How to live in a yurt

Video: 14 Years Living Off-Grid in a Yurt - Man Shares Real Life Experience

Content

Steps
Tips
Warnings
What do you need

The yurt (ger) is a very simple, traditional structure favored by the Turkic peoples from Mongolia to Central Anatolia for centuries. During its existence, the yurt has developed from the main living quarters for nomads and soldiers to a place of residence for hippies and hermits. Today, there are modernized versions that are often used for exotic vacations.

A yurt can be a place of residence for people who want to get rid of many problems, but at the same time feel comfortable, have access to electricity and modern technologies (if desired) and not spend money excessively. If you want to understand if you can live in a yurt for a while or even your whole life, consider the following information.

Steps

1 Think about the meaning of living in a yurt. There are many reasons why you might choose to live in it, ranging from being cheap to wanting to have a stable and nomadic lifestyle. In the literature, you can read that the majority of yurt residents are not fixated on permanent residence in the same territory, they do not want to get used to it, being in one place for many years. However, as with the choice of other elements of the lifestyle, it is entirely up to you to decide whether you will live in a yurt permanently, temporarily, or only during your summer vacation. Buy or build a yurt for your personal needs and for your own reasons, determine your preferences for living in a yurt, no matter how long you live there - long term, temporarily or always. It will probably be useful for you to read about the history of the yurt, its culture in Western societies, in order to understand what is relevant today regarding life in a yurt. This will help you work out your attitude based on the information you receive.
- Note that living in a yurt doesn't mean you have to put up with hardship if you don't want to. You can have appliances, electricity, IKEA furniture if you need it.
2 Choose a yurt. Are you going to build it yourself or order a ready-made one? Check out the samples on the Internet to see how difficult it will be to assemble it yourself. You can look at new or used yurts for sale. Several companies in North America and Europe are known for producing yurts of high quality, comfort and appearance - search the Internet.
- The purchase of all elements of the yurt will cost from 70,000 to 200,000 rubles, its assembly will take about two days.
3 Set up a yurt. Obviously, it should be installed where it is not prohibited by law. Constantly changing the location of the yurt is undesirable because setting up it requires much more effort than setting up a tent or camp. In addition, when placing a yurt on land for permanent residence, you may need to change the purpose of the land or obtain a land acquisition permit. For this reason, check with local authorities about the advantages and disadvantages of temporary or permanent living in a yurt. Other considerations when preparing to set up a yurt include setting it up where it will not be exposed to wind, flooding, or an avalanche. Check the ground carefully for potential hazards even before setting up the yurt.
- Placing a yurt under a hill can protect it from the winds.
- Pay attention to where the rainwater is accumulating. If there is a possibility of it flowing into the yurt, it will actually get there and pollute all things.
4 Prepare the base for the yurt. Ground and grass are not the best surface for your feet in a living space, so you should build a yurt on planks, concrete surfaces, cinder blocks, or other materials that separate you and your belongings at least a little from the ground. Bonded planks and planks will provide a suitable surface for setting up the yurt. The advantage of this solution is that the boards will extend beyond the edges of the yurt, you can sit on them, barbecue, hang clothes, etc.
- Find rugs and other suitable floor coverings to keep you warm and comfortable. Better yet, install a wooden floating floor or some floor panels with rugs on top for a nice look.
- Build so that the boards can be removed later. If you want to move the yurt, you can take them with you.
5 Fill your yurt with home comforts to create the perfect living space. Before filling the yurt with furniture, consider how to divide the space of the room. A circular room can be difficult to furnish, especially if you want to create a kitchen, bedroom, and living area in that single room. However, with the use of special furniture, you can select separate spaces in a round room. For example, placing a bookcase in the center of a yurt can serve as an excellent separating element around which you can place other items - a bed, a refrigerator, a work desk.
- Add a table and chairs, a bookshelf, comfortable reading chairs, a desk and chair, and a heating apparatus like a pot-bellied stove. If you don't want to use a real bed, you can use the stretcher, foldable, or inflatable bed that is commonly used by guests.
6 Install a food preparation tool. You will need to eat, and even if your food is the result of gathering, you will need to cook. Find a suitable gas or wood stove to keep the yurt warm. It can be a pot-bellied stove. Be sure to provide ventilation to the outside as hazardous smoke will come out of the stove and may remain inside the yurt. You may need professional help to install this part of the yurt.
- Find a cast iron skillet or cast iron teapot to use on the stove. Or find another suitable cookware. Look for it in economy class stores, shops for hiking or spending time on the street. You can ask your friends if they have any unnecessary dishes left.
- For cooking and dishwashing purposes, the yurt must be near a source of clean water, otherwise you may spend a lot of time delivering water. A small rainwater reservoir can be a good solution, especially if there is no source near you. Water can also be drawn from the roof of the yurt if you install a suitable system.
- When harvesting wood for heating and cooking, make sure you do it correctly without harming the environment. Expect to need about 3.5 cords of wood for heating during a snowy winter.
- It is a wise investment to buy a propane barbecue as a supplemental cooking aid. To use it, you will need about 20,000 rubles a year.
- You may find that a wood-burning stove is less conducive to hardening than a gas stove.
7 Provide a place for a bath. You will need a shower or bath and toilet. Some people even do plumbing, but most of the time washing of the body and dishes takes place outside. The toilet can be of a compost type, some yurt dwellers compost the waste using the Humanure method.
- To install a shower, you can tie a bucket or plastic bag to a tree, the water will be heated under sunlight. You will need to think carefully before determining which solution is best for your environment.
- For bathing in winter, alternative acceptable conditions must be determined.
- It is recommended to install the toilet downwind of the yurt or at some distance from it, this is necessary to stay away from odors or flies that can enter the yurt (at the same time, a properly arranged compost toilet will prevent flies or odors from appearing). On the other hand, you should not place it too far away, because then it may take a long time to get to it in the rain.
- In the summertime, wash in a stream if it is warm enough.
- It is a good idea to set aside a place to wash dirty items.
8 Install an energy source. Electricity can be supplied from the main source to the yurt (the least recommended option, because people do not live in a yurt all year round), and a generator can also be used. Solar or wind power can also be used if you have storage batteries (they can be stored nearby) and you know how to connect them. Electricity will be needed for the refrigerator, lighting, and other electrical appliances.
- For lighting, use suitable gas, battery or fuel lamps that are safe for yurts. Stock up on candles just in case. LED bulbs are a good investment. A hole in the middle of the top of the yurt will let in a lot of light into the sundial.
- Think about how you will wash your clothes. Will you need a small washing machine or will you drive into town to use the laundry machine? Do as you like. Most items can be hand washed as long as they are not too dirty. For example, you can use a laundry machine once a month, otherwise hand wash.
9 Make yourself connected. Even while in a yurt, you should be able to use the Internet. There are many solutions, including wired Internet, antenna, country wideband FM or 3G Wi-Fi; Decide what works best for your location. Some people use the Internet to download movies, so you can watch your favorite new releases!
10 Consider growing vegetables near your yurt. So you can partially or even completely provide food for yourself and other residents of the yurt, you can have several animals to get milk, eggs and even meat.
- Compost kitchen and food waste, use compost in your garden.
11 Enjoy yurt life. You can live there temporarily or permanently, but in any case you will feel like one with the yurt, the weather will influence you more strongly, and the animal world will live its own life. The need to be self-reliant and mine resources will show how simple and difficult life can sometimes be. You should feel the joy of being able to be content with little and the opportunity to get much more from things that you have not previously thought about. And even if you really like the place in which you installed the yurt, some experienced yurt residents say that it needs to be changed, because the main purpose of the yurt is to make you a nomad, a person who is constantly on the move and discovering new places. And even if that doesn't work for you, changing the environment could be the start of an amazing adventure!
- People living in a yurt talk about the feeling of coziness, safety and simplicity, despite the fact that while in the yurt you can hear all the riot of nature outside of it. This is largely why people love living in a yurt, but you won't understand it until you try it.

