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Anyone living in a yurt full time with children?

Hi Paige! Yay!love to hear about other families making this move! I will admit, when the platform was finished and I stood on it with my three children running and chasing each other around me.... My heart dropped a little. For the first time, I wondered if it was simply just TOO small. But I forced myself to remain positive and push forward, for whatever reason, it felt bigger again once the walls were up, and even more so when the loft was finished. The only suggestion I would make, is to possibly find a company that makes the kits with rafters longer than 15ft. We got the tall wall upgrade, but if only the rafters were a little longer than there would be a little more head room for the kiddos upstairs. Either way, we made it work and they feel like their room is their own little fort :) ps. I totally suggest you go with the 14 x 16 bathroom, it seems kind of large, but is the perfect size with our clawfoot, compostable toilet, water heater, washer and dryer, sink, and then to use as a closet as well since we do all of our changing/laundry in the bathroom anyways. We aren't finished with the bathhouse yet, but it's all a process. :) I believe you can click on that snowy yurt image of mine and it will take you to images of our yurt, but if not, here is an image of our living area and I will post more if you can't see my album for some reason :)
 
Yes, Thank You!! I saw under Yurt Photos where the pictures were.....but the pics didn't show up for me. I can see them now in the link you sent.

Ouryurtlife........your home is beautiful!! Its great to see someone living the way I dream of living! I'm jealous and eager to get started! ;o)
 
I can't seem to see photos through any of these links...any more ideas?
Well, first, hello! I joined up tonight, as we wait to move in to our 30' Blue Ridge yurt. We will live full time in it with our three children on our farm. We have designed a separate bath house, which is two rooms - a bathroom with clawfoot tub and shower and linen closet; and a utility room, with chest freezers, utility sink, and cheese making equiptment. Interesting how many of you have made separate bath houses...
We got 10' ceilings, and the master bedroom will be the upstairs loft. The floor is radiant heat concrete.
I am most concerned about mold! We had to move out of our house because of it, and so we cannot get it in the yurt or I will run out of homes :) The only water in the yurt will be the kitchen sink, and we will have a giant vent over the oven, to keep moisture down. When I cook stock or can, I will use the outdoor kitchen. Does anyone have any specific suggestions for the mold battle?
Any other hints for living in a yurt with kiddos greatly appreciated. I currently live in a 10x11' space with the three kids, but wouldn't call it ideal or practical!
Looking forward to chatting,
Kirsten
 
This yurt dweller doesn't have any kiddies of my own but here are some pics of connected yurts we built for a family of 5 (Mom, Dad, and 3 daughters) in Woodstock, NY. They have stayed in touch and are getting along very well, they are loving their yurt life.

Oh, and they are off the grid! Solar lighting, Solar water heater, Rainwater Catchment, Composting toilet, and Solar powered 12V pumps for water circulation.

Quote from the owner (Mom):
"Waking up to the sound of melting snow sliding off into our rain barrels... Priceless."
 

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Hi There, I'm researching how to capture rainwater for domestic use from a yurt and saw this post when i searched the forum...Have you got anymore details about how they captured the rain water? Guttering? I'm struggling to get a good example anywhere that we can copy. We'll we offgrid in a field with no tap so would rather not be lugging 50 litres of water a day, which is what I think we might need with two adults and one toddler. Any advice about this from other yurty families? She is nearly out of her cloth nappies but I want to try to do laundry as we go along and she has a little bath every night. We will need to wash ourselves and wash dishes and cook with it. I think we will need to get drinking water from bottles. Any advice or stories much appreciated. Thanks, Rosie
 
Well, I put a rain barrel on either side of my door as there is a rain diverter built in the roof. It takes a while, but the barrels fill up. Good for dishes and laundry but unless you live in Seattle or something, there probably won't be enough rain to do EVERYTHING with. You can get a family sized lifestraw that you could purify the rainwater with:

Amazon.com : LifeStraw Family 1.0 Water Purifier : Camping Water Purifiers : Sports & Outdoors

I have one, but I haven't used it yet and probably won't until Spring. Do you have a nearby stream?
 
