Yurt living

[PapayaVagina]

Does anyone have any experience living in a yurt? We are talking about possibly some day having a yurt as our home for maybe 10 years or so before we can afford to build a home.

I have looked into the pricing and it seems really reasonable and I was just curious if anyone else here has done it and if so what features they added into it? and what their total price was? We would definitely want to add a bathroom either inside or as an extension and would want a small kitchen.

Has anyone had any bad experiences?

[stretchmark]

Yes! I lived in a yurt for 2 years in the mountains and loved it.

It was very waterproof, very well-made, and overall just a great space to dwell.

I think we had almost ever optional feature on ours including snow-load roof kit, door with window, extra windows, etc.

We didn't have kids then but two of us were comfy in the 18 footer (or was it 16? )

We had outhouses and a building with a kitchen and washhouse so that took care of us needing to build them into our house although we did have a small cookstove. We had solar panels and things were pretty simple.

No bad experiences here.

I do recommend putting a skirting around the floor if you are on a platform. Ours was insullated from floor to ceiling and still it got kind of cold in the winter, a fire was ALWAYS necessary in the winter. We considdered putting in a gas heater and maybe even a propane fridge when I got pregnant but then we moved to town into a regular house.

I think the cost of our yurt would have been pretty high around 11,000 or something but it was donated by pacific yurts when a fire hit the mountain and burned most of the structures.

I do think they are worth the money (pacific yurts are the only ones I have experience with) and I know my husband could build a permanent structure that is more insullated for the same price or less because he is a builder. A strawbale yurt with load-bearing roof and mud floor could be pretty cheap if you were able to build it yourselves.

There are plus sides to both choices and down sides to them too. yurts are portable but also don't last forever. I think their roofs have a 20 year life or maybe 10, it's been a while since I researched them. I remember the mice got into them quite easily and in the winter we had to build insullated widow coverings or else cold air leaked in.

Good luck with whatever you decide and keep us posted.

[boatbaby]

I did a story on Yurt living for HGTV

This is the company we followed - they did really good work!

http://www.rainieryurts.com/

[marisa]

We're also thinking about getting one in a few years. We have a small lot of land in east Texas - and it would be great to put one up. I'm still trying to figure out how we could air condition the yurt while still being off the grid. It's pretty hot in Texas to be without it.

[be11ydancer]

Those look really cool. What is the usual price range for one with a kitchen and such? What would be the downsides to living in one?

[love2all]

Hey all-
I thought I would chime in here-
we have and lived in for years- a canvas geo-desic dome. Alot like a yurt but we choose the pacific dome because the height- it was tall enough to add a second floor loft for us to sleep in.
We love it and are currently looking for somewhere to put it up and start living in it again. It has been a few years in a 'traditional' house and I cannot stand the walls.
One great plus to yurts/domes/yomes/tee=pees- you really live close to nature. We were always outside.

[SugarAndSun]

Wow those things are awesome! I really want to rent my house for summers and live in one.

[be11ydancer]

Originally Posted by love2all

Hey all-
I thought I would chime in here-
we have and lived in for years- a canvas geo-desic dome. Alot like a yurt but we choose the pacific dome because the height- it was tall enough to add a second floor loft for us to sleep in.
We love it and are currently looking for somewhere to put it up and start living in it again. It has been a few years in a 'traditional' house and I cannot stand the walls.
One great plus to yurts/domes/yomes/tee=pees- you really live close to nature. We were always outside.

That sounds really cool! So you can have a loft too? If you don't mind me asking, how much did your dome cost? Do you have any pictures?

I think I'd probably love living in one of these if we weren't in tornado alley.

[darkstar]

Ihave seen plans in Mother Earth News about building your own yurt. This would be wooden with 8 sides, like an octagon. I think they quote the price at about $1000 for all building materials, for an 18 foot yurt. You could do it really cheap, if you wanted to.

My dream is to open a yurt bed and breakfast in Northern NM, or Southern CO.
I have done alot of research

darkstar

[love2all]

We paid about $6000- a few years ago,
I hear the 24ft one has gone up in price quite a bit..well. they all have!
I do not have pictures but the pacific dome website has an awesome photo gallery-

[farmer mama]

I have lived in a pacific dome and had major problems with waterproofing. We know of others who had issues as well. I think pacific yurts and Rainier yurts are more expensive but way better made. We visited the Rainier yurt people and were really impressed. When we lived in our dome we had a woodstove, cooktop, and sink. It was a nice space, easy to heat but didn't hold heat well without the stove going.

[love2all]

we had our dome up in New Mexico so the rain was NOT an issue. But yes those desert nights get cold and we would free our butts off in the winter.. heat left as soon as it went up..