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Anyone live in a Yurt in Colorado?

L

Lhat420

New member
Hi all! I am currently living in Florissant Colorado and will be purchasing a 30ft yurt from Pacific Yurts. I have done A LOT of research into yurt life, pros, and cons, etc. I hear a lot about condensation issues and mold growing on the cover inside and out.... It is VERY dry out here in Colorado, so I am not sure if I will be facing this issue or not. Has anyone out there lived in a yurt in Colorado before? If anyone has any experience living in a drier climate similar, I would also love to hear your feedback. Also trying to figure out the deck situation. The yurt needs the same exact base size so that the water will not pool up...how is this accomplished when you want to have a deck as well? Thanks all, I am SO excited to have found this page and look forward to all of the new things I am learning :)
 
Hi Lhat and welcome to the forum!

I live in Co Spgs. If you have a fifteen year cover, and keep your yurt vented as much as possible, you'll be fine for many years.

As for deck around the yurt, I recommend building a second, yurt diameter circular platform atop the deck to keep water from soaking inside your home. Keep the exterior deck boards gapped so water can drain off.

I'm not really up on other 'more affordable', or 'professional' systems, but I'll bet there are a couple. Ask your yurt supplier. Good luck.
 
I live in gers (aka 'yurts') in the mountains of Mongolia. The climate is similar to Colorado but probably even drier. Also much colder. Our rainy season is only in the summer but not especially wet, by world standards, even then.

Generally there'll be no issues with mold as long as you stop the cover from trailing on the ground and wicking up moisture. Also, make sure there are no leaks in the upper area of the cover. I've no idea what materials are used in Pacific Yurts but we tend to use natural materials in Mongolia (cotton canvas and wool felts). I think the cotton has PWR treatment but will wet-out eventually but it doesn't seem to leak through to the felt, luckily.

We tend to prefer concrete foundations. I don't know why but concrete is much cheaper here than lumber. We built a ring on a ring. The inner ring is the diameter of the ger base. Mine is 7.2m (23.6') diameter. Then 10cm (4") lower is the bigger ring, about 7.8m (25.5') diameter. The outer cover overlaps the inner ring but doesn't touch the surface of the outer ring. If it does, trim it back until there's a small gap of a centimeter (3/8") or so.

We have a concrete patio at the door of each ger which is below the level of the outer ring by about 30cm (12").

Some photos might help. A couple of angles of the frame going on foundation.

IMG_1556.jpeg

IMG_0616.jpeg

Note the canvas edge is slightly off the outer ring.

IMG_2452.jpeg

In addition we have quite a lot of operable windows (almost floor level), an opening crown on the top, and quite large doors (with side panel window). So we can vent well with natural ventilation. We might get a ceiling fan one day.

door with opening window.jpeg

Manually operable crown. Open in the photo. We use this a lot.
open crown.jpeg

Floor level windows are great for venting and cats.
window.jpeg

We're still working on the connecting hallway/bathroom which is in the middle but the foundation is all done because concrete season is over. The hallway is done structurally but needs a lot more finish and internal work. That's in another thread and is maybe not relevant to this question. I'm updating that post as I go, if you're interested here:

https://www.yurtforum.com/forums/yurt-plans-f22/new-modern-yurt-build-in-mongolia-2452.html
 
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