I don't know of any simple yurt roof water catchment system. Possibly five gallon buckets placed strategically around the yur to catch runoff? Just brainstorming here, possibly a series of long narrow tarps could be tucked up a few feet under the yurt wall covering, with the balance exposed to outside runoff, and directed into a barrel? Just a guess, never done it. I am unaware of any catchment system that is mounted at the eave, but I'll bet someone has devised such.

Gotta agree with Jafo about any nearby stream or rill, any runoff at all, anywhere. Use that for everything short of drinking. I don't mean to tread on your toes here, but I wouldn't give that baby any water that is even slightly suspicious.

Wish I could offer better advice. Good luck
 
OffGridnewbiesuk said:
Hi There, I'm researching how to capture rainwater for domestic use from a yurt and saw this post when i searched the forum...Have you got anymore details about how they captured the rain water? Guttering? I'm struggling to get a good example anywhere that we can copy. We'll we offgrid in a field with no tap so would rather not be lugging 50 litres of water a day, which is what I think we might need with two adults and one toddler. Any advice about this from other yurty families? She is nearly out of her cloth nappies but I want to try to do laundry as we go along and she has a little bath every night. We will need to wash ourselves and wash dishes and cook with it. I think we will need to get drinking water from bottles. Any advice or stories much appreciated. Thanks, Rosie
Click to expand...


I've attached a link here:

Advanced Drainage Systems 4 in. x 50 ft. Corex Drain Pipe Solid-04510050 - The Home Depot

This is a 4" flexible drainpipe. It s possible to cut this and hang it around the circumference of your yurt either at the valance of base of floor so that it will divert water into an above ground barrel or underground cistern.
 
I'll be danged. Good thinking Steve. I've looked at that exact flex pipe on residential jobsites for decades. 100% of landscape crews around here daylight the house gutters with that pipe. It never dawned on me to use it on a yurt. offgridnewbiesuk, there you go. Thanks Steve.
 
Thanks so much for your replies! I'll reply to all here;

Its a Mongolian yurt with a canvas and waterproof roof which the rain water just runs off, I don't know how to attach the guttering on the eaves...but that is such a great pipe. Thanks for the heads up..maybe it would be better at the base.
The canvas flaps pointed to direct into the rain barrels below might be more up our street, a low tech solution! It rains so much here in the Uk. We also have a stream on the land which is high in the winter but really dries up in the summer.
That water purifier sounds perfect..does it actually make any water drinkable? we need to go up there and test the stream water, I think you guys are mostly in the USA but could you tell me how you would test the water from a stream?
I would lug in drinking water for us definitely, its not worth taking a risk and we are not remote.
Thanks, Rosie
 
OffGridnewbiesuk said:
..........That water purifier sounds perfect..does it actually make any water drinkable? we need to go up there and test the stream water, I think you guys are mostly in the USA but could you tell me how you would test the water from a stream?
I would lug in drinking water for us definitely, its not worth taking a risk and we are not remote.
Thanks, Rosie
Click to expand...

Here in the states we have cooperative agricultural extensions at universities in all 50 states. We would contact our local agricultural cooperative program and get the information needed. Then it's as simple as sending in the samples and having it tested.

They will send back results for soil and water for very little money or sometimes free as a part of the educational/agricultural endowments.

You could buy a home testing kit but it's unlikely to have the accuracy and detail you would get from a co-op ext.

-Cheers
 
Our well water had to meet purity standards before the certificate of occupancy was issued on our home in March 2000. As I recall, it flunked. That made me pretty edgy to say the least. I had to add additional bleach down the well, let sit, and run the well another 24 hours or so to purify clear and retest. Seems to me I added at least two gallons of bleach, but we have a 5" well that is about 287' deep. Then it passed and we were in. We also have alot of iron in our water and had a purification system installed to alleviate that problem.

If you are using surface water for drinking it surely would flunk any purity test unless you are in a very isolated pristine area, away from farmland and city. Even with the fantastic rocky mountain water the city of CO SPGS has, it is still treated for purity. Very high standards.

The electrician on my home collected run off from the home he built up high in the rocky mountains. He collected that water in a cistern. That water was grey water ONLY and did NOT pass through his residential plumbing system. It went to the clothes washer, and exterior watering of garden etc. None of this really addresses your situation but it might give you an overview of water quality standards here in the U.S.
 
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