Yurt as a Public Building

[Yurt Librarian]

Hello! I am looking into buying a yurt and using it as a small rural public library. (Not state funded).
Anybody know the logistics to something like this? Legalities? I see there are lots of yurt rentals people can camp in but I'm sure there are different caveats for a camping vs. "education" building.
I am in PA...how much do I need to worry about building codes and all that? I have zero experience with that. Would the contractor take care of everything?
Any help and encouragement would be appreciated!

[Bob Rowlands]

To get traction on your idea, get that info locally, where the rubber meets the road. Good luck.

[Pacific Yurts]

It is best to check with the local planning department to find out what regulations would apply for your situation. At the least the yurt would need two doors (3' x 6' 8") that swing outward to provide emergency egress for this use.

[Bob Rowlands]

Yep, two doors that open out is mandatory.

I'm gonna be rebuilding my 12' yurt this spring with a second dutch door. That way I can have two, more manageable wall sections that don't need to be lashed together. More natural light. Flow through ventilation without farting around hiking up the wall cover at the bottom. Just park the chair in the door opening and get that nice breeze blowing on me. And an option when its cold to use the leeward door in the wind.

I built us a 10x15 greenhouse last year. Just for kicks I built double dutch doors on the opposite ends of the 10' gable wall. Quite by chance I found out that set up is FAR superior to the one door that my yurts had. VERY nice to have options dependent on weather, access, and other circumstances.

Lastly I'm gonna white poly tarp the two wall sections, and the roof cover. How that's gonna pan out beats me. But ima try it.

[UKadventurer]

I've no idea of your local building codes - check carefully - but I can say with certainty that yurts can be scaled up to very large structures. It's very common in my region - Mongolia - to have huge 'gers' (yurts) used as restaurants, theaters, etc.

However, they tend to use different support mechanisms, such as metal, to handle the loads.

That being said, traditional yurts aren't particularly fire resistant so that could be an issue.