There are lots of reasons to consider living in a yurt.
The most common motivation is to live a simpler life, perhaps debt-free and definitely closer to nature. A yurt home is often a fraction of the cost of a traditional home, appealing to people who are just starting out or downsizing for retirement. Many people use a yurt as their residence while building a house, then use the yurt as a guest house or studio later. A yurt as a summer home is idyllic, with the breezes and sunshine close to you. While the warmth and durability of a yurt in winter makes it a cozy retreat.
Like any building project and life change, yurt living takes a bit of planning.
First, you probably need to get the a-okay from your city, county and maybe your homeowners association to occupy a yurt full time. Usually, zoning and permitting is locally regulated. Each county, city and municipality has their own rules. Our staff is ready to help you through the permitting process, should you need our expertise. We can help by providing engineering calculations for the yurt, certifying the snow and wind load. Our yurts can meet the international building code for structural loads, but you may need a variance to comply with energy code.
If you are living in your yurt, you might want plumbing and electricity. We encourage you to work with local contractors, and consider planning your utilities as you finalize your deck or platform plans. We can advise you on your deck or platform type, whether a wooden deck or concrete slab or SIPS. We have suggested deck plans on our website to download.
Room partitions in yurts are better as free-standing or partial walls. We have some ideas for dividing your space on our pinterest page, and we have floor plans we can share.
You can put a kitchen and a bathroom in a yurt, as well as a loft (in larger yurts). The yurt interior is your creative palette. You can make it as polished or as rustic as your lifestyle dictates. We’ve seen yurts that are interior design masterpieces and yurts that are simple, rustic spaces for family relaxation on a remote property.
When you chose yurt living, you will find that the simplicity, the round shape and the glorious sky view through the dome all contribute to a unique way of life that you didn’t imagine before. We are here to help you with the planning of your dream, and we will look forward to many photos of your new home.