straw bale yurt platform

I am inheriting a Mongolian yurt in the next couple weeks and have been researching platform ideas.  I'm leaning towards straw bale because of ease and affordability. I live in south eastern Ontario which can be quite humid and get a fair bit of snow.  I won't be living in this yurt and it could be moved eventually.  Does anyone have experience or plans for a strawbale platform?

Hi, Maggie

Welcome to the forum!

I don't have experience with yurts though I remember seeing a previous discussion that I thought might be helpful for you or others:

https://permies.com/t/219076/Seeking-advice-waterproof-strawbale-foundation#1857780

I hope by bumping your topic you will gets some helpful replies.

What function do the bales do?

I assume you would need to keep the bales off the ground to keep them from wicking up moisture from the ground and rotting.  So you need something under them.

And I don't think they would make a good floor so you would also need something above them.

So if you have to build something below them and above them that kind of  negates any ease and affordability the bales give you.  About the only benefit I could see is insulation.

The link that I provided addresses how to build the platform.

This drawing shows the layerings:

I had my yurt set up on a strawbale platform over the winter with a wood platform on top. It was quite warm, relatively easy to set up (other then moving the 80-90 bales into place that is) and cheaper then building a SIP platform.  I started by laying down a layer of tyvek building wrap, marked out a 20ft diameter and then covered the top with a layer of tar paper before using some ratchet straps to keep it tight.  The deck was built with particle board and 2x4's as strapping to hold them together, then cut into a 20ft diameter.  Then I added blocking around the perimeter to screw 12" strips of 1/2" plywood vertically to create a rim to hold the bottom of the lattice.  Hopefully that all makes sense but feel free to ask any questions to clarify if needed.