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Our yurt needs help and we're totally lost!!!

Z

zenyurt

New member
Hi all, I am brand new to the forums! I checked it out in the past but just finally registered today to see if I can get some advice... We bought a house in North Monterey County on 3.5 acres a few years ago and there was a yurt on the property. I was so excited about it, and my husband and I have come up with tons of ideas on what we could do with it... yoga studio, craft room, guest quarters, airbnb... but, the reality is that it needs some serious help! It is unfinished, but was being lived in before we bought the place. They had it hooked up to an extension cord plugged into the house, and a water heater and gas stove using small propane tanks. There is no flooring and whoever put it up didn't do a great job. The platform is too small so they overlapped the fabric, wall boards aren't evenly cut and have gaps between them, insulated lining is falling down from the ceiling, the dome is slipping, ceiling beams are unevenly spaced, there is some water damage.. Basically, it's a mess! We want to get it all fixed up, looking nice, and properly functioning but we don't have the knowledge, skill, time, energy, or strength to do what needs to be done. We're willing to pay someone, but have no idea how much it might cost or where to even begin to look for someone who might be qualified to do it. We do live near the Santa Cruz Mountains, so I'm sure there are people out there, just not sure how to find them.


Sorry this is so long! I think to begin with I would love to have some opinions on what kind of costs we might be looking at, if we can fix what needs fixing or should we take it all down and start over? Do we need a bigger platform? How can we add on a deck? Currently most of the windows are too high to reach so we can't open them without using a ladder to reach them (would love to add real windows that can be opened from the inside). Feel free to check out the pictures in my album "Our yurt" to get an idea what we're up against, and I welcome any and all suggestions! Thank you! Kim
 
Skilled Anglo labor in Mendocino CA that is capable to work on an oddball structure like a yurt is probably $500/day. Possibly well over that. Your best bet might be to demolish the yurt if it is really beat up, and start from scratch. Skilled labor costs farting around doing repairs on an old beat up yurt gonna add up so fast the value of the yurt will be exceeded in short order.

One possibility is to check the flyerhanded out on Sunday at your local Catholic church. Sometimes there are handymen that advertise in there that work well under standard $ rates.

The world is connected online. If you get real creative and start asking friends in the area, online- you might get a response. Look at any local college on a board. There might be labor offerings in there.

Any 'Handyman Connection' type biz is gonna be expensive.

I got no other ideas. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I should mention that we believe the yurt is less than 5 years old, and in good shape for the most part, but just not assembled/put up very well. I can see how the labor costs could add up super quickly and exceed the value of the yurt, so we definitely want to avoid that! If we don't think we can get it fixed up for a reasonable cost, our last option would be to disassemble and sell it.
 
Frankly if I were you I'd sell it. If you have any interest in 'B@B' you'll be into real money for insurance, liability etc. A new yurt would certainly be in order under those circumstances. I guarantee money will flow from your bank account in short order.

I love yurts. But being 'different' they are here in this country. As such that immediately eliminates most guys from working on them from a fast/efficient perspective. I know a lot of carpenters and am one myself. Without question I'm the only one in that group that has any interest in yurts. College age guys that are handy would be your best bet for cheap labor. Working effectively on a building you know nothing about, that's the rub.

Good luck.
 
Good thinking Jafo. If you can contact the yurt maker, maybe they can assist you with labor in your area, and/or help supplying with materials.
 
It's a Colorado Yurt. I have already contacted them regarding the slipping dome and they told me "That happens sometimes, and it simply needs to be pushed back into place." But we had our neighbors come by who have two smaller yurts on their property and they're thinking that we might have to take down the ceiling and redo it. I'm wondering if we can just reposition the rafters that are not spaced correctly, and then push the dome back in place without removing the whole ceiling? But I know nothing about carpentry or construction. Our neighbors are willing to help us, they suggest getting together some muscle and setting up a work party and we can all get the dome back where it needs to be. Gutting the inside so we can install flooring will just take muscle and basic carpentry. If we don't need to redo any of the structural part of the yurt, we should be fine getting help to do things like electrical, plumbing, etc.