Tips

Bring books, notebooks, pens and pencils with you. Living in a yurt can make you want to describe what is happening and read. There's nothing else to do there. If you're a creative person, bring your essentials with you.
Bring plenty of blankets, blankets, and warm items to keep warm.Better quality yurts have insulated walls, and if you intend to live in one year round, do not neglect this factor! Pets can also make the place feel warmer and more homey.
Bring plenty of batteries with you.
If you don't have electricity, buy a radio.
Use a solar cell phone for communication.
Millions of people in Central Asia spend their entire lives in yurts. There is nothing ordinary in such a life; it is quite possible to make it comfortable.
In most cases, snow will not accumulate on the roof, falling down once it is a few centimeters thick.
Some yurts may be equipped with air conditioning, but you need to consider beforehand if you need this device in the yurt.
Is your family bigger? It is possible to install more yurts and connect them with docking elements.
It is probably a good idea to create a shed or garage for storing your chainsaw, woodworking tools, or gardening. It will be uncomfortable to store such devices in a yurt, but if you still need to store them somewhere, a garage or a shed will be a good solution.

Warnings

Observe all building laws or you may be asked to remove the yurt.
Think about a possible solution to the problem of fire inside or near the yurt, consider several rescue options.
Some disadvantages of living in a yurt: it can be demolished during a violent storm. Yurts can heat up quickly and remain hot inside. Sound spreads quickly in them, there is a problem of privacy if you do not live alone. You can get tired of being alone if you can't leave the yurt for weeks. The yurt needs to be constantly repaired to keep it working and safe.
If you live in a yurt in winter and it is constantly raining, the yurt will get dirty, this is inevitable.
Disassemble the yurt if you do not live in it in winter and it is located in a humid area such as a forest. Without the constant warmth inside, coming from you and your devices, the yurt will lose dryness, become moldy and start to rot. So she will not survive the winter.