Full Time Yurt Living In Mediterranean Climate

Does anyone here have experience living full time in a yurt in a Mediterranean climate? How do they perform in the summer, do they stay cool? What is the process for hooking a yurt up with plumbing, solar system, compost toilet and installing a kitchen and everything?

Depends a lot on the fabrics.

Traditional wool stays lovely and cool in summer, warm in winter.

Cotton duck is pretty good, but varies more with sunshine and nights.  Can get damaged if touching the ground and there is a lot of dew, and we don't open the tent properly during the day to air it out.

Modern tent fabrics have trouble with condensation, mold, and air flow.

Wood siding is as per normal with wood house.

Cob is as per normal with cob house.

I haven't seen a wattle and daube yurt in person.

It basically depends if you are building as a tent or as a house and how much do you want to be able to move it.  That will have a massive influence on plumbing etc.  Once a month, once a year, every few years, never.... Mobile home style or permanent style amenities both work.  For more than 6 months in one place, a foundation of some sort is probably the first thing I would focus on as water and such we can manage camping style for a year or two before it gets tiresome.

My personal expierence of visiting about a dozen yurts and talking with yurt owners in our area.  We are technically Mediterranean climate, but not in europe.  

What are your goals for your yurt and what materials are you thinking of using?

Thanks for your reply. Originally I had a yurt in mind as a full time dwelling that would be an easier/cheaper/faster alternative to a house. However, I've been reading many experiences of people who have done this and don't seem to advise it , so I'm now considering whether it even makes sense as a temporary housing option. If you're in coastal BC, that's where I'm from, summers here are way hotter than they are there. We also have a lot of humidity in the winter so I feel like mold could become an issue.

r ranson wrote:Depends a lot on the fabrics.

Traditional wool stays lovely and cool in summer, warm in winter.

Cotton duck is pretty good, but varies more with sunshine and nights.  Can get damaged if touching the ground and there is a lot of dew, and we don't open the tent properly during the day to air it out.

Modern tent fabrics have trouble with condensation, mold, and air flow.

Wood siding is as per normal with wood house.

Cob is as per normal with cob house.

I haven't seen a wattle and daube yurt in person.

It basically depends if you are building as a tent or as a house and how much do you want to be able to move it.  That will have a massive influence on plumbing etc.  Once a month, once a year, every few years, never.... Mobile home style or permanent style amenities both work.  For more than 6 months in one place, a foundation of some sort is probably the first thing I would focus on as water and such we can manage camping style for a year or two before it gets tiresome.

My personal expierence of visiting about a dozen yurts and talking with yurt owners in our area.  We are technically Mediterranean climate, but not in europe.  

What are your goals for your yurt and what materials are you thinking of using?

Pacific northwest, most people i know who lived in (tent style) yurts full time, last 2 to 4 years before they have had enough.   Longer with a wool cloth, less with modern tent fabrics.

The cob style ones (there is one near Victoria BC, if I could remember the name,  permaculture nursery ingthe highlands has a small one on display)  seem to last forever before people get fed up.  

It seems to be better for our climate than container houses, but not as good as wood based houses.

Where the yurt is put also makes a big difference in how comfortable the people are,  high ground, shelter from wind by trees, to the south and south west, trees that loose leaves in winter and provide shade in summer.  This seems to be ideal.

But this is mostly second hand expired as one of my life goals is to live in a yurt for a few years.  

While homesteading I have noticed that making a temporary structure to be functional takes not much less time than creating something serious that will last. Temporary makes sense if it's really makeshift, quick and flimsy, then it's really cheap and lasts short time, but may be sufficient for the purpose.

If you already found your piece of land (with olives or not) and if you are planning to build a house there, I would suggest to build a sturdy (and pretty, because it will be forever), but small building that in the future may be used as a mini barn, shop or storage or a guest house. If you want to make it as a comfortable house from beginning, it will need similar amount of investment and headache as applying it to a normal house, because heating, plumbing, bathroom, kitchen are most costly and complicated elements of the house.
I would leave anything water related out of the building.

I would start with heat (and cooking) by purchasing a small cast iron stove as building even a small masonry stove is more complicated than building a small masonry building. It could be built later if wanted.

Then I would connect some basic solar electricity, for direct device charging to avoid batteries and other equipment.

Toilet would be outside. Washing in a movable tub.

All depends on how much you can tolerate/compromise or just endure.

Yeah, that makes sense. Perhaps a camper van/trailer type thing could also be a good option for temp housing as it's all ready to go and then when the dream house is built it can be kept and used for guest accommodation...

Cristobal Cristo wrote:While homesteading I have noticed that making a temporary structure to be functional takes not much less time than creating something serious that will last. Temporary makes sense if it's really makeshift, quick and flimsy, then it's really cheap and lasts short time, but may be sufficient for the purpose.

If you already found your piece of land (with olives or not) and if you are planning to build a house there, I would suggest to build a sturdy (and pretty, because it will be forever), but small building that in the future may be used as a mini barn, shop or storage or a guest house. If you want to make it as a comfortable house from beginning, it will need similar amount of investment and headache as applying it to a normal house, because heating, plumbing, bathroom, kitchen are most costly and complicated elements of the house.
I would leave anything water related out of the building.

I would start with heat (and cooking) by purchasing a small cast iron stove as building even a small masonry stove is more complicated than building a small masonry building. It could be built later if wanted.

Then I would connect some basic solar electricity, for direct device charging to avoid batteries and other equipment.

Toilet would be outside. Washing in a movable tub.

All depends on how much you can tolerate/compromise or just endure.

I second the build a shed/garage and live in it.

In the US you can buy ready made sheds that are delivered on a trailer and dropped in place. Or garage kits that can go together in a day.

Yurts look cool, but are not the greatest outside their original climate. No direct personal experience with a true yurt, but have used canvas tents long term. They are okay in dry climates, but are miserable in a rainy season. Better in a cold rain when you can use a wood stove to dry things out but not by much.

My dream, and I know it's impossible.   But I dream it anyway.

Get traditional yurt tent.  Build a good foundation under the walls and tie the walls into the foundation.  Live in yurt while building cob house directly next to yurt.  Make sure door between house and yurt as well as outside door.

When house is complete, move in.

Wattle and daub yurt wall and build permanent roof with large overhang to protect wall.

Yurt becomes guest house that looks like a magical castle tower in mini.

...

In reality, building a garage and living in there while the rest of the house is built works great.  Quite a few extended family did this after ww2.  2 years is about the max a family can tolerate it, but an individual living alone can manage garage living neigh indefinitely.

Dareios Alexandre wrote:...camper van/trailer type thing could also be a good option for temp housing as it's all ready to go...

'Ready to go" is a great asset. To make things ready to go from scratch can sometimes take a few years. Try to focus your energy into building permanent and beautiful things.

I want to dovetail with comments from Cristobal
Camping has been in my blood since the age of diapers and sippy cups.  But living a couple of years in an RV was not for me, even as a college hippy. They are predominantly made of rubber and plastic,many are magnets for mice and mold.  Please make that your last choice.  I spent a year in a simple greenhouse that, with good ventilation and shade cloth, was far superior for my health and my wallet.  Although I did wake up once to a curious rattlesnake nearby...

Best of luck to you, the islands of Greece are quite magical with stellar kayaking opportunities

I agree with Rico on RV. My post would be banned if I expressed what I think about them.
I would still get an RV and build a mini (20 m2) house first. It will give you experience and confidence. It will be used in the future as a guest house or maybe you will realize that it's sufficient for your new life. I would say that homesteading in a place with a great climate needs a small house (30-70 m2) and sufficient number of accessory buildings.