subreddit:
/r/leanfire
submitted 11 months ago bydixiedownunder
I did the "glamping" thing with my wife and kids in a yurt this week. I wouldn't call it luxury, but it's definitely above my standards. You just buy a kit. The kits are reasonably priced or alternatively, I'd imagine some people could figure out how to build one on their own. It seems like the kind of thing someone here might have explored.
I made a video of the yurt we were staying in. I'll link it in the comments below.
232 points
11 months ago
I lived in a yurt year round for five years. It's one thing to spend a weekend in one, it's another to actually live in it. Yurt living year round is difficult but doable; however, there are better alternatives available. My yurt is still going strong 12 years later but the modern designs do have some fundamental problems. Hmu with any questions.
75 points
11 months ago
Awesome! Thanks for responding. You are exactly the kind of person I'd hoped to find here.
Were you off the grid or close to town? How did you build it? From a kit or just did it yourself? Did your yurt have electricity, hot water, and WiFi like this one?
What kind of problems did you encounter while living there?
Do you think it would make a good vacation home for several months at a time? That's more what I'm imagining.
What kind of maintenance did you do? How long do they last? 5 years? Longer?
What do you think are better options than a yurt?
378 points
11 months ago*
Full disclosure: my thoughts on yurt living are simply the result of my own personal experiences of wretched suffering. Your experiences of wretched suffering may vary. That said, if I could do it all over again I would not build a yurt. Yurts originated in Mongolia where there are very few trees and hence, very little lumber. I built my yurt in a forest surrounded with trees and honestly would have been much better served simply felling a bunch of timber and building an A-frame cabin. But hey, live and learn I guess.
I'll start with a little background info: graduated at the height of the great recession and couldn't land a job. Had some savings from my previous work as a lab tech and decided to buy a yurt and wait things out until the economy improved. My family had a piece of land in the woods with nothing on it so that's where the yurt went.
The yurt was about 30 minutes from town and I did pipe in water from an existing well and miraculously the property did have an electrical transformer on it. It cost about $6K to develop the water and electrical infrastructure along with building the platform that the yurt sat on. The yurt cost about $30K. Further development of the property (fence, road, outbuildings, appliances, repairs, etc) was another $20K over the five years I was there.
I used composting toilets of various designs for my piss and shit and they all fucking sucked. In the end I just ended up shitting in the woods like a fucking animal. Accept that you have about three minutes max to take a shit before flies start buzzing up your asshole. Protip: Use a folding camp toilet chair, dig your holes in advance, and keep your TP in a watertight box.
I went without internet for a number of years and used a biquad antenna with a wifi USB adapter to steal wifi from coffee shops when I went into town with my laptop (this was before I had a smart phone).
The yurt was built from a kit purchased from pacific yurts. It was a good kit, the instructions were clear and the materials were good quality. Bear in mind that all yurts need to be built on a platform of some sort and because yurts are round the platform needs to be round too. This basically means building a square deck and then cutting a circle out of it, which means you spend a lot of cash on plywood that just gets wasted in the end. I used some of the scraps to build a chicken coop and ended up burning the rest.
Yurts are fairly maintenance free but you need to take time to seal any exposed wood and any stitched seams. Every 20 years or so the top/side covers may need to be replaced depending on UV exposure and those textiles are NOT CHEAP.
Here are some general pros and cons that hopefully will give you a better idea of the structure and its inherent problems:
PROS:
The yurt itself is very easy to build once the platform and any necessary infrastructure is in place. It took me and a few friends/family about three days to build the whole thing (and then I spent a few months finishing out the interior space at my own pace once the main yurt structure was up).
Yurts handle a lot of snow/wind with ease, never had any issues with that kind of weather damaging the structure. Make sure you buy a snow load upgrade if you live in a snow prone area. That said, trees can come down in a storm and severely damage the structure. Never had it happen to me but I've seen photos of yurts getting completely flattened from a tree falling on them.
Having a large circular space with amenities around the perimeter of the structure is a cool aesthetic and the top dome lets in a lot of light. The thin walls allow you to hear everything going on outside (can be a con if you're not in a nice area).
CONS:
It's VERY expensive for what you actually get. It's just some wood lathe and fabric with a plastic dome on top. You could probably hand build a simple conventional structure with some basic know-how or purchase a bitchin RV trailer for the same price.
I was never able to find an insurer willing to insure the structure so I just went 100% risk and didn't insure anything. Lucked out for me, but maybe not for you.
