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Putting a yurt in storage for winter

R

rangeroad

New member
Hello folks,

My first post! Just want to mention what a great site this is.

I'm considering purchasing a fixer upper yurt that has not been well maintained. There are a few logistics involved here. I intend to store the yurt indoors for the winter until the spring. The yurt is currently very wet, and has mold and mildew in numerous areas, has not been washed in years. There is no water supply to give it a quick wash to remove the mold, nor is there time as it needs to be off-site asap. My storage is very small (basically a single garage), and there will not be enough room to lay out the pieces to dry.

I'm not sure what to do on this. It's a 30' yurt with snow kit..lots of timber. One thought was building a long crate, hand dying the sections as best I can with towels, and applying desiccant in the crate. Has anyone out there experienced a similar situation?
 
Wow, this is a tough one. Will there be any heat source in the garage like a wood stove? Not sure how much that would help, but it would help some at least.

I would try not to compact the pieces together and keep the wood away from the fabric. As much as you can keep it all uncompressed, the better.

A dehumidifier might help, but it depends on the garage.

What part of the world/country are you doing this in? What's the climate?

I am not sure what drying agents you could use. Some may say rice, but I fear that would hold moisture close to the materials and perhaps invite critters.

Definitely should be an interesting thread though. Can't wait to see what Bob and Heirony have to say on this one. :)
 
Thanks for the quick reply, Jafo! And thx for your agreement on my dilemma. Located in upper NE Maine, currently very wet and cold with no chance of drying in the next week. It won't be a problem keeping material separated from timber, I planned on stacking it all on one side and timber on the other. No heat source in garage, theres a slight chance I could have a friends space in an indoor heated area, but very slight. Also have a lead on a barn that would give more space, but same damp factor and no heat.

One thing that I can't seem to find a photo of is how the liners, insulation and roof looks when its disassembled and folded in a pile etc? That would be helpful to gauge how much space I'll need.

I fear the rice would bring the critters as well, although if I go the crate route I could build it tight.
 
Hmm, well if you could keep all the wood in your garage and just find a large airy place to loosely hang the fabric, that would help. As long as you aren't folding or layering the fabric, I think the mold issue would at least stop progressing until Spring where you could figure out how to remove it.

A 30 foot yurt will have a 30' diameter roof, roof insulation and possibly a small thin liner. The walls will be about 95 feet, with insulation and liner. It is quite a bit and the roof is VERY heavy if it is vinyl. Think 300-400 pounds.
 
Do you know approx how many sections the walls come in? Would the liner under the roof also be in sections, or would it be one piece like the roof?
 
I live in Colorado which is extremely dry. However we had record rains last May and into June. My yurt cover is treated canvas and molded big time regardless due to constantly being wet for many weeks. So my info isn't based on experience of wet climate. Consider that as you see fit.

Put the yurt in the garage and keep as much air space between parts as possible. Without supplemental heat air dry under cover is gonna be it. I suggest painting all the yurt frame parts once dried. Paint is WAY better than any clear finish. Also when it comes to paint I used rustoleum industrial enamel on my yurt. IMO that is 'the' coating of choice for heavy duty coverage. Wish I had more experienced advice on this. Good luck.
 
rangeroad said:
Do you know approx how many sections the walls come in? Would the liner under the roof also be in sections, or would it be one piece like the roof?
Click to expand...

Do you know the manufacturer? Mine did not come in sections.
 
Its a 30' Pacific. My mistake, I was looking at the closed windows thinking they were sections. Still getting up to speed on all this : ).
 
When you say you're looking at a 30 ft yurt with a snow kit, I assume you have something like a modern yurt (pacific or rainier or colorado yurt company). From what I've seen of those, the roof is in a single section and the walls are made of panels (6' by 7' or so). The cover material is vinyl or some synthetic material. Insulation is aluminumized bubble wrap.

Before or as you're taking it down, you could quickly wipe/spray a weak bleach+water or vinegar+water solution on the moldy/mildewy spots. Take something like a 5 gallon bucket mixed up beforehand and a spray bottle/tank out to the yurt location. This would help prevent further mold growth.

In the case where the ground is wet but it isn't raining: If you can get some big enough, you could spread out some dry tarps and dry off the sections of the canvas as you take them off.

If you're garage is clear enough, you could probably dry out one or two wall sections at a time--set them with a fan blowing air all around them. You'd be amazed how well just air flow can remove moisture.

You say this would be a fixer upper yurt--are you planning on replacing some parts of it?
 
I'll offer a suggestion: Wherever you store it, try and elevate it off the ground, concrete, etc. Rather than fold it tightly, store it loosely and if you have electricity put a fan on it that moves alot of air. One winter won't kill it, but a few mice will. Best of luck!
 
Just for clarification, the Pacific Yurt walls are just one large section.
 
Jafo said:
Just for clarification, the Pacific Yurt walls are just one large section.
Click to expand...

My bad--I only have experience with a Rainier Yurt, which had wall sections. Thing took a full day or so with several people to disassemble too...

Even a 30' has but a single outer fabric section? That seems like it'd be a pain to handle (heavy & awkward)--fewer seams to leak weather though. If there's a second door, I suppose there'd be two pieces.

If you have exposed rafters/trusses/beams in your garage, you probably easily tie the sidewall up to the rafters so it hangs like a curtain, zigzagging it back & forth a bunch (30'*pi=94' circumference, subtract 3' door=91' long sidewall; 16' long folds would require ~6 zigzags, each maybe 1' apart at the ends; total area 16 ft by 6 ft, or roughly 1/3 a single garage). That would keep things loose so they could dry out with just air movement.

I don't have any good ideas for drying the roof canvas though. I guess one could fold it up with towels/cheap absorbent cloth sprinkled with desiccant between each fold (cloth for holding the desiccant in place & to wick moisture to the desiccant some). Would require a lot of towels/cloth though and a fair bit of desiccant--here's an article on the different desiccant types. Most desiccants are fairly unreactive but I might still want to double check somehow.

Barns can be great. That Rainier yurt I mentioned has been up in a barn loft for a while--lots of bird poop and dust though :(

Best of luck!
 
one suggestion is to rent a propane heater for a day. Get everything cloth strung up and run that sucker wide open, that,ll dry it out. The recent commercial job i been on has several propane heaters going and lemme tell yuh, they will dry out cloth in short order. i,m talking MAJOR heat output, waaay beyond any home furnace. what it would rent for i don,t know but i,ll bet it is quite reasonable.
 
hierony said:
My bad--I only have experience with a Rainier Yurt, which had wall sections. Thing took a full day or so with several people to disassemble too...

Even a 30' has but a single outer fabric section? That seems like it'd be a pain to handle (heavy & awkward)--fewer seams to leak weather though. If there's a second door, I suppose there'd be two pieces.
Click to expand...

The wall is polyester and not that heavy, at least compared to the roof. It went pretty quick with a couple of people. Yes, if there are more than one door then the lattice and walls would be in sections, true.
 
Thanks folks for all the great replies and ideas. If it happens it will be this weekend, so I will try to document everything to see how it goes for a few months inside.
 
Ok, we are confirmed for the dismantle. I would like to know the best recommendation for cleaning the outer wall for this situation, there seems to be a whole bunch of info on the net, some of it conflicting. Some folks say to never use a bleach dilute with Sunbrella or Marlen canvas. I'm thinking because of the age that it would be best to play it safe and use Dawn soap to do a quick scrub before hanging it to dry in the barn. Thoughts?
 
The outer wall? Just use some gentle soap and a scrub brush on a stick. Let it dry when done. I think I used Ivory dish soap when I did mine this year.
 
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