Green Options

It’s ironic I’m writing about windows while my yurt in the tropical rain forest of Hawaii is enduring the heaviest rainfall I’ve ever witnessed. The awnings are proving their worth well.

Why don’t I close the windows? Well, I’m getting there. It’s just that I don’t have a deck around my 3-foot elevated yurt and therefore a ladder is required. The picture tells the story.

Seems yurt manufacturers have been surveying customer comments. Good thing, as that’s how progressive changes occurred at the Colorado Yurt Company. They recently added a new design because customers relayed their preference to open their windows from inside.

This is good news for yurt dwellers without an exterior walking deck and with a raised platform. For those, it’s go outside with your ladder.

Fully Operable Windows is the new description in Colorado. It opens like a traditional home window with a crank. Each window is big enough to meet code requirements for egress. Made with a thermal pane and Low-E glass in a Doug fir frame. E-glass means low emissivity glass, a new technology for energy efficiency.

Every yurt has a central compression ring. The exterior finale is typically a dome. Yet there are some options that may surprise you.

A yurt cupola is especially nice for tropical environments. Claire Wolfe, who wrote about her yurt building for Backwoods Home Magazine, replaces the dome skylight for a cupola. She utilized a powder-coated steel frame with an architectural fabric cover. The cupola was raised six inches around the perimeter. As a result, there’s shade and a natural cooling system with maximum air flow.

Designing a yurt entails color decisions. Of course material swatches are always best, but playing with an interactive tool is a great start.

The Colorado Yurt Company has the greatest exterior color tool available. You can play with the roof and valance choices in addition to the bottom band.

Like any building development, there’s a lot of back-and-forth. I mean it’s not a linear effort. Thus far I’ve covered yurt topics from getting started to climate and prices. However, design is always involved. Herein are some creative yurt doorway options.

Climate and purpose formulate design decisions. And the design is necessary to project costs. What are yurt design options? Let’s start with basics.

Let’s talk climate further. That will provide insight for add-ons necessary to achieve year-round comfort.

Yurts appear logical for my tropical climate where elements of nature aren’t so severe. Well, surprise, but no worry. Just know that maintaining yurt warmth can be an easier task than keeping cool.

This is a yurt living series that was recently launched with a focus on purpose. My topic is climate now, which is not a hindrance for yurt lovers at all. However, consideration of comfort causes a need to review add-ons and upgrades.

Yurts were created in Mongolia long before our economy crisis. In fact yurts accommodated nomadic people for thousands of years. Especially in the past 25 years, there’s been a resurgence of interest. Then manufacturers began creating their own design modifications for a variety of purposes.

The purpose of constructing a yurt may be for a home, office, store, workshop, rental, or vacation lodge. The yurt design may include a loft, be surrounded by a large deck, or be a two-story structure. It can be permitted to satisfy building codes, temporary, or off the grid. What’s really fascinating is how many climates a yurt is feasible to be comfortable in.

While we are on the topic of decreasing our energy footprints in small homes, I’d like to share the simple and small round yurt design, that has been around for ages. The yurt is a type of “Green Weefab Mini-Home” and can be customized into another kind of hand-built “Earth Sheltered House” for those on a budget.

Yes a yurt is a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure used by the nomads in the steppes of Central Asia for centuries, and yes it is also a modern dwelling here in the west. I have often seen yurts perched on ocean side clifftops, in horse pastures for riders, and used as outdoor guest houses for those with big yards.