I absolutely love the yurt. I don't want to sell it. I would love to be able to make some profit from it, either by putting it on airbnb or making it a long-term rental. For the right person, it would be an amazing (short-term) place to live. And rent is so high in our area, people are always looking for alternatives. Plus being close to Santa Cruz, there are a lot of alternative lifestyle types! But, even if we couldn't profit from it, I want to keep it if at all possible. I've used it for yoga, and to do projects, and the grandkids love to go down and play in it when they're here. It's quite the conversation piece when we have people over! I feel like it's a bonus that came with the house when we bought it, it didn't cost us anything. So if we can get it fixed up enough so that it's functional and "cute" inside, I really want to keep it if we can! There are a lot of yurts in our area, so it's just a matter of finding the people that are out there that have the knowledge. That's why I came here to this community! Thank you so much for your replies!
 
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Send photos to the email address you've been corresponding with. We can certainly help. We would let you know if it needs re-pitched or can be fixed as it stands.
Your original email only mentioned the off-kilter dome- which is usually an easy readjustment. But, if the ring is off-level or there are other fundamental problems with how it's pitched- we'd need more information to help you.
 
Thank you Colorado Yurts for the excellent customer service! Is it possible for you to access the album I posted here, "Our Yurt"? I just took the photos yesterday, and it highlights the issues we're having. If not, I will send them to you. Thanks again!
 
After looking at the photos I can see the issues you're having are nothing to do with Colorado Yurts.
The problem is someone has put in home-made wall panels, put it up slightly wrong, and done DIY-type work on everything else. I'm sure they were happy living with all that, but it seems you have different standards. Be prepared to pay a lot for someone else to fix your problem, and upgrade the place to your standards. Or educate yourself and do it yourself.

But it's a beautiful palace compared to my home-made yurt made of recycled scrap, which I live in!
 
Looking at your photos, I'd suggest the following:
1. Measure the platform. The platform diameter needs to be the same size as the yurt. If it is smaller- that is your root problem.
2. If the platform is too small (and it appears to be), you will need to take down the yurt and re-build/re-size the platform to be the correct diameter.
3. When you re-pitch the yurt correctly, it will likely fix the issues you're having with the rafters and dome. The dome ring is probably off-level because of the other issues. The rafters are not always perfectly spaced in a properly-pitched yurt, by the way.
4. Many of the "improvements" done (the plywood wall board, etc) are not anything we provided and probably need to be removed.
5. If you find you need replacement parts, let us know. We can sell you what you need to make the yurt like new. I'll email you a price list for the common parts.
 
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Is this a wooden trellis frame, roof poles and crown with a canvas cover?
Get yourself a book, dismantle the thing and put it back up.
They were designed to be simple and you now own a yurt, so get learning!
 
I haven't seen the photos. For a fact, on any traditional yurt, the bottom and top of the wall need to be the same diameter/circumference. The bottom of the wall needs to be circular, and preferably level.

If you get some inexperienced people in there, be aware removing/installing rafters they can fall out and hit somebody if the ring shifts or the wall deflects. All the fun of the 'work party' stops right there. I've built three yurts and got hit by rafters erecting the first, while screwing around not knowing what I was doing while trying to get the roof 'right'. Just sayin. Good luck.
 
I am so grateful to everyone who has taken the time to respond to this thread! Especially to those who actually looked at the pictures. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and opinions. Looks like if we want it done "right" we'll have to take it down and start over! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions once we get things rolling. BTW Drunken Hobbit, New Zealand is a beautiful country, and the people are lovely! My husband and I were fortunate enough to visit last year and we loved it!
 
New Zealand is paradise for sure. Never been there but watched plenty of Xena and Hercules TV series filmed on the north island back in the 90s. lol I had two college buddies in 1973 that planned to move there and start kiwi farm. Hopefully they did just that and are now retired fat cats. lol
 
In viewing your photos I noticed that your dome is only attached with black webbing straps, when it normally would be secured onto the center ring with springs. This is likely why your dome keeps shifting. Your yurt manufacturer should be able to provide you with the appropriate springs if they are nowhere to be found.
 
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