talk me in to (or out of) a wooden Yurt :-P

[edit] Realized I need to clarify something - by yurt i'm referring to a pizza slice modular form of construction rather than a tent roof which I can't insulate, I would be planning segments of wood structure for floor-walls-ceiling as long as that still counts as a yurt.  Even if due to modularity it might have some additional soft sided tarp or something over all of it to make it more weatherproof.

I need a Moveable House.

I'm not sure if this belongs in nomadic housing but it's the closest topic and someone else mentioned yurts.  I need a house that absolutely will be moved at least once, and might be moved another 2-6 times or so over it's hopefully multi decade life.

I've been looking at skiddable structures and houses on wheels (including building your own house atop a mobile frame) but maybe what I really need...is a yurt?  


First let me make sure I understand things right because i'm by no means an expert:
  - yurts are modular, meaning you build them in segments, like slices of a pizza, then you bring all the slices together and connect them to make a single enclosed space inside
  - they are designed to be deconstructable again, meaning I would be able to move them as much smaller and more easily handled segments/pizza slices instead of the nightmare of trying to haul 8+ tons of house anywhere
  - being round radiant heat from a central fireplace is a big plus, I live in minnesota and this is one reason that most used mobile homes will suck, and that most travel trailers/campers/RV's will not be acceptable because they are designed to be three season.  (or things like Arctic Fox campers are alot more expensive even used because it's more of a special use - they're also too small)

Other thoughts I have
  - Original yurts are probably much more portable and lightweight than i'd be making out of wood framing but I need something to last for 20+ years if I can too, are there other design features of original yurts beyond the basics though?
  - I only have a 1/2 ton pickup and a 4x8 folding flatbed trailer right now.  Eventually I would like to have a big diesel or HD chassis truck with a hotshot flatbed for hauling, but those cost money and not trivial money.
  - I should be able to design or build segments that could be moved entirely within an open fullsize pickup bed, or on my folding trailer (or both/moving two segments per trip) as long as the weight is not excessive per segment.
  - I'm guessing something maybe 16-20 feet wide could be made as a yurt while still having pickup haulable 'pizza slices' maybe 1000-1500lbs at most each?  I dont know if there is any rule for how many slices/degrees per slice would or should be done but i'd be limited by the width of the pickup bed or about 5 feet I assume.  (plus my folding trailer is 4ft wide but its flat and only the tires limit the width/propping the rear of a slice up wouldn't be the end of the world)


My thinking has led me to think a yurt might be the best option under the circumstances, instead of some of the other plans i've publically posted over the last year or two.  Can you think of any alternatives?  Or other comparable ideas? (other modular housing of some sort that would also be pickup haulable for instance, or is there some kind of 'break down' housing I could disassemble into panels and reassemble maybe... I don't know, just thinking out loud here)

 I'm all for the yurt as a base design for a mobile structure. Burning man is temporary city (black rock city) in the nevada desert every summer.  These issues you have are the same as theirs.  The winner of this design challenge is the hexayurt.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexayurt  There are plans on line.  

  They can be made larger and multiple hexes combined into larger structures.  With better matrl, like plywood skins, it would make a heavier but longer lasting structure.  Research yurts some you will find lots of design inspiration.  I belive they built a pretty substantial yurt at wheaton labs last summer, look for pix on permi.   The traditional tent style yurt with cloth sides and top breaks down and packs very small.  With double walls and straw or pine needle stuffing it is much warmer then a single wall tent.  You can make the base for it with your pizza slice design.  A 10' pizza slice would give a 20' diameter thats about 300sqft floor space.  Is that big enough?  It would hang out of the trailure a bit or you could build the deck in more peices.  With deck screws you could disassemble it to sticks.  

  Good luck and I like the idea of developing a building you can load the pickup and take with you when the job moves you across the state or the land lord says move.

The way a traditional yurt is made, allows for fairly efficient use of materials. The Hexayurt that Thomas posted does the same, but it is intended for camping, not full time housing, and the example is only built 4 feet high at the sides, and will be less than 16 feet across due to the slope of the roof (but not by a lot - too tired to do the math...)

So I think if I was going to try something like this, I would want to do some mock-ups to determine efficient use of materials. I'd probably want narrower, but more roof and wall sections, to get a little closer to the 20 ft across.

I'd also want to plan for some sort of central support, as I think it would be much easier to take apart and moved if there was a central column made up of individual columns from each "slice of pie". I would also consider covering the whole roof with a 20 ft wide sheet of pond liner. (EDPM) All those joins in the roof, are bound to be a risk for leaking.

