Insulation

[bss]

Does your woodstove have a blower? Does your yurt have a ceiling fan?

I have found that as a rule of thumb, a woodstove that is rated for at least double the square footage of your yurt will work best, mostly becuase the

insulation

on these sucks.

There are always places that leak air in our yurts, no matter how much we try and keep them sealed up. I agree reflectix

insulation

does not perform to the standard we would like it to, but for the meantime, it's what we have. Do you have insulated exterior doors in your yurt? Are they totally sealed up with weatherstripping and rubber sweeps? Just a thought.

Also, you can use bubble wrap for shipping in between your screen and plastic windows to try and insulate that area a little better in the winter. Good heavy draperies will help a little here as well.

[Corinarose]

Bss,
Thank you for your thoughts
I only have an extension cord for power so at this time I don't have a fan or a blower on the Woodstove
The issue for me is not what happens when I am tending the stove- I am plenty warm
It's the amount of wood that I go through and the work it takes to keep the fire going.
I plan to add insulation-either wool , denim or xps in the ceiling and walls. The floor is already insulated with 2" of pink foam board and then hay bales and metal framing around the perimeter
Also I have real windows not plastic windows, low-E and use heavy, insulated curtains as I was a seamstress in another life. I also use the curtains on the doors. I have storm doors on each of the doors
After I insulat I will share what I learn. I do not have a loft or partitions- it is all open space.
I have thought of building a loft but at my age navigating ladders in the middle of the night is not my cup of tea.

[bss]

Well yeah, it sounds like you have the bases covered. And I assume in VT you are burning mostly hardwoods?

[stephanwik]

Originally Posted by Corinarose

Have others used insulation beyond the reflectix insulation?

I've used a wide variety of insulation types over the last 10 years. I've worked hard to identify the best solution for the wet, windy and cold weather one often has in both Scotland and Sweden (where I am now).

The foil-based insulation you mention is simply not warm enough in my experience. It also creates condensation problems. Wool, hemp and other natural fibres are great to when initially installed, but soon develop mould problems when it rains for 3 weeks non-stop (welcome to Scotland).

What I now use is glass wool made from recycled bottles in both the platform and on the walls and ceilings. It is made by Knauf. It breathes, does not rot, is pretty good to work with (no itch) and is ecologically sound. It keeps a small yurt very warm with only intermittent

heating

from a small 800w electric oil heater. A wood stove would be way too warm.

The platform was easy to insulate - simply lay the insulation between the battens. For yurt itself we use 6 metre rolls that are supplied with chicken wire backing. The insulation is relatively easy to staple to the crown and trim at the base of the walls.

To summarise, I've got 5 (!) layers:

1. An inner cloth liner (cotton)

2. Builder's paper to ensure that no insulation fibres migrate to the dwelling space

3. 20cm of glass wool attached to chicken wire

4. Tyvek breathable membrane that provides a wind and water vapour barrier

4. The outside yurt wall (in our case canvas).

I hope this of interest.

Stephan

[Jafo]

Welcome to Yurt Forum Stephen!

That is some great advice! We just fired up my wood stove at my yurt camp this past weekend, but it was only 35-40 degrees F outside so it is really hard to tell from that experience how well the insulation is working for us but the yurt was plenty warm. In fact, I had to open the

dome

a few times because it got too warm. I am still surprised at how much wood Corina is using. We kept our yurt warm and barely used any wood. Granted, I would probably have to use double to triple that with winter temps, but still, I don't think I would use as much as she has.

Corina, how many square or cubic feet is your stove rated for?

[Corinarose]

My stove is rated for over 1,000'
I have had a fire in the evenings and with just a little wood it is fine, keeping the yurt toasty trough the night.
Wait till the temps drop and the days dont warm up- its a whole differnt story.
It will be interesting to talk about this again come spring and compare notes

I really appreciate the insulation update by stephan
and will be playing with different insulation in the up coming weeks

My yurt is not partitioned off and I think this makes a difference~ I love the open feeling of the yurt.
Gotta run more later

Corina

[bss]

I think a second layer of insulation may be of value to you corinarose. It sounds like it gets pretty cold in your area.