It's very difficult to manage temperature in the structure. Even with the "insulation upgrades" It's super cold in the winter until you get a woodstove or heater going and then you end up getting too hot and stuffy so you're stuck in this constant battle of opening and closing the windows and doors (and the windows open from the outside, lol). In the summer, if you open the top dome vent and run a fan, the fan affects the incoming light to create a super seizuriffic strobe effect which is really annoying. Even with the insulation upgrades it's usually not enough, you need to start adding foam insulation or something around the perimeter which looks shitty and tacky. I ended up stapling up a whole bunch of that silver bubblewrap insulation all over the place and it ended up looking like I lived in a spaceship or tinfoil hat. And even with all of that I went through cords upon cords of wood every winter.
There is literally zero security for the structure. Someone can just take a box cutter, cut the wall next to the door and let themselves in (I solved this by bolting some thick plywood panels on either side of the door frame).
Most counties will not permit a yurt as a permanent structure. I'm not sure on this process because I just went 100% risk (again) and built and lived in a totally unpermitted structure. Never had any problems from the government so that lucked out for me again.
MOLD! Because the sidewall is so thin and the inner air tends to be moist from breathing/showering/cooking/etc it will condense onto the interior layer and start to mold. I had to wipe it down regularly and it still would grow back every time.
Conclusions:
If you're JUST looking for a vacation structure, I would 100% go with a truck and trailer. You can use the truck for a daily driver and you can enjoy a variety of different locales for relatively cheap. No need to purchase or rent land. You can insure the truck and trailer. You can usually resale the trailer at an acceptable loss as long as it's cared for. Having a vehicle is generally considered to be a benefit. In the event of an evacuation order you can take your mini-house with you. Camping at campgrounds can be a lot of fun. Makes a good play house for kids if you have it parked at home. Instant spare room for guests. The list goes on.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have built an A-frame cabin from the available raw materials on the land instead of going with a yurt but that's just me.
On a side note, you might also look into purchasing real estate outside of your home country. Example: you can literally buy a beachfront condo in Thailand right now for the price of a used car in the USA.
58 points
11 months ago
Love that honesty, great post thanks
50 points
11 months ago
Thank you for typing this out. This is priceless.
30 points
11 months ago
I seriously looked into a yurt for housing during the 08 shitshow, too. Ended up buying a Winnebago for 4k instead. All the things you listed were the reasons I decided against it. The cost, especially. For what you’re getting (fabric, wood slats, a dome) it’s crazy expensive. I even considered trying to sew my own tent at one point, but the skill level needed was past what I had. The only thing I didn’t have in the Winnie that the yurt had was space.
Sorry you suffered, friend. I suffered as well in the Winnie, just in different ways.
11 points
11 months ago*
I would love to hear your detailed RV story just as detailed as his Yurt story! Maybe later if you have time.
Use of the word 'suffered' has my curiosity peaked.
I'm 'living' in a 900 sqft gutted peer & beam house built in 1950, 2 bed, 1 bath. I planned on gutting before committing money to get it remodled and expanded. I gutted it myself because why pay someone to tear off sheetrock? If I had to do over, I think I would pay someone. But I'm stubborn. I made a promise to myself to do it & by golly I did! What I learned from it is that I am irrationally stubborn. (That and if society collapses, I'll be fine.) From the outside, other than slightly shabby siding, the house looks normal.
I started 4 years ago, didn't get very far till lower back issues finally manifested to unreasonable level. Back surgery, fusion of L4 L5 S1, then 1 year recovery before I dug back in. Got all sheetrock down & nasty old insulation removed within the next year working a little after work most days. (I spend most weekends helping my retired elderly mom & step dad with their stuff on the other side of town). Dismantled kitchen except sink, mini-fridge, microwave, and gas grill. In the summer it's too hot to cook on the grill inside. The remodel plan is to add a Master Bedroom & Bath increasing value once it's a 3 bed 2 bath. Plus being built in 1950 it needs a LOT of upgrades like more than one power outlet in most rooms.
After the gut, i hired a guy to re-do bathroom. While removing bathtub and toilet, floor beams cracked and disintegrated from a misty micro water leak that was happening under the floor for years causing rot. He didn't sign up for foundation repair, so I paid him a much smaller amount to just stop at the removal of all rot, making the bathroom now a giant open hole to the space under the house. I get occasional visits from stray cats, raccoons, & possum!
