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Needing building advice

Foam is a fantastic insulation. That is why it is used in refrigerators, freezers, coolers, hot tubs and so on. Residences that feature foam walls hold the heat better than typical batt insulation. A foamed wall is warm to the touch in cold temperatures. A 2x6 stick framed wall that is injected with foam-like a sip panel- is unbelievably efficient at holding in the heat. Drafts are also stopped due to lack of any gaps at all between framing sheathing drywall and foam. Really a superb material. Heat in homes that are foam insulated really just lose their heat out the windows, and between gaps in doors and windows.
 
Thanks for sharing that! I had thought about the SIP panels, I had discovered them by searching and watching videos. It's good to know you wish you had gone that way. Because you are in Western Maine and I am in Maine, (same climate)...how comfortable are you in the winter time? Are you barely warm, cold, toasty etc.? How do you feel it held up with the winds we have had this winter? any regrets other than the SIP panels? wishing you had done anything different? Where did you get your yurt and are you happy with it?
 
Bob I am grateful for your sharing all of your knowledge with me!! It's awesome and very helpful
 
Roo said:
Thanks for sharing that! I had thought about the SIP panels, I had discovered them by searching and watching videos. It's good to know you wish you had gone that way. Because you are in Western Maine and I am in Maine, (same climate)...how comfortable are you in the winter time? Are you barely warm, cold, toasty etc.? How do you feel it held up with the winds we have had this winter? any regrets other than the SIP panels? wishing you had done anything different? Where did you get your yurt and are you happy with it?
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Make you own S.I.P.'s at the yurt platform site:

After the framework of the deck is all set.

First put down a layer of 1/2" plywood and cut out your circle. Make sure you have good support under there with no saggy spots.

Then lay down a layer of 1/2" to 3" thick rigid foam insulation, be careful to stagger the seams. Cut out your circle. HVAC tape all insulation seams.

Finally lay down your 3/4" tongue and groove subflooring plywood (I prefer Advantech).

This has essentially created on large S.I.P. for your yurt base. The cost doing it this way is considerably less than a factory delivered S.I.P.
 
Roo said:
Thanks for sharing that! I had thought about the SIP panels, I had discovered them by searching and watching videos. It's good to know you wish you had gone that way. Because you are in Western Maine and I am in Maine, (same climate)...how comfortable are you in the winter time? Are you barely warm, cold, toasty etc.? How do you feel it held up with the winds we have had this winter? any regrets other than the SIP panels? wishing you had done anything different? Where did you get your yurt and are you happy with it?
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If you are close to western maine (sunday river / bethel area) you are welcome to check it out. We've shown it to a few folks, most recently some MIT Outing club people who needed to rebuild a trail hut and were thinking about a Yurt. I've also posted pictures of the build process here and on Flickr if you want to see it "virtually".

We got ours from White Mountain Yurts (loved the people and the process).

We did add deck extensions around the yurt base as I think you had asked about. We also built little platforms/steps near the vinyl windows to make it easier to zip the protective covers up and down. No issues with water or puddles because the deck spacing is sufficient to allow normal draining

Re: winter - we don't live in the yurt -- our actual base camp at that property is a log home we built from a kit so the Yurt was mainly a project my wife and I wanted to do just to get outside on weekends. We mainly use it to work from as a home office but we've been in there when it was quite cold and the wood stove was easily able to keep the place warm and toasty (although it takes a while to warm up when starting from a cold stove/yurt). I took the advice from people on this Forum and bought a wood stove that would be "oversized" in conventional home terms. From memory I think we got a QuadraFire Yosemite model which was rated for a 2200 square foot space!

Re: winds and weather. We actually bought the White Mountain Yurt add-on package that provides extra wind and snow load support although after the WMY people saw our pretty sheltered wooded site they said we'd likely not need it. No issue at all with wind and snow although I can't tell if that is because of the extra support we installed. Snow load in particular is easy if the wood stove is going because the snow melts and slides right off the yurt roof.

If I had to do it again I'd:

- Go for 24" or 30" diameter so I could get more space out of "loft" methods
- SIP panels for base rather than making our own
- Oversized wood stove for good heat
- I'd keep the WMY snow/load kit just for peace of mind
 
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