Solid roofs for yurts

[cgreen2858]

My wife and myself are looking for any information on possibly building a yurt
With a solid roof.
If there’s any information out there if you could send me a link I would appreciate it.
Thanks for any help 😊😊
Chuck

[Wintergreen282]

This reply is based on NO technical knowledge. Probably someone else will respond.

Just from what I’ve read on this site over the years - and living full time in a yurt for 6 years - I’m sure a solid roof is possible.

BUT. Yurts are engineering feats. All parts have been *carefully* put together by experts. Even most online plans. If you start messing with or changing one part, you have to know what you are doing. The bigger the yurt, the more difficulties you will encounter. What you might get away with in a 16’ yurt won’t fly in a 30’ yurt. Every location is different; yurts have to be over engineered. Do you really want to sleep in your yurt listening to the wind howl - wondering if it’s going to hold up? (Insert wide-eyed emoji here! Lol)

You could safely build a separate structure with a solid roof over your yurt, I guess. But that would also be darker and wetter. And the more one changes a yurt, you take away, as Jaffo says, it’s “yurtiness”. I wholeheartedly agree.

Why do you want a solid roof? Snow slides off a yurt roof (at least mine does - being wood stove heated helps).

Yurts are glamping. If you wouldn’t want to camp somewhere, you may not be happy yurting there. Yes, you can hear owls hooting and the rain, but you will also hear road noise and neighbors.

It can be cheap living, but don’t also expect the 24/7/265 comfort of a home. Six months of the year, I have an extra step in the morning of pouring hot water into my coffee mug to preheat it. Right now I am wearing both a hat and a down jacket. (And a cat!)

If with a solid roof (and perhaps lots of insulation) you are trying to maximize heat retention (or cooling), forget it. Any attempt at full time 70 degree comfortably in a yurt will cost a fortune. Heat it when you are there, assume it will eventually be whatever the temperature is outside. (Luckily my yurt gets tons of solar

heating

which is great. My stove is too small to unfreeze a 24’ frozen solid yurt at 10pm on a Friday night when it’s minus 5 out (former owners MO). But is great living here full time. Helpful tip- get a BIG stove if you are doing that.) And later today the yurt will be 80 if I’m not careful. It’s probably 80 if I sat right next to the stove. So you can stay toasty warm most of the time.

Moisture

is a HUGE factor to think about in yurts. There are no soffits or vents. There is plenty of airflow, but we 1st worlders generally don’t have to think too much about humidity in homes and apartments. That has been worked out for us. Worst case, there are humidifiers and dehumidifier - and lots of

insulation

to maximize their effects. A humidity problem in a yurt can - and has - completely ruined it with mold. (Unrelated - people with humidity issues often try and “cook” it dry. I wonder if it’s not better to keep the yurt as cold as possible until you can figure a way to limit the humidity.)

I LOVE living in my yurt. It gets me closer to nature. Feeds my need of challenge and adventure and physical living. I love getting water from the Spring and solar showering. Don’t mind

heating

water to wash dishes. Don’t mind the work a wood stove requires. Though I probably would not want to raise kids or be sick here, I DO think it’s healthy living overall. And with multiple people, everyone would occasionally have to put down their devices and pitch in. (See healthy living point above. Haha)

Per usual, I am rambling. Haven’t posted in awhile. Miss hearing folks chat and hope all are well. Heading into my seventh winter here and things keep getting better and better. Took a bunch of trees down around the yurt this spring (so I don’t have to lay in bed listening to the wind howl and wonder if a tree is going to drop on my head. Yurts can only be engineered so much!) I also broke down and bought a snowmobile so I don’t have to hump water the 1/2 mile into the yurt in the winter if I don’t want to. (Though excellent exercise.)

I’d *love* it everyone checked in with an update!! - Cindy

[Wintergreen282]

Hey Chuck,

Rereading your question - and my answer - it may feel like I jumped all over you. So sorry if so. Again. No real building knowledge, but if I were tackling this, I would go small. And probably build a very sturdy “stand alone” roof. Strong and secure enough to not need walls. And then tuck the canvas walls and frame under. With that you could even put in some venting between the two.

There may be some information online, but I have not seen or heard of any. (Share if you find it!)

Of course there are also now all wooden yurts. Not sure of the pluses and minuses of those. Or if they are just “round” houses. There is a group in Maine that builds wooden yurt homes. Bill Coopersworth (maybe his name?) started it decades ago. He is now gone, but I believe there is a book - and assume the group is still active. Saw a YouTube channel of someone building one.

There is a lot of great knowledge on this site. Add to it if you find (or figure out) anything.

Best of Luck! - Cindy

[Jafo]

There are solid wood yurts out there, but they are just as, and sometimes more, expensive than a normal stick built house. Here are some that were for sale in our Classifieds:

https://www.yurtforum.com/classified...ts-on-4-acres/

[Bob Rowlands]

Forget yurt a minute.

Here's overview on wood framed conic roof on house, not yurt. Never built a conic roof on a house. Why? Where are they? Conic turret feature very labor intensive and few carpenters can build one quickly and efficiently because they regularly frame them. Big head scratcher for me anyway.

Wasteful of materials. Expensive to seal out water. Expensive to finish interior. No, 99% of guys would look at that and immediately pass because they know it's a bog down and money loser. I guarantee most guys would walk inside see that roof and roll their eyes say wth? The quaint victorian doll house disappeared before WWII.

Consider that yurts are considered by most as an affordable alternative to a house. investing all that money in a solid yurt roof that is not easily dismantled - THE big advantage of a yurt- is not a good way to spend your housing dollars. I would consider a very small rancher WAY faster because they are a snap for tradesmen to build. This was the home post WWII that all Americans wanted, and a million of them were built. In fact both my wife and I grew up in one. My wife's mom still lives in hers. Small and efficient.

Now, if you really wanted a round house with conic roof that was a permanent home, a stick framed panelized wall round 'yurt shaped' house, insulated, standard doors and windows, plumbing electric gas etc.,-whatever- on a permanent foundation then I would say yes go for it if you can afford it. I wouldn't just try to figure a way to sheath a trad yurt designed to easily dismantled and erected at a new site. jmo ymmv

[Surely Yurts - Steve]

https://www.yurtinfo.org/the-yurt-foundation

You want a beautiful solid wall and roof yurt?

Get 7-8 of your closest friends together and build a Coperthwaite yurt! The plans can be purchased from the yurt foundation.

___________

It goes without saying that it would be ludicrous and dangerous to add a solid roof to a lattice yurt unless you are an experienced structural engineer or some one else with experience and qualifications.

[Bob Rowlands]

Good post, Steve.

[Robink]

We wrote a book about building a wood-framed panelized yurt that includes the roof panels. But this would be for a "stick built" version not the soft-shell due to the weight of the roof. Our book is on Amazon and some tips and info are posted on wildcatman.wordpress.com