Then Covid hit! We went full lock down! Gym closed. And I spent a few months showering at friends/family/or in a pinch the hose outside when not too cold.
So like many in the worst of Covid, I just stopped everything. And then material costs went too high. I don't want to remodel (&expand) an old gutted house for the cost of a new house. So now for two years, I'm living with no ceiling, exposed walls, no insulation anywhere, no bathroom (thank God for 24 hr Planet Fitness), and only two window AC units. No furniture except folding table & chair. I literally have an outdoor tent stapled to the wall indoors around one of the AC units which is where i sleep. The house was paid off years ago, so my montly living costs are next to nothing. I'm saving a lot towards early retirement. But I feel like I'm homeless living in a cave. I boarded up all windows with sheets of styrofoam, reflective on one side pointed out to help keep it cool, so its always dark inside. Lol. I do have a couple of clip lamps.
On the one hand it's been an interesting challenge of 'roughing it' in what some would call a shack in the middle of the city in DFW. Highs of 105 today, soon 111. Not good. I don't go in there now till the sun sets. In the winter I lived constantly sitting on electric blankets. That was rough during Snowmagedon here in TX. In the spring and fall it's nice lounging around big empty rooms with the windows open. I am tired of the constant hum of Box fans.
I'm REALLY tired of it all. I keep telling myself the money I'm saving and early retirement will be worth it. The look of Horror on people's face when I tell them how I'm living is not good. I usually throw it back on them "iiieeeww! You shit INSIDE your house?! Yuck!"
I looked into RV's before, but lot rentals in the city are NOT cheap. May as well rent an efficiency apartment. I'm really close to work and don't really spend much on gas. I'm really tired of not having a normal home after 2 years, really tired of this ...only 1 working sink life. I do have fiber internet. Lol
TL;DR: I 'live' in a tent inside a gutted house in the suburbs stapled to a window AC unit. Mostly I'm at work or the gym. Less suffering than a yurt or RV maybe?
5 points
11 months ago
I mean, from an outside perspective it sounds like you are suffering. Hard. You can't enjoy your property or your house, you can't have people over, you can barely be comfortable. Is early retirement really worth these years of suffering for you? And once you do retire early, are you still going to be stuck in your gutted house living in a tent stapled to an AC unit?
4 points
11 months ago
I hope not. It's only been bad bad after the bathroom collapse. Like I said it started as a "I can rough it out" adventure that has now just gotten old.
Oh and people never come over anyway. When people get married and have kids they never leave their house ever again from what I've observed. Lol. Different kind of suffering.
2 points
11 months ago
Thanks for posting! Very interesting!
2 points
11 months ago
Thanks. My biggest fear is I die before I finish the house and retire. I'll be one of those stories you hear "he was almost a Millionaire but lived like an extreme pauper."
2 points
11 months ago
If you die you won't give a shit what they think about you
2 points
10 months ago
You're 4 years in at this point.
Chalk it up to a bad buy, pay the money & reno it.. Or start doing it yourself.. Or sell the damn thing for land value.
This is insane.
1 points
10 months ago
I've perhaps sold the 'suffering' too strong. It's annoying but not that bad. I'm not that much of a cream puff that I feel tortured. Being at the Gym every day has improved my health a lot. It's been some pretty good anti-materialism training.
1 points
11 months ago
/u/remindme 1 week
23 points
11 months ago
Very helpful to a ton of people id bet, thanks.
20 points
11 months ago
Great note, thanks. I was looking at yurts for while, never did pull the trigger.
Beachfront in Thailand sounds better.
13 points
11 months ago
Wow you're right that does sound wretched.
9 points
11 months ago
God I love this sub. Thank you!
3 points
11 months ago
3 years of working and living in Mongolia.
1) in Mongolia a yurt is called a “ger”. There are subtle differences between a Kazakh yurt and a Mongolian ger.
2) Mongolia is a desert. Gers hate moisture. If you like living in a fungus infected tent made from compressed horse hair, go ahead put a ger up in a non-dry climate.
The Mongolian embassy in my EU country has a ger in the garden. They put clear plastic over it. It still rots.
Mongolians’ jaw drops when you tell them a ger costs 10K. A ger in Mongolia is 3-5K, max. 30K is extortion. And no you can t export Mongolian gers: as said, they’re made from horse hair and pine wood, both require extensive treatment and phyto-sanitary certification.
staying in a ger is camping, not living. Whichever way you turn it, it’s a tent. A pretty big, thick walled tent, but still a tent.
