Size of the yurt you first lived in ?

[ChrisL]

Hi everyone

Im starting out a project to build first yurt, to live in.

im needing to decide the size (Diameter).

what was the size of the first yurt you lived in?
do you feel it accommodated for your lifestyle suitably?

iv had a go at going out into a field with tape measure, string and lots of bamboo poles.
marked out the outline for a 5M yurt. sat for a while and tried to visualize the lifestyle and interior layout.
was nice from that i'm kind of inclined towards a 6M diameter.

what are some of the factors (lifestyle, construction time/cost, self assembly etc) to consider when deciding diameter?

[kochevnik]

I am getting my Kazakh Yurt that is 6m diameter. I feel that it's a good size for 2 people. In the past there were 15 people sleeping in the yurt of this size. I thisnk it will be OK for you :-)

[hierony]

I've visited a couple yurts--a 20 ft modern yurt setup for park camping and a 16 ft camping yurt setup for full-time living. I'd say it all depends on your expectations. The park yurt felt spacious for camping, the living yurt felt open but a little crowded for the girl that was living there (she didn't have too much stuff). If you dig for photos and writings about traditional mongolian yurts, a 20 ft/5 khana yurt is family-of-four size. By american standards, this is ridiculous. From what I know of european standards, that's a bit small but maybe doable for one or two people.

My own yurt is 6 m/~20 ft/5 khana. My thinking was thus: we see/feel open space but use wall area. I can put shelving/benches/counters/furniture all along the wall ~2-3 ft deep and still have a 16 ft open circle in the middle. Also, I'd highly recommend getting a compass and some graph paper to make some sample layouts, based on what you think is important/essential. Kitchens/dining areas, beds, toilets, tubs, and stoves can be tricky to get all to fit in.

[Bob Rowlands]

Heirony is spot on imo. 6M WAY preferable over 5M. Mine is 5M.


Regarding American house sizes, most folks worldwide live in reasonable small quarters. Instead of envying us, I bet they find 4000 sq. ft. house and a 30 -40 year mortgage laughably absurd. In the span of my carpentry career houses have dang near doubled in size. It's insane, really. In addition I have found over the last ten years folks now want 'everything' in their new mansion, yet they seem no happier. In fact, less happy less tolerant, more demanding, and WAY more impatient then my parents that lived in a home of well under 1200 sq. ft. Just sayin.

[Corinarose]

I live in a 30' yurt full time and have for 4 years~ going into my 5th. I live in Vermont~ so cold winters.
After 3 years I insulated the yurt because I was burning so much wood, and I wanted to bring plumbing into the yurt so I could have running water.

I am one person and I find it quite spacious yet I have many interests ~ make jewelry, quilt, hook rugs work with wood~ so I find that it becomes cumbersome to have these things in my living space~ so I am building another small building that will be a workshop, so my living space is just that.
I now heat with propane since it was too much work to heat with wood and I wanted to be able to leave for a night or longer and not come home to frozen pipes.

Condensation remains the biggest problem with full time living in yurts.
If anyone has finally solved that problem please let me know.
And that is condensation from when I had no running water and

heating

with wood to now having showers and a sink to do dishes in and a propane stove.

Actually considering getting rid of the fabric and putting up wooden walls so I can adequately vent and have a space that breathes.

I do have real windows ~6~ to be exact. Which is great for letting in light year round and for venting briefly.

Good luck with your decisions
Corina

[Bob Rowlands]

Thanks for the post Corinarose.

[Delores]

The thing was not so much the size as the structure. We had a double concentric wooden sloped wall yurt. I think the outer was 30' diameter and the inner maybe 10 or 12. But the middle was raised and provided our "living room" and the outer ring was everything else. But it was very private. Sound does not travel in a circle and one person could be on one side and the other person opposite and it did not feel crowded. All of the furnishings were built into the outer wall and since the middle was raised we built storage underneath.