Privacy in loft rooms

[HappyCamper]

Hello! I have ordered a 35' diameter yurt for me & my daughters. Their rooms will be in the loft. They are teenagers and are concerned about privacy.
We are trying to avoid sheetrock walls (mainly bc of expense & the practicality/aesthetics of building loft walls to the ceiling). I'm trying to come up with ideas of how to ensure they won't be constantly battling over having to listen to each other's music or phone conversations. I thought about suspending curtain rods from the beams & hanging heavy curtains but they are skeptical.
Have any of you been able to accomplish loft rooms that afford privacy?
Thank you in advance!

[Bob Rowlands]

Unless you have real 2x4 wall with sheetrock and sound deadening

insulation

in the bays, you will easily hear eachother. In new residential construction, bathrooms and some bedrooms have that feature. Speaking of sound, exterior sounds will come directly through the cloth wall, and viceversa for people outside the yurt.

[Jafo]

I think some headsets are in order.

[Bob Rowlands]

Yeah. Modern home life has pretty much removed personal sounds from intruding room to room and floor to floor.

I've framed party walls in apartment buildings and motels and the sound transmission is essentially eliminated. Two adjacent, insulated, 2x4 walls spaced by a gap and 'sound board' faced towards the gap eliminates transmission of sound very effectively. This kinda detailing ain't gonna happen in no yurt. lol

[Jafo]

The big issue is you would have to also build/insulate/rock a ceiling. The fabric is a lousy sound barrier. I hear the grasshoppers sneeze outside.

[Bob Rowlands]

While there is nothing wrong with partitioning a yurt, folks do need to remember it is a yurt- a tent- and not a conventional house. If you have camped in a tent, you'll know every exterior noise comes through the wall. A yurt is similar.

If you lived in a house all your life, you'll be bringing your experience with many of the privacy benefits of home living with you when you move into your new yurt. Yurts are incredible, but in no way is a yurt slightly remotely close to a small ranch house in privacy. That said, people adapt to everything in time for the most part, how well depends on their attitude adjustment imo.

A good youtube vlog series that features a young homesteading couple videoing themselves and their three young children living in a yurt off grid, is entitled:

fouchamatic off grid.

Plus there are others. There are good comments from them about yurt life from actually living it. Not a review of yurt, or 'Here's our new yurt!", but actual yurt life shot while doing it. You might want to check it out if you have the time..

[hierony]

I've somewhat heard of sound-dampening curtains, and they might be effective in limited ways. But they'd probably have to be very dense & heavy.

If you have a theatre/cinema nearby, you might be able to do a basic test--take a friend who will stand on the other side of one of their curtains & try to have a conversation through it. Then lookup the curtains costs...

[Rich Brereton]

White noise can go a long way to creating sound privacy. Dedicated white noise machines are even better than fans.

Having a separate indoor space from the yurt would obviously be a big help, even if it's just a shed or a tent. A place to have phone conversations, do homework or whatever would be a welcome refuge for anyone in the family who needs a break from the communal space.

[Bob Rowlands]

Frankly I don't know how anyone could handle raising teens in a yurt, and maintain a good family relationship. Apparently they do so in Mongolia, but that is an entirely different culture. HS age teens need their personal space, and mom and dad need theirs not only for privacy but for maintaining sanity, as well. Traditional 2x4 walls allow that privacy. If they are insulated with fiberglass batts, that's even better.

Under these circumstances a family could use a second smaller yurt that as partitioned so the kids each have their own space, plus a 'hanging out room'. A small framed shed between their yurt and the main yurt could act secondarily as a sound block. Just an idea.

[Delores]

May not be possible if you have a fabric yurt but we had a wooden one that was double concentric. Opposite sides of the outer ring were incredibly private and we co-existed quite nicely. I would do it again anytime.