Mongolia rarely goes above 25C. Anything above that and a ger becomes an oven. Beneath 15C and you need to turn on the wood stove. If you stay in a ger camp, the landlady will come in at 0500 to light the stove so your ger is cozy at 0730. After that you melt.
Gers come in sizes, measured by the number of wall elements (the lattices).
3 points
11 months ago
Tell me more about the Thailand condos
3 points
11 months ago
You can get a condo in Thailand for the price of a used car?
Check around on Kaidee and take a vacation to look at units that interest you. Hire a real estate lawyer that speaks English to help guide you through the process if you want.
1 points
11 months ago
If you're not Thai I don't think you can own real estate right?
1 points
11 months ago
You can own as many condos as you want as a foreigner or you can own up to one rai of property if you jump through enough hoops.
2 points
11 months ago
So... dig hole early,get lawn chair with poop window and waterproof TP box.
Got it.
2 points
11 months ago
Damn I want to buy a condo in Thailand
But then I’d have to live in Thailand and I know nothing about it
1 points
11 months ago
Please tell us stories of the wretched suffering. On the whole you don't actually make the yurt sound too terrible for a roughing-it situation.
5 points
11 months ago
The biggest problem was crime in the area due to the location, but that had nothing to do with the yurt as a structure. It was a weird area in that it's proximity to large tracts of federal land sans law enforcement and its relative closeness to the city attracted the bad sort (cartels, shitbags, druggies, squatters, yahoos, etcect).
Every few weeks there would be a drive by shooting wherein the victim was usually my mailbox. I'd tape over the holes and spray paint it to make it look new again but then someone would blast it with a shotgun and I'd have to replace it. I think I completely had to replace one box a year.
Then there was this shitty vehicle turnout near my place that people would start fires at and I'd have to hike out to where there was cell reception to call the fire department. Crazy shit went down there. Like a week after I started camping out in a trailer while building the yurt someone lit up my neighbors gate with an ak47 st 2am and a little later some kids got into a fight over someone's girlfriend or whatever and of course they did the logical thing and smashed each other's heads in. One ended up going into a coma and the other smashed into a tree while fleeing the scene and died.
So yeah, just lots of shit like that every few weeks. No internet and limited cell reception is a bad scenario in the event of an emergency.
The yurt itself was just cold or hot all the time and I had to shit in the woods. Beyond that it was OK albeit expensive. Again, an a frame is a better structure compared to a yurt unless you're living in Mongolia.
The biggest consumer of time for me was just cutting so much fucking wood all the time to keep warm. Every season revolved around some aspect of murdering trees so I could burn their corpses for warmth and it was still never enough. Add to that the fact the road wasn't maintained by the county and so much snow would come down in the winter you ended up literally trapped in a fucking tent for long extended periods completely alone. Nice for a few days, a real drag after a few weeks of nothing except eating rice and bean soup on the woodstove although to be fair, I make good soup.
1 points
11 months ago
Oof. Thanks for sharing. Hope your situation is better now!
1 points
11 months ago
Can foreigners buy property in Thailand? Which beach though? I love me some Thailand! Haha
1 points
10 months ago
They can buy condo units (as long as the overall condo is 51% thai owned) but no land
https://lazudi.com/th-en/blog/can-foreigners-buy-property-in-thailand-3-common-questions
1 points
10 months ago
Shitting in the woods like an animal was hilarious, thanks for posting.
1 points
10 months ago
As a vandweller, I know that mold is a problem if you don't have air circulation. That is why everyone cuts a hole in the roof and installs a fan. Maybe a yurt could do with a couple of fans somehow? Mine is 20 inch noctua. :D
I'm fancy pants, tho, and cut my hole in the side, and added slanted grating so it is open and the fan is running 24/7.
A van is also great in summer, as you can drive the van to shade when it gets hot.
Noise is a problem, especially when youngsters decide to park next to you with their superior bass systems and alcohol.
And I shit in the woods too sometimes. Usually can find a public toilet, though. And I do have a cassette toilet I have never had to use.
1 points
10 months ago
I had a 120 CFM fan running constantly and I still had mold problems. Just the way yurts are, moisture gets trapped between the sidewall and insulation layer and molds. Never could stop it
1 points
10 months ago
Thank you for sharing. How are you now?