Is your stove a catalytic model? If so, what kind of shape is the cat in?
Is your outside chimney tall enough to supply the requisite amount of draft for your application?
Is it an insulated chimney?
Are there obvious leaks anywhere in the fire venting system?
Has the chimney been swept recently?
Are your fire bricks in good shape?
Do you not have fire bricks but are supposed to?
Which type of wood fuels am I burning and at which time of day/night?


Not meant to offend, in my mind those are just things I would be thinking about if it seemed like I was using too much fuel relative to my application.

[Corinarose]

Originally Posted by bss

I think a second layer of insulation may be of value to you corinarose. It sounds like it gets pretty cold in your area.

Is your stove a catalytic model? If so, what kind of shape is the cat in?
Is your outside chimney tall enough to supply the requisite amount of draft for your application?
Is it an insulated chimney?
Are there obvious leaks anywhere in the fire venting system?
Has the chimney been swept recently?
Are your fire bricks in good shape?
Do you not have fire bricks but are supposed to?
Which type of wood fuels am I burning and at which time of day/night?


Not meant to offend, in my mind those are just things I would be thinking about if it seemed like I was using too much fuel relative to my application.

bss

I just need to say that for living in vermont and talking with other yurt dwellers who have gone through atleast one winter, I have gone through LESS wood at 5 cords than others. We get temps below zero Farenheit for days even weeks at a time.

That said I did have challenges with my NEW stove last winter but it was primarily two issues: the insulated stove pipe outside the yurt was not tall enough causing smoke to come into the yurt each time the door was opened and 2) the wood was not seasoned as I got it late in the year. This makes the wood to not burn as hot-- but when a fire was going I was plenty warm. It was closing the stove down for the night that the fire would sometimes go out. When its in the single digits and the fire goes out you know pretty quickly.
I did have a fair amount of ash wood-- which burns quickly. This year I have all hard woods~ mostly maple. I have cut down some old apple trees on my property and apple burns good and hot.

I think adding insulation is the way to go and for some it may be to add or divide up the space.
I did add extra reflectix insulation in my north walls last winter with no real effect.
I think adding insulation over the wood stove( in the ceiling), have a blower on the stove and perhaps ceiling fan are all great ideas that I am considering
Funds are always an issue.
I guess my bias is that yurt sellers should be yurt dwellers to really understand the issues and costs that come with yurt living.
Corina

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by Corinarose

I live in vermont and have a 30' yurt with the full insulation and snow load package.
I heat with wood and was able to be toasty warm when the wood was burning. What bothers me though is for a space that is just over 700sf I am burning more wood then friends in conventional homes with much more space.
I want to find a way to add insulation that helps to hold heat not just lose heat

I wanted to live in a yurt to simplify~maintaining a woodstove in a yurt is by no means simplifying~ it is a full time job. I have a great stove.

Have others used insulation beyond the reflectix insulation? Sources?

Thanks

Corina

I called a Yurt builder in Homer Alaska and asked about "arctic insulation".
She said they use a 1 inch polyester blanket on the roof and walls in addition to the foil bubbles. It was alittle too much $$$$ so i decided to make my own:

I went to Lowes and bought 2 rolls Tyvec house wrap.$210
Cut three lengths material 30 ft long
Taped with the Tyvec special tape the three panels into a 27 x 30 ft piece
Laid out cone of roof and cut out,
We used spray adhesive on the Tyvec and glued 1 inch polyester to it, in rows.
We ordered the Poly in rolls about $345
We stretched the other Square of Tyvec over the new poly cone and guled it in place.
We cut the top piece to match the bottom piece.
We the taped the two pieces together with the special tape 12 inches around the cone.
Now we have a "Arctic Blanket" for our 24 ft Yurt

[Jafo]

Any pictures you have of that custom insulation would be GREAT! Oh, and welcome to Yurt Forum!