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Flooring options for transportable yurt?

C

ChrisL

New member
Hi all

I'm considering the possibility of putting together a wooden floor/decking that can be transported with a 6M yurt.
trying to figure out if its feasible or not.

floor would sit on 2x2 sleepers to raise it off ground.

yurt will be moved via transit van (rented) once or twice a year.
with the weight limit on these vans i have concerns about the weight of disassembled yurt + floor once loaded onto van.

iv recently been doing a stable conversion at my parents house. for the floor we got some 2ft by 8ft chipboard (with the grooves on edges that slot into each other).
they are so dammed heavy its a challenge to carry even one by myself.

im guessing the thinner / lighter the flooring, they more easily it bends etc.

is there any solutions for lighter-weight flooring?
(that stuff we used in stable is high grade, designed to hold heavy furniture etc. I cant imagine yurt-floor will have so much load-bearing requirements as a house does).

considering that yurt is to be moved at least once a year, is it even worth having floorboards?
(groundsheet is feesable, but i really like the idea of wooden floor)
 
Are you going to be moving them back and forth to the same location? If so, why not pour a round slab?
 
Hi Jafo

thanks for suggestion. I very much doubt I will be moving it back and forth to same location.

The desire for yurt has come about from my days of drifting/backpacking around Europe several years ago.
It used to be a way of life, living on the road, hitchhiking, making money as i went along, usually with a guitar.
Randomers would often invite me into their community, it was beautiful.

Eventually I got tired of not having a place to call home. But still wanted to have elements of nomadic living.
a campervan was not quite rooted enough + would like just a little bit more living space.

at one point i stumbled across a small community of stone age rainbow hippies in France.
They had a yurt for guests. 7 meter, vinyl cover, wood burner, oak wood floor.

I fell in love with it. seemed like the perfect balance between travel and 'cozy homeness'.
So as it stands yurt be moved once/twice a year to explore different small communities / farmsteads.

There are a fair few posts scattered around internet on wooden decking for permanent Yurts setups.
But i have yet to find any info on flooring for annual transport.
 
on doing some research on van rentals (the way i planning to move yurt). the weight limit seems to usualy pan out around 1000kg (~1 ton / 2200 lbs).

roughly speaking, how much is a 6M yurt likely to weigh?
 
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Not sure about how much they weigh. I know many people just lay out a tarp and then fold it UPWARDS inside the yurt, against the wall so you are kind of like in a giant tub. That keeps the water out.
 
6M yurt = perfect nomad yurt imo.

The simplest floor is tarp on ground covered with circular carpet. Erect yurt on carpet. Fold tarp up under yurt cover outside the wall and secure with the low rope or band. Voila! a bathtub floor and no drafts and bugs. Cheap as it gets. Easy to install. Dry. For nomadic this would be my 1st choice. Lay a sheet of cement board under the wood stove. You need a tight fitting cap or a bonafide dome to keep water out.

Alternative wood floors require real work/money.

SIP panels by a pro $$$$

3/4 t@g OSB screwed into pressure treated 2x4s 'sleepers' laid flat on the ground, on 2' centers. Cut the whole shebang to yurt diameter. Paint and label the entire system for easy id later when moved. Use new screws each go round.

Second. Two layers of osb screwed to eachother. Lay out the first layer. Orient the second layer at a right angle atop the first. Screw the two layers together. Cut to diameter. Again, paint and label everything. Use new screws each go around. Moving this means real work, but it is portable and relatively cheap. You need a truck or full size cargo van.

Third. Circle of osb atop pallets. Real work. Truck for sure.

IMO the best nomadic system is plastic tarp and carpet. No bugs, no drafts, dry, cheap and easy. Just roll your floor. You like apples? How 'bout them apples? 6 meter roll up rollout in a weekend if the move is close. When the tarp gets funky replace it with another cheap one.
 
XD I do indeed like apples.

sounds like tarp + carpet will be simplest solution.

Like many modular aspects of yurt building, it seems i can consider wooden flooring at later date and add it in fairly simply.

thanks for helping clear things up chaps. have a nice day :)
 
OK Chris, check this out. Copy and paste:

Nomadic tiny home: Mongolian yurt moves in 1 day, DIY-style

This is the way to go. You really don't need a wood floor if you are nomadic.
 
Check out some of my photos/albums. I just took up my yurt to move to a new town for a job--don't have a place to setup yet but hopefully can find something by the not-so-rainy months here.

Anyhow, my platform is 15 wedges with a 15-sided polygon center ~5 ft in diameter. Each big wedge weighs around 80-100 lbs. I can lift & move them by myself, but awkward. Taking down the yurt is much easier with two people anyhow (almost essential for the crown ring raising/lowering step).

My 6 meter/20 ft yurt frame & fabric layers probably weigh around 800 lbs, depending on quantities of insulation & types of materials. My platform is at least another 1000 lbs. Then there's all the other bits (clothes, furniture, cooking supplies, heater). For this move, it was easiest to pay for a 20 ft livestock trailer to be driven ~190 miles. There was a bit of leftover space, even! Unfortunately I didn't have my masonry heater moving technique up to par so didn't get it in that trailer load.

I think I'm going to try to get a 20 ft conex/shipping container to make future moves easier & for on-site storage too.
 