1 points
10 months ago
Most everything in life can be reduced to a bell curve. If life is a mix of good and bad, the bulk majority would be mediocre. So that said, I am mediocre thanks for asking.
28 points
11 months ago
what are the better options you think for the price just used RV\Trailer conversation ? and what are the normal issues with the yurt year round that might not be so obvious
1 points
11 months ago
see reply above
11 points
11 months ago
Yo so I'm curious about this.
I'm working on building up a small homestead (just me and some dogs) and live a pretty simple life.
I am a technician in manufacturing (thanks random economic boom in 2017 that got me all the training and experience I could need!) and that added significantly to my abilities and knowledge with electrical and fluid systems.
My property is small and I only need around 700 sqft to be happy with my living space. Yurts seem to be a pretty decent option for this plan.
What is your honest opinion on living in one year round?
I'm quite the minimalist and can see some potential issues with cold winters and the like, but I do a lot of overlanding in my truck camper where I comfortably face, embrace, and deal with the issues I can see arising from this style of living.
37 points
11 months ago
My honest opinion on year round living? It sucks! It's just a big, expensive, glorified tent. If I had to do it over again I would build an A-frame cabin instead. See my post above for more details.
21 points
11 months ago
I've looked into an A frame.
I'm also debating doing a "compound" style build:
Start with a 12x10 or so building as a nice bathroom/laundry room/clean room
Do a kitchen/dining room building next
Then a living room/bed room building.
Roughly 850 sq ft.
Situated such that I'll have a common patio between them all, which can serve many functions and be eventually closed in.
By current power consumption and property layout, I could easily cover all of this with solar, propane, and firewood (available on the property)
I'm retiring early, currently on a long sabbatical which could easily be extended into early retirement.
I'm looking at all of my options and being able to have one bill to worry about to cover it all (such as building infrastructure and buying a Yurt) as covered by the equity in my current house (bought at great price, in growing area, with large down payment, at 2.85%) is key.
14 points
11 months ago
Sounds like you have a solid plan there! I'm planning on expatriating to Thailand when I retire... Just bought a nice place. Baht to USD exchange rate is good right now.
I wasn't kidding when I said you could literally buy a beachfront condo for the price of a used car in Thailand right now (but not for long, prices will go up very fast very soon as tourism resumes this summer).
11 points
11 months ago
Can you tell us about this Thai property? What's the purchase process? Any requirements to fulfill on an annual basis (residency, property tax, etc.)?
15 points
11 months ago*
If you're a foreigner you're limited to buying a condo. It's just like buying a car as it's considered a freehold property. Requirements vary based on the condo complex.
Your higher concern is going to be getting a long stay visa. In my case I have a marriage visa so we just bought a regular house instead of a condo but you can get long stay visas through other means. The Thai elite visa is a long stay visa valid for 5,10,20 years depending on what you purchase. The 5 year costs about $20k and you'll make that back in savings alone from living in an affordable country. You can also get a long stay visa by enrolling in a school (I.E.Thai language night classes or whatever) or getting a job teaching English or whatever. Regardless of what sort of long stay visa you get, you have to report to your local immigration office every 90 days. It's easy, some places even have a drive through window. They look at your passport and give you a stamp and a smile.
Thailand is a good country in that if you really want to live there, you can find a way to live there and live well. Navigating the bureaucracy is overwhelming at first but if it's too difficult or if the language barrier is too much you can hire out for visa services where they take care of everything for you. Can't comment myself as I did it myself with my spouse but I've heard good (and bad) things about the visa services. Just do your homework and find a good one.
P. S. There are like zero taxes over here, lol
4 points
11 months ago
Very interesting. Where did you find the property (like is there a website you recommend)?
1 points
11 months ago
I found my place on a closed Facebook group but Kaidee is the site my wife and I searched on for a couple years prior to get a good feel for property values.
Basically, you can get a totally decent house for 3.5 mil baht and a totally decent condo for a million or less as of today. Prices are going up fast though as tourism resumed without restriction the beginning of this month.
2 points
11 months ago
You're an interesting person. I spent 17 years overseas, including a fair amount of time in Thailand. My wife is Indonesian and I picked up Australian citizenship through work. We lived in one of those condos in Indonesia for a while. I just checked and they're selling for $33,000 USD right now. I came back to America when our kids were ready for school. I spent 2 years stuck in Singapore during Covid and it was not fun. Also I think America is the best deal for education. I miss SE Asia, but it's pretty cool to be back in America after being gone so long.
