My thoughts on building my yurt

[HawaiiYurts]

HopefulHomemaker, Congratulations! I hope you do yourselves a biiiig favor and make sure that you have enough people on hand. Strong, capable people. We've put up all kinds of different yurts, over 60 now(!! where does the time go?!). On 24' and larger yurts, we have found that 4 people is our minimum preference. 6 would be max. Five is ideal. 4 people can pair up and work in tandem on a lot of things, doubling the speed, and one person works to keep one step ahead, make sure all the steps are done and grab parts/tools/etc when needed.

Safety should be priority, with attention to detail a close second. And a good tip is to be sure that everyone knows who is in charge of leading the crew. "Too many chiefs and not enough Indians" is the way one old timer put it to us once and it's very accurate. The person leading should read through the set up manual a couple or more times, several days ahead so they get familiar with the process and can be thinking one step ahead. They should make sure that the tools and materials needed are ready to go on site when you start. Don't skimp on that scaffold... build it! It will save you so much in the end and you can re-use the lumber later.

We work with

Colorado Yurts

so they're the ones I know the most about; they do have the best winterized kit I've seen on the market and also have a recycled denim

insulation

option that does meet r-value codes, so that's one less thing to worry about with the codes in your area. Good to hear your inspector seems fine with the idea! I'm always glad to hear about areas where they are yurt friendly.

Rent a small generator for the set up. (Or buy one? Sounds like you'll be wanting one! The small Honda 2000's are super quiet, efficient and small, easy for you to move and start.) The roof is going to be a couple hundred pounds. One person... I see no way, no how. Two people... That would be very difficult and likely dangerous. Three... difficult but do-able. Four... now we're talking.

You know what's always struck me as funny, Jafo? The worst horror stories we have heard have been about yurts set up by contractor's and long time stick-builders. Isn't that odd? I think it's because yurts buck a lot of their hard and fast rules, so they try to go with what is logical to their wood framing paradigms and end up making the yurt far more dangerous. One that we heard about, a contractor didn't have the rafters set on the cable at the perimeter, rather, he thought the cable was to keep the lattice walls in, then they fastened every rafter to the wind kit studs. That's a pretty common assumption when people first see one actually. A lot of people who come to our office are surprised to learn that the wind kit studs are not needed for structural support. Aloha!

[HawaiiYurts]

Whoa, I didn't see that this was a three page thread at first! Wanted to mention; on the floor

insulation

, check out a product called 'SIPs panels'. They're really easy to build with/cut and are excellent insulation. Basically they're styrofoam type stuff squished between two pieces of plywood. I think there's even a company that will cut them to your specs. You can get varying widths of it so more insulating capabilities or less.

[Jafo]

Originally Posted by HawaiiYurts

One that we heard about, a contractor didn't have the rafters set on the cable at the perimeter, rather, he thought the cable was to keep the lattice walls in, then they fastened every rafter to the wind kit studs. That's a pretty common assumption when people first see one actually. A lot of people who come to our office are surprised to learn that the wind kit studs are not needed for structural support. Aloha!

I would have loved to hear his explanation of what the notch in the bottom of the rafters was for lol!

I tell people that the studs are actually an add-on and on most yurts in country where snow is not an issue, they don't use them and the rafters are 2X4's. I usually get a wide-eyed "REALLY?" response.

[HawaiiYurts]

Right?! Or the explanation as to why on Earth the instructions weren't read ahead of time and/or during set up...

Studs are for snow, but also MAJOR support for wind. It bulks up wind ratings by 40mph on average. The 2x6 rafters are mostly for snow.

[Brunhilda]

With any luck, my husband and I will be erecting a 30 foot yurt this summer. We have extremes both during summer and winter...deep frosts, and hot summers. Our locale is open, but shady due to steep hillsides. We would like to do a concrete pad, but I'm having a little trouble puzzling out some of the bumps we may run into along the way. I was hoping some of you could help me troubleshoot a little.

Here's the rough plan:
To elevate the area slightly and contour terrain to help with drainage.