ChrisL said:
Hi all

I'm considering the possibility of putting together a wooden floor/decking that can be transported with a 6M yurt.
trying to figure out if its feasible or not.

floor would sit on 2x2 sleepers to raise it off ground.

yurt will be moved via transit van (rented) once or twice a year.
with the weight limit on these vans i have concerns about the weight of disassembled yurt + floor once loaded onto van.

iv recently been doing a stable conversion at my parents house. for the floor we got some 2ft by 8ft chipboard (with the grooves on edges that slot into each other).
they are so dammed heavy its a challenge to carry even one by myself.

im guessing the thinner / lighter the flooring, they more easily it bends etc.

is there any solutions for lighter-weight flooring?
(that stuff we used in stable is high grade, designed to hold heavy furniture etc. I cant imagine yurt-floor will have so much load-bearing requirements as a house does).

considering that yurt is to be moved at least once a year, is it even worth having floorboards?
(groundsheet is feesable, but i really like the idea of wooden floor)
Click to expand...


Hi! I'm in Austin. I don't move my yurt very often, but I wanted to create a platform that could be moved by an average sized sedan if necessary. I didn't completely achieve that, but I got close.

I built it in sections that bolt together, but come apart into smaller 4'x4' pieces. I used RV levelers for the supports, which are both strong and portable. I did some simple foundation work using roadbase and cement blocks to put the RV levelers on.

Here's a post about digging in:

https://scottmauer.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/laying-the-foundations/

And here's one that shows the floor framework:

https://scottmauer.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/and-now-your-armature-is-complete/

I've had this setup for over two years and haven't done any re-leveling, though I intend to soon using a laser level. My yurt is only 12 feet across, so I was able to use fewer levelers. A larger yurt would probably either need more, or stronger cross-beams.

Here's more detail on the design:

https://scottmauer.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/the-temple-hanging/

I think if I did it again, I wouldn't break the floor into tic-tac-toe pieces like this. It substantially weakens it by cutting the cross beams. It certainly works, but I think it would be better to use full-sized cross beams and simply bolt the pieces together rather than screwing them. One would need to be able to transport those long pieces, but otherwise it could easily be made to take apart, especially if one was only moving it once or twice a year.
 
Hi Chris,

Maybe I have posted this before, but in case I didn't, or you haven't seen it.

A few years ago when my wife and I were traveling in Mongolia, we often stayed in yurts. There I will confess they don't have some of the concerns the rest of the world has, but they do just fine.

Every yurt that I stayed in out of town, (they are also common in town), had a linoleum floor.

I was told when they buy a new yurt, because it isn't really an exact size, they buy rolls of linoleum that are about 2 meters wide and lay it out on the ground, and then add another width beside it and overlapping it until they had the coverage they wanted and then put them together with clear packaging tape about 2.5"/6cm wide. They set up the yurt on top of the floor, and then cut the linoleum to the proper size of that specific yurt, and move in.

When they move they take apart the yurt, but they don't take the floor apart they just fold "the wings" to the center and roll it up, (but not to tightly), for the move. When they lay it out the next time it shows them the exact size to recreate the yurt.

They also used a doubled layered square of carpet about 4"/10cm under each of the legs of the furniture to keep it from cutting or worrying through the linoleum. I could see a couple places they had used tape to patch a tear, but the only places I noticed were where furniture had escaped the carpet protectors.

It isn't a bathtub floor, but the climate there is very similar to Montana or North Dakota, I think. When it did rain they just mopped the water off the floor when it accumulated enough to be a problem, which always seemed to happen near the door, where raincoats came off, boots tracked in, and the ground became compressed enough/depressed enough from use, to create a bowl that start holding water.

Good luck on your project.

Rod
rod::email::yurtlocker.com
Home Page.

An example from the photo gallery:

https://www.yurtforum.com/forums/members/116-albums46-picture512.jpg
 
We make a 16' Yurt in a crate. The crate opens up and becomes the floor of the yurt. It is made for emergency housing. For areas that do not have access to building a platform. There are many uses for it. And the crate can be transported in the back of a pick up.
This yurt in a box provides a nice wood floor. Then pack it all up and move it when you need. Contact me for more information. Nomad Shelter...Ava 907-299-6324.
 
hierony said:
Check out some of my photos/albums. I just took up my yurt to move to a new town for a job--don't have a place to setup yet but hopefully can find something by the not-so-rainy months here.

Anyhow, my platform is 15 wedges with a 15-sided polygon center ~5 ft in diameter. Each big wedge weighs around 80-100 lbs. I can lift & move them by myself, but awkward. Taking down the yurt is much easier with two people anyhow (almost essential for the crown ring raising/lowering step).

My 6 meter/20 ft yurt frame & fabric layers probably weigh around 800 lbs, depending on quantities of insulation & types of materials. My platform is at least another 1000 lbs. Then there's all the other bits (clothes, furniture, cooking supplies, heater). For this move, it was easiest to pay for a 20 ft livestock trailer to be driven ~190 miles. There was a bit of leftover space, even! Unfortunately I didn't have my masonry heater moving technique up to par so didn't get it in that trailer load.

I think I'm going to try to get a 20 ft conex/shipping container to make future moves easier & for on-site storage too.
Click to expand...

Hey i was wondering if you could describe how you built your platform? I think i can figure out how to make the lattice walls and rafters and maybe the skylight. And i think i can figure out how to insulate with fabric. Do you use wool? Hope to hear from you soon.
 
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