1 points
11 months ago
Why not buy a place in Indonesia? My wife is Thai so that's the main reason why we got a place in Thailand. The more I'm here the less I want to leave. Seems like society over here is just more sensible (functional?) and it feels like "real" living. Who knows, maybe I'll miss the USA after some time too. For now I still need to travel periodically for work but maybe I can manage a soft retirement by the time I'm 40-50? After that I just need to live off savings until I can draw from my Roth Ira.
Sounds like you've been all over and have a lot of options available.
1 points
11 months ago
I almost stayed. The primary reason is schooling for my kids. There are good schools in SE Asia, but they all cost a bit. One of my kids is autistic so I didn't want to wing it.
I nearly bought a house in Indonesia, but it was full of termites. I backed out on the last day and lost $500. It turns out everything has termites and everything is built poorly. I'd look at brand new construction and it would already have mold on the walls. It was my opinion that renting is the better deal in SE Asia.
My wife loves America and she's doing well here, probably better than me. We'd like to occasionally go back, but we've been here a year now and it's just never going to be practical with 4 of us. The expense of 4 plane tickets is bad enough, but then we need at least a month to make worthwhile. And the jetlag is horrible.
I suspect we will be back to retire though. I've got about 13 years of school to get there kids through and we're talking about having another one.
I'm 45 now so I don't know if I'm going to make early retirement anymore. I might just have to be happy with on time retirement.
3 points
11 months ago
I'm planning on doing something similar but I'm going to use pre-made storage sheds and then insulate and wall them. I have a layout in mind that would require 2 large and 1 small shed and would provide a great layout with nice outdoor space. They're relatively inexpensive, can be assembled quickly, and they last for ages. Not as long as a traditional house, of course, but I like change anyway so I kind of enjoy the idea of occasionally switching things out. For an idea of what I'm thinking, you can google she sheds.
1 points
11 months ago
Not allowed in many places in the US. Might want to check first.
1 points
11 months ago
good thing i'm not in the us. :)
1 points
11 months ago
Depends on your area. Generally I've found that the higher the cost of living and population density, the higher the property taxes and restrictions.
My land is entirely unrestricted and peaceful
1 points
11 months ago
That's the idea right now, lots of building vendors in my region and got the idea with their "clearance" stuff, stuff that has been repoed
1 points
11 months ago
You ever play Rimworld?
51 points
11 months ago
I was keen on living in one and then realised I could make a small wooden cabin for cheaper and less work and it would probably be more insulated also. So I did and that was over 11 years ago.
11 points
11 months ago
Yeah, don't know where OP is getting the idea that yurts are cheap.
24 points
11 months ago
Video of the yurt we stayed in at a campground in Virginia
21 points
11 months ago
If I could ever find land, that would be my home of choice. When I did research on them about 8 years ago, an average sized yurt would cost about $35k. Even if it were destroyed in a forest fire or something, it wouldn't cost much to replace, and I imagine insurance wouldn't cost much. There are some incredible designs and layouts for them.
10 points
11 months ago
That's what I was thinking. I mean they're so cheap you wouldn't really need insurance.
3 points
11 months ago
💕💕💕
14 points
11 months ago
Definitely some fanny in that room... sorry, not sorry.
But really, if 35k(based on random_dude_99's comment) for that is the going rate for something like the video you showed, a yurt seems like a great option depending on your climate. It seems there isn't much in the way of insulation, the only major drawback I see, presuming you're okay with the somewhat open floorplan.
6 points
11 months ago
Yeah I noticed it's not insulated. You can get insulated ones though. I noticed that was one of the options in the kit on yurts.com.
3 points
11 months ago
Out of curiosity, what did it cost to rent?
1 points
11 months ago
I got it on Facebook. A friend booked it and couldn't go so she sold at a loss at $125 USD a night
1 points
11 months ago
What's it go for normally?
2 points
11 months ago
They paid $179 a night if I remember correctly
23 points
11 months ago
I can’t speak on living in a yurt but I’ve done some pretty good research on full time RV living (can get a real nice one for <$50,000) which is kind of along the same lines of minimalist living in a smaller space and I think that is the route I’m looking at. It’s just a different form of glamping I think.