I do not like the idea of joining pods together, because living in a wet climate, that occasionally gets very wet snow, any spot where two slope roofs join in a valley freaks me out - a leak waiting to happen!  If I were to determine that basing it on 4x8 sheets of plywood was the most efficient, but also decided that I really needed more living space, I would build the two fully separate and then design some sort of breezeway type thing in between. Two buildings won't be as efficient to heat as one larger building, so that also will be a trade-off.

All that said, I think the idea of building some pie pieces and bolting them together has a lot of merit. We have an old motor home from travelling days and the 8 feet wide has many limitations. We have a barn on our property which is only 10 feet deep, and it still is difficult to work in. I would love to have a 2 1/2 car garage (~ 25 ft wide by 20 feet long) because it would give space to actually gets things done!

Jay Angler wrote:
I'd also want to plan for some sort of central support, as I think it would be much easier to take apart and moved if there was a central column made up of individual columns from each "slice of pie". .

.    
  My favorite part of the yurt is that tension cable at the top of the wall that makes the center post not needed.  Maybe use 1 of the rafters as a center pole to assemble the roof and add that 1 rafter last, to the roof ring.   Besides the center pole would land right where the RMH needs to be.

Jay Angler wrote:
I would also consider covering the whole roof with a 20 ft wide sheet of pond liner. (EDPM) All those joins in the roof, are bound to be a risk for leaking. .

.
 Yes, roof needs to be single piece. Roof EPDM is usually cheaper then pond liner EPDM.  Exactly the same thing but not rated fish safe.  

Jay Angler wrote:
If I were to determine that basing it on 4x8 sheets of plywood..

.
 I think 4x10' is often available and a half sheet makes a better 5' wall size.

Jay Angler wrote:
All that said, I think the idea of building some pie pieces and bolting them together has a lot of merit.

.  
Agreed Tom

Thomas Michael wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:
I'd also want to plan for some sort of central support, as I think it would be much easier to take apart and moved if there was a central column made up of individual columns from each "slice of pie". .

.    
  My favorite part of the yurt is that tension cable at the top of the wall that makes the center post not needed.  Maybe use 1 of the rafters as a center pole to assemble the roof and add that 1 rafter last, to the roof ring.   Besides the center pole would land right where the RMH needs to be.

In a traditionally built yurt, I'd agree completely. However, if this yurt is going to be moved multiple times, and they want it insulated and sturdy and "permanent" housing in the long run, I'm trying to think of how to make it easier to accomplish that. Acquaintances of mine had to move their yurt, and getting the roof set up took two tries, however they weren't using a roof ring, but rather that weird stacked, bolted roof system that looks like magic and I can't remember the name of at the moment! They failed the first time to start the first post in exactly the same spot as the first time they built it, got to the end, and couldn't get the last one to fit. Had to take it all apart and start from the right spot. I suspect a proper roof ring would have eliminated that problem.

However, the OP is describing a desire to not have to take every section apart to move the building, but rather move it in already built modules. The extra support needed to do that could be attached as needed, or it could be a permanent part of the construction. Temporary supports gives more open views, but may not be as strong for when the pieces need to move.  

Four by 10 ply is virtually non-existent where I live. There have definitely been times I'd have appreciated an extra 2 feet! Baltic birch ply that is 5'x5' square is available and is nice stuff to work with. That said, USA permies can get cattle panels at an affordable price, and we can't get those either.

I'm not sure whether the OP intends to move the pizza slices as complete floor-wall-roof segments, or segments of floor, roof and wall that then get reassembled. I don't see complete segments being stable when disassembled from the complete yurt shape without a lot of extra bracing and center post parts which would make them less convenient to live in.

I do think that flat panels that assemble into a yurt would be quite practical, and not terribly hard to assemble, disassemble and move.A 20' diameter yurt could be made from 4' x 8' pie slices around a central octagon/hexagon/whatever that fills in the last space.

A 16-sided 20' diameter structure would have pizza slices just under 4' x 8' plus a 4' diameter center section.


Additionally, a 4' diameter center could be the base for a modest RMH, with its own foundation so that pizza segments are not stressed at their points.The 4' diameter floor part could be a ring that gets leveled on a footing and then supports the inboard ends of all the pizza slices. The RMH could get its own footing to support the mass, or some sort of modular footing pieces to support the whole center area, or a reinforced 4' x 4' slab that is left behind (not hard or expensive to cast in place.)