Lay gravel, etc as a base under the pad with a french drain around the perimeter.

Use metal SIP scraps (salvaged window and door cutouts from walk-in coolers) under the slab as insulation.

Prep area for 30 foot slab with rebar, frost trench, and in-floor

heating

.

Yurt will be "unplugged" for a while due to finances, but we plan to install a floor drain or two...any thoughts about how to best prep for eventual installation of a small DC system?

SOME QUESTIONS:
When attaching the lattice and the snow supports to the floor, should I plan to drill into the hardened cement for each screw? I assume it would be an utter nightmare to try and place attachments in the cement while wet. While an "L" shaped bolt would be secure, I can't imagine how I wouldn't become suicidal trying to get them all in the right position.

How would the outer yurt fabric attach to the base of the concrete foundation?

I will be adding my own insulation since I can get much of it at cost...rolls of R/BB/R in the walls and ceiling, as well as additional foam board between the rafters/ snow supports. I plan to cover all of it eventually so the walls appear more solid. My concern with this relates to

moisture

. Do I need to plan for air flow passages amidst all that insulation? I don't want to wind up with unseen condensation issues in my walls/ ceiling.

[Jafo]

I have never put in a cement pad before, but if I did, I think I would try to wrap a wood skirt around the outer edge of it, so you could screw the lattice and cover to it. You will have to figure this in your measurement of the pad. In fact, that wrap itself would also serve as the form when pouring the pad.

You will find many posts in here about insulation and

moisture

concerns:

moisture - Yurt Forum - A Yurt Community - Threads Tagged with Moisture

[djspn]

Brunhilda........Looks like

Colorado Yurts

has experience w concrete pads.
Colorado Yurt Company: Build a platform for your yurt
Perhaps your supplier does too.

[Shelter Designs]

Hi Brunhilda,

We have had many customers successfully install yurts on concrete pads. The easiest way we have seen to attach the yurt frame down is to put a 2x6 or 2x8 perimeter wooden ring on top of the pad around the outside perimeter. This is what the yurt frame will then sit on and attach to. Much easier and stronger than trying to screw down into the concrete!

This wooden ring is composed of numerous short sections of the 2x board (the length of each segment and angle of the miter cut will depend on the diameter yurt you are installing) This then creates a solid perimeter around the outer diameter of the pad. The outside of all of these short segments will be sticking out proud of the concrete pad and should then be cut in a circle to match the pad.

This wooden perimeter can be secured to the concrete by a couple of methods. The most secure is by installing j bolts in the wet mud during the pour. You will want to make sure the j bolts are not more than 1 1/2" above the concrete, or else they will stick above the 2x board and perhaps interfere with lattice, snow legs, door frames, etc. You will have to counter sink holes in the wood so you can attach a washer and nut to the j bolt. If you don't want to hassle with countersinking holes, and want to make your j bolts stick up 3" or so, you need to make sure you have your layout down very precisely for door frames and snow legs stud spacing so the j bolts don't interfere with them. A less secure method is attaching the wooden perimeter down during the installation of the ring using a concrete anchor drilled down through the board from above(a redhead or something similar), but these sometimes don't grab so well into the cured pad. It is critical that this wooden perimeter is secured down well as the whole yurt frame will be screwed/bolted to it.

This wooden perimeter also provides a nailer for the plywood Bender Board that should wrap the pad. Every manufacturer has different details on this Bender Board, so how far above the wooden perimeter it needs to stick up, how thick of plywood to use, etc, will depend on whose yurt you have.

There are many details to the process, but this is the general idea. Feel free to get in touch with us directly for further details and pictures!

[Bob Rowlands]

Shelter Designs

. I have to compliment you. That is a very good way to anchor the yurt to a slab. Conventional stick framed houses are attached to their foundations with the same basic principle.

[DittmarDarren]

We are putting a yurt up in upstate NY (north of the Catskill mountains) on September 9th 2017. Would you be willing to come help us?? We can pay you if you have Pacific Yurt experience. E-mail is [email protected]
THANKYOU