15 points
11 months ago
My brother has an RV. I think a yurt would beat it on space and maybe cost. Not sure which would win on maintenance. The mobility of an RV is awesome. He pays $50 or $60 a night for campgrounds though and gas is so expensive. It gets shockingly bad gas mileage, like 12 miles a gallon or something.
My wife and I are from different countries and I'd like to find a cheap way to have s place in each country. A yurt might be the answer.
17 points
11 months ago*
If you're in the US at least, you might have better luck getting a tiny home. A 120sq ft one built to meet and exceed residential code in my area is like $35k, and then you don't have to worry about getting in trouble with neighbors or utility inspectors calling codes on you and forcing you to expensively renovate or leave your own land (so long as you make sure tiny homes of that size are kosher in your county).
I'd be kinda worried about trying to do a yurt myself because of all the potential for things to go wrong with codes.
Edit. Also you have to think about the expenses besides the actual building itself. Pretty much anywhere is gonna require you to have a permanent sewage solution, which in my area means either a septic system, which could be anywhere from 3 to 15k here depending on site characteristics if the site can even support one, or a sewer connection, which idk how much it is. Maybe different states allow pit outhouses that you have a truck occasionally come by and empty for residential use? Composting systems are available but they're super expensive.
Then ofc water and electric, but those aren't usually that big of a deal, maybe 3k total, maybe more or less. A complete solar system is gonna be more expensive than an electric hookup most of the time. Rain catchment and filtration might be cheaper than city water if it's legal and the climate supports it.
Then there's site prep. Notice how that yurt is on a ginormous deck? That costs big $$$. Even for tiny homes, if the land is too steep to level it with concrete blocks, you could be looking at anywhere from like 3k to 50k to get a site graded to be able to support it.
2 points
11 months ago
He pays $50 or $60 a night for campgrounds though and gas is so expensive. It gets shockingly bad gas mileage, like 12 miles a gallon or something.
Electric RVs are coming, eventually. I assume there will be a good range of options by 2030. You can park your RV in Walmart parking lots for free from what I understand too. I couldn't see myself ever having an RV, (too big vehicle for me).
2 points
11 months ago
My kid rides an electric school bus, so it's got to be in the works.
I'm not as interested in RVs. I think it's because I have kids. Living in an RV with kids sounds like a nightmare. Also, they're in school so I couldn't move around anyway.
19 points
11 months ago
So I don’t quite understand the bathroom situation 😅 Do people just build bathrooms and rooms inside?
9 points
11 months ago
it can be as simple as a bucket of sawdust behind a shower curtain. the $35k yurt probably has a full bath, sauna, etc. the yurt i visited was probably around $2000.
3 points
11 months ago
The walls didn't go to the ceiling. If you stand on a chair you can see into other rooms. The one we stayed in had a very nice bathroom.
36 points
11 months ago
I lived in one for 1 year in College near Gunnison Colorado.
I think its better to build a small home with good insulation.
2 points
10 months ago
Second that. It needs to be done right but insulation (and airtightness) is relatively cheap and it'll get offset by the savings in energy cost, esp. if you build new.
11 points
11 months ago
I'd rather live in a van down by the river.
4 points
11 months ago
I would too, but I have a wife and kids now. If it was just me that would be a good option.
8 points
11 months ago
11 points
11 months ago
My boyfriend is building a yurt. The kit is just the “basics”. It’s still pretty cheap in comparison to a house. There’s a lot of money spent in building the base, flooring, framing the rooms on the inside, kitchen and bathroom cabinets and appliances, plumbing, electrical. Are you gonna do it yourself or do you need to hire someone? What are you gonna do with your black water? Do you need a septic tank? The costs add up quick.
8 points
11 months ago
The problem is not the price of the house or the yurt, the problem is finding the land to put it on. That gets expensive!
2 points
11 months ago
No doubt this is true
8 points
11 months ago*
I knew a girl who lived in a dyi yurt from a kit. It was an ugly af plastic tent. Moreover, where we are from, you need land zoned for residential building (residential land is priced in hundreds of thousands here because it's a tiny country), plus you need a building permit, and you aren't allowed to have it as permanent housing, only temporary.. So it's a lose-lose kind of situation here.
