Insulation

[Jafo]

We keep the dome cracked and use a bathroom exhaust fan to minimize humidity in the winter. I believe there are no mold problems because the walls breath very well in our windy climate. Also, our climate is not excessively humid.

I believe it is because you are venting via the cracked dome and exhaust. Most people don't do that when they over insulate.

 

[Pixiemoss]

Hi I am new Im jason and I live in a 30 pacific yurt in southern Oregon. This is our second year in our yurt and after last winter with the bubble wrap insulation decided to up the game for this winter. Well after looking at the budget and searching online we decided go do our ceiling with standard fiberglass insulation. We then skinned it with thin plywood called luan. It looking amazing and works great BUT! A few day ago and a week into cold weather my wife informed me that the roof was dripping. Well I investigated and soon realized that there was a moisture problem in between the outer layer and the fiberglass. Argh!!! I thought I was almost done. Well now we are not able to take it down because it is cooooold. So we decided to just live with it for now and hope it doesn't mold. We decided to live in a yurt to make life simple. I feel I have been battling for two years making this thing work. weather its to hot or to cold it seems to me that as much as we would like to think that these tens are livable full time. The materials say different. I am actually considering framing in my whole yurt and making it an actual hard structure with a real roof this spring. Any one ever have this problem and how long did it take for mold to grow?

Hey Jason I know your post is old but....did you ever resove this? I have the same frustration with out pacific yurt and have thought of turning into a hard sided. Also the idea of the luan and insulation...I had the same idea !!

Would love to know how u resolved it.

 

[HawaiiYurts]

Not aiming to be harsh, please hear me out - You tried to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes that works out well but many times it doesn't, especially in an area where you've had multiple companies for several decades ahead of you working to best problem solve the challenges. There's a reason why all the main manufacturers use the materials they use. In this case one of the primary reasons is that reflective insulation can create the vapor barrier that a North American yurt needs. When heat meets cold we get vapor/water. Sheath the yurt with the refective insulation that the manufacturer recommends, even though yes, it is some expense, run the roof insulation to the outside of the wall insulation and the wall insulation to the outside of the bender board so that any moisture can drain to the exterior. If you still need insulation, THEN do the other. It's an older thred so hopefully your problems are long solved already and this can help someone else.

 

[Vivilala]

To summarise, I've got 5 (!) layers:

1. An inner cloth liner (cotton)

2. Builder's paper to ensure that no insulation fibres migrate to the dwelling space

3. 20cm of glass wool attached to chicken wire

4. Tyvek breathable membrane that provides a wind and water vapour barrier

4. The outside yurt wall (in our case canvas).

I hope this of interest.

Stephan

Thanks @stephanwik - I found this super helpful. Not sure if you're still on this forum but since that was a while ago, if you have any updates on how this worked out for you or any other insights, I'd really appreciate that.

I've recently set up a small yurt in Somerset, UK where I used felt directly under the canvas but as I'm not heating the yurt all day, it's definitely starting to get damp and I can see the writing on the wall...

 

[Bob Rowlands]

FWIW, all houses around here have TYVEK or equivalent breathable membrane wrapping the sheathing. I mean ALL of them. There might even be a code on that now.

I have 'no idea' how tyvek would work on a yurt.