"Vegan-friendly" Yurts

[rbfx]

Dear yurt community,

I'm new to this forum, having just discovered it after a few weeks of trying to research the problem my girlfriend and I are facing in the process of buying our first yurt.

We're both committed vegans and most yurts we've found contain some animal products. A yurt company we found in Spain (we live in Portugal) agreed to replace their usual horsehair ropes with synthetic alternatives, which was great, but the much bigger issue is

insulation

.

All the yurt companies we've spoken with insulate their yurts with some kind of wool (sheep, yak, etc) or a type of reflective foil that makes a lot of noise during heavy wind, which we get a lot of in the coastal mountains where we live.

I naively assumed that replacing the

insulation

with a natural alternative, such as hemp or recycled cotton, would be simple enough but apparently not. So far it looks like it's going to be expensive, difficult, and hugely time-consuming.

My questions are:

Has anyone else faced the same issue?
Does anyone know of suppliers of natural insulation specifically for yurts?
Or does anyone have other recommendations we're overlooking?

It seems there are some good products in North America, such as 'UltraTouch Denim Insulation', but shipping pallets of this to Portugal is prohibitively expensive for us.

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

Many thanks, in advance.

[Jafo]

What is the weather like year round in your area in Portugal? Is insulation even necessary beyond say, reflectix?

[rbfx]

Thanks for your reply

Regarding the weather:

April thru September - It's extremely hot in the daytime, and often very windy due to our proximity to the coast. It cools down in the evening but is not cold.

October thru December - The temperature starts falling but still isn't too cold. Humidity increases but it's still relatively dry.

January thru March - Less wind but very humid and periods of heavy rain. Temperatures at night dip close to zero as we're high on the mountain where it's warmer.

Does anyone have experience of using Reflectix in a yurt in a windy climate?

Our main concern is the noise. Friends/neighbours of ours have similar insulation in their yurt and the frequent winds create a constant loud rustling noise. Imagine a foil packet of chips being amplified. It's highly annoying.

[Jafo]

Well our reflectix is under the roof fabric and above the roof liner, sandwiched in between. The same with the walls. I hear zero noise from it because it is between the two fabrics. We have a vinyl roof and polyester walls however.

I am curious why wool is forbidden? I mean, no animals are killed in that process correct? Excuse my ignorance as I am not up to date with vegan policy.

[rbfx]

Ah yes, I've now seen photos of your yurt, really nice!

Was the Reflectix the "standard" insulation that came with your yurt or did you cut and fit it yourself?

Please excuse my ignorance, but how is the Reflectix fixed between your walls? Does it need to be glued to the inner or outer wall?

To answer your question about veganism, we adhere to the Vegan Society definition of veganism.

There's a better-explained definition at the link I included, above, but it boils down to, "Vegans avoid exploiting animals for any purpose".

Hope that helps

[Jafo]

I purchased the insulation package with the yurt, meaning

Pacific Yurts

sells it as an add-on. The roof and walls both have a separate inner liner, so the insulation goes between the walls/roof and the liner. There is no glue. Initially if I remember right, you have to clip it to the

tension cable

, but only until the entire thing is erected.

I am not sure what vegan friendly sources there might be in your area. For one thing, you do want to be careful about over insulating. Yurts, like all buildings, MUST breathe. If they are over insulated, you will definitely have

moisture

issues. We get that here a lot.

How do you plan on

heating

your yurt? With wood? What size is the yurt? Much of the issue with insulation can be overcome by using a larger than normal heat source, but once you get to really large yurts, that becomes more difficult.

Also, your platform will be an area where you could use spray foam or other forms of insulation which will greatly help.

Keep in mind, most Mongolian yurts in Mongolia are not insulated at all.

[rbfx]

Thanks for all the insight, super helpful!

We're planning on a 6m/20ft diameter Mongolian yurt, and we'll likely heat it with a wood stove as we live in a forest so have plenty of fuel.

That's a good point about the platform (which we'll build ourselves), as I hadn't considered spray foam. Chances are we'll probably go with something natural though.

As well as hemp, we've been looking at Jute, which is cheaper but apparently an equally good natural insulator. It's made from recycled burlap food sacks.

[Bob Rowlands]

The biggest issue with yurts discussed on this site is condensation/mold. Yes it is an absolute that a yurt must be able to breathe.

Jute sounds like a pretty neat insulation idea. I'm looking forward to hearing any comments about it's performance as insulation.

btw my wife is 100% Portuguese.

[rbfx]

My girlfriend and I are currently researching the feasibility of using Jute as our yurt insulation, including talking to the manufacturer.

I will share anything interesting we discover here.

If anyone has experience of using it, your input would be most welcome