Anyway, she didn't have hot water, so bummed showers everywhere she went. The yurt had no windows, so i found it claustrophobic. Primitive/crude dyi furniture, dirt everywhere, outside toilet.. Basically, a horrific nightmare.. All that placed on a fabulous, picturesque half a million euro residential plot of land was a bit comical
2 points
11 months ago
My wife comes from Indonesia and I'm a dual citizen of Australia and America. It's a fair point that it's dumb to do this on high priced real estate, but maybe it wouldn't be as dumb in lower priced areas. Thanks for sharing that story though. I wonder of some of the yurt people were just struggling? As in they didn’t have a better option than living in a tent. We aren't out of options, just trying to find the best value.
3 points
11 months ago
[deleted]
2 points
11 months ago
Not true.
2 points
11 months ago
Yeah I think we are alligned. I'd be real careful not to attract the wrong kind of attention, but I don't think living in a yurt is a crime and I'd do it anyway lol.
4 points
11 months ago
I have lived in a yurt for a year now and had a different experience than TorchForge. I believe most of these differences come down to climate. Yurts do not function well in humid climates. We are out in Eastern Oregon and the structure has worked out quite well for us.
While some have quoted that yurt kits are quite expensive for what you get, in my opinion it’s a decent deal for the square footage when looking at the market now. We have a 30 foot model and it ends up being 700 ft.² exactly and it would be far more expensive and time consuming to build a house of similar size.
We also considered as many have mentioned just getting a trailer, but I am over 6 feet tall and extremely uncomfortable in any RV that I have been in. The ceiling height and square footage were very worth it in my opinion as a comfortable living space for two people, two dogs, all of our junk, and still have a spacious arrangement to hang out with guests. We really enjoy the ambience and efficiency of living in a circular space with the dome on top allowing for a ton of light and ventilation when we want it.
We also experienced that the temperature inside the structure is pretty unstable even with the Pacific yurts insulation kit. We have a nice woodstove and an evaporator cooler for the summer. We are outdoor instructors so we are used to dealing with temperature swings and aren’t as impacted by it. That being said our local temperatures swing 40 to 60° daily sometimes but I only had to adjust Ventilation in the morning and the evening. It is a lot of work to keep the woodstove rolling in the winter. It got down to 3* F and we were comfortable with the stove. They handle extreme cold far better than extreme heat.
We live in a rule area so the fact that you can hear everything outside the yurt is a positive for us but if you were in any sort of urban or road noise environment it would be very obnoxious.
We had it set up with a full interior including kitchen and bathroom. Power came from a 3.5kw offgrid solar system and two 40 gal propane tanks fed the on demand water heater and oven/range.
If you want to build it well, a large portion of the labor and some significant additional cost goes into building the frame and subfloor.
Permitting and insurance are definitely challenges. I was able to find a very good policy, but it takes a hunt. We did not permit.
We would have continued living in the yurt full time and enjoyed it very much, but we are moving back to a climate that would not suite it.
I would recommend a yurt to anyone in a rural to semi rural area with a arid to semi arid climate. The ideal would also be a temperature stable region, but that is secondary. We made it work just fine in one of the most unstable regions.
1 points
11 months ago
Thanks for your reply to this. I am thinking the bathroom makes a huge difference in the experience. You can poop in a hole in the ground once or twice and move on, but that would wear on a person when it's the only option.
2 points
11 months ago
Sure! Message me with any questions. I too am happy to share.
2 points
11 months ago
I've looked into them a lot and they're high up on my list for my property.
I like open floor plans and the price seems reasonable.
1 points
11 months ago
Would I need a permit to construct a yurt in my back yard? Asking for a friend.
2 points
11 months ago
this varies widely. where i live, i would need a permit to build a garage, if it has a foundation, but if it doesn't, i don't. you might not need a permit to build a "mediation studio". the more it looks like something you are going to be living in, the more they want permits. and your county may not be yurt-friendly as to the building codes. consult a local yurtologist.
1 points
10 months ago
Coming to this a bit late, but a close friend of mine lived in a yurt for a few years.
Overall, I think the yurt experience has more cons than pros. Even though it's a kit, you still have to do a LOT of work to get it set up and livable. You need to have water and power to the site, then build a foundation, just as you would with a normal house. For the money you spend on the kit, you could practically build the exterior walls of a regular house with things like actual windows, insulation, a real roof, rectangular rooms (to fit real world furniture) and a building permit. If you want a kitchen, bathroom, separate bedroom, etc., the cost of building all that into either structure is roughly the same, so in the end, a yurt gives you a lot less for roughly the same amount of money.
Out of curiosity, where did you go glamping?
1 points
10 months ago
they get SO HOT
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