen282

Materials and workmanship must be of very high quality. Designs followed exactly by workers who care.

Thanks, Wintergreen282, exactly my opinion too.

And on these requirements Yurt production isn´t easy - it´s an engineering work with high standard levels.....

[Wintergreen282]

Agreed TXRalex. There’s a right way to do things and (many) wrong ways. Often it doesn’t matter all that much. But not with yurts. When the wind is blowing 40mph with gusts of 60, I’m very glad mine is so well built!

[Bob Rowlands]

I've made three yurts. The REAL work was building the platform. Building and assembling yurt parts and sewing the cover at table height is the equivalent of a desk job. Building a house is a little bit tougher.

[Ivan]

I know many Indian engineers, as I worked in Singapore for 10 years.. Yurts are not rocket science, i am sure you have the expertise in India , just a lot of geometry to go through. Probably the big issue will be the machines that glue and stitch the exterior together, which i am sure you can buy? Probably made in China, with a couple of Indian engineers.. I do think itt is a good idea , as plenty of use in refugee camps, although i would change the exterior to something light .

[Bob Rowlands]

This stuff is simple. You don't need a computer to solve it either.

To figure the geometry and exact rafter length I laid out a full scale 'section' through the center of the yurt on the garage floor. This being from the vertical centerline of the ring to the outside of the wall. One half yurt diameter.

That allows a master rafter to be made. Laying the rafter stock on the layout, mark and cut. No guesswork involved. No complex math. No calculations. No head scratching. The rest are identical, with exception of those over the door which need an adjustment, which I easily marked in place upon erection.

Wall laths are identical throughout, excepting at door where there are specials. Again this is easy. You need to know the height of the lath crosses and mark up those heights on your door frame. Easy.

I nailed it the first go around. Perfect fit and tight as a drum with no sag or drama. The key is getting the cable premade to the length such that when installed on the wall the yurt is the correct circumphrence. The last rafters go in place and the frame is tight and right. I was hanging off the ring doing pullups and there was no flex at all.

This stuff is EASY for a carpenter.

Figuring huge load like over a 30 foot yurt takes engineering. Once that is done though it is boilerplate on the plan.

There are scads of details in the typical custom home. WAY more engineering, WAY more complicated to figure out, and a effton more labor to build, little of it at waist height on a table. Yurts are an absolute snap in comparison. This I know having carpentered for 47 years.