Permitting a yurt

[Bob Rowlands]

Call the building dept that handles Laurel Canyon, and get the facts from them. That eliminates middle man opinions that can confuse you..

[hierony]

Here's a news article about building codes in some Idaho counties: The Coeur d'Alene Press - Local News, Rare decision to not adopt new building codes causes stir

Sounds like there's a number of counties that have optional/no building codes that could be decent places for yurts--just beware the cold!

[Sccomstock]

I just left the building permit office for Mason County Washington and NO permits are required for full time yurt living. If the platform is 30inches above grade then you need a deck permit complete with railing, but if the platform is under 30 inches from grade the platform needs ZERO permits!!!! There are no minimum

insulation

requirements and no permitting for water or power as long as the property has an approved septic on file with the county!!

Needless to say I am on cloud 9 knowing that we can move ahead with our yurt without permitting issues.

[RocktheCasbah]

That's great news! Make sure you talked to the right officials. We were told that we didn't need a permit in the municipality of Powell River BC by front end staff and once our yurt was up the city freaked out and made us just many, very expensive hoops to have it permitted. Because someone said yes to you, you can always challenge a city in court, but who needs that stress!

[Freedom Yurt Cabins]

Found this recently and thought people here might be interested to know. After last year's fires around Sonoma County CA, they revised some of their building permit regulations and are offering fee exemptions to help residents rebuild.

To get every individual back into their homes and return the community to its health and vibrancy, the City of Santa Rosa has created new policies, which include:

Expediting review process for hillside development and design review
Waiving fees for discretionary planning, demolition and temporary housing permits
Allowing residents to live in temporary housing units, such as manufactured, tiny homes, and RVs, on their properties while rebuilding
Allowing residents to build detached accessory dwelling units to live in while they are rebuilding their main residence and offering incentives for such units

See the whole PDF document here: https://issuu.com/cityofsantarosa/do...57122/57669144

I'm not 100% sure if our wood yurt cabins qualify, let alone a fabric yurt, but it is a drastic reduction in the permitting barriers in that area. Worth looking into if you're in that area! Live in a yurt while you rebuild, then use it as an Airbnb/granny flat/accessory structure once your house is rebuilt.

[spaldon]

Hi Jafo, new here. Toying with the idea of selling our home and building a yurt. I know you mentioned a septic or cesspool however we would want to use a composting toilet - what would we do with our water from sink/shower use? Will that get approved? My husband mentioned using water filtration tank and then siphoning to the garden. I'm just not sure what will be allowed for a primary residence and not sure where to start looking either. We will need to have a raised deck in order to have the composting toilet beneath. What are your thoughts about building this? Also we are a family of 4 how big of a yurt might we need to accommodate comfortably? I will take any and all advice! We are in northern NJ

[Jafo]

I hate to defer, but the rules change wildly from town to town. I would just go speak with your local zoning officer. Most of these guys are retired contractors and can tell you pretty quickly what they would consider and what they would reject.

The idea of using grey water in your garden is probably not going to fly, in my opinion. The composting toilet on the other hand? You might get that one.

[Nicole74]

Originally Posted by Dan R-M

Our yurt isn't permitted, 'cause it's a temporary structure the county is ok with, but we've been exploring the prospects of cob and straw bale. The former is as far off the zoning board's radar as yurts, I'm sure.
The best advice we've gotten is to learn as much as one can about the zoning board and building inspectors (talking to folks who have built in the area recently) and to remember that most are not out to get you, but are more than willing to work with someone who is trying to do things the right way (the safe way). They won't automatically be antagonistic to new ideas if those ideas can be proven to be sound, but they're not going to do the work to establish the proof.
In some cases, the board or inspectors will actually be excited about working with you, because they want to encourage safe new ideas.
You can comment, Melissa, on the reality of that situation. We haven't acted on the advice yet ourselves, but it sounds reasonable and jives with our experience when informally asking a member of our zoning board about our yurt "summer home" by the garden.

Hi. I had thought of using cob or straw covered with limestone on the outside of the walls of the yurt. Using the material that normally covers your house especially for winter as installation. But I don't know if it would work. I'm thinking the limestone provides a harder wall. But considering that you may have to replace your yurt structure at some point, you may not want too.

[Bob Rowlands]

IMO if you are considering straw bale or 'cob' whatever that is, covered with stucco or some other troweled on finish, just stick frame the outside wall. Cheaper WAAAY faster easier. Any experiended competent carpenter could build that curved outside wall from panels sized at 16" or 2' panels in very short order. Lap the top plates. Cover with ply and finish with stucco. Bam. Done. Way faster then any other technique traditional lath. Just a thought. I'm a carpenter since 1973 and know this stuff inside and out.

[Bob Rowlands]

If time and money are an issue -as they usually are- a framed wall is going to be very cheap in comparison to any other technique. Every building center has very affordable materials you need to build a VERY solid yurt in very little time. I my experience anything 'oddball' is expensive and takes a long time to build. Plus very few tradesmen have the interest in working on an odd project because they know they won't make money at it. Just stating facts to consider before proceeding. Regardless, good luck with your project.