Felt lined Yurts - hand made in Mongolia - in stock in the Wye Valley
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ABOUT YURTS
Home - What is a yurt - Our yurt trials - Felt issues
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YURT TRIALS.........(AND THE ODD TRIBULATION)
We put our first Mongolian yurt up on our farm in November 2005 - from the start it was a steep learning curve - 4 of us (all very practical people) took 5 hours to get a 19' 6" yurt up - unfortunately we found an instruction book no substitute for a hands on lesson and when we got to putting the covers on we discovered the first fundamental mistake - the walls weren't level so the cover was short at the back. Then we realised we hadn't got the crown lined up correctly so the poles all started to skew. In the end we had to take it down and start again. When we started importing and selling yurts 6 months later we vowed then that we would ensure that anyone we sold to had a full lesson in yurt assembly.
We are still learning.....and we expect to go on doing so - and we are constantly looking for ways to improve the yurts - as is our Mongolian supplier. Mr Sukhee is one of the first wave of entrepreneurs since Mongolia became independent and he is highly committed to improving the quality of his yurts. Members of his family are studying business in London and this all helps to improve our understanding of each others culture and climate.
In 2006 we started renting out the yurts for holidays on our farm and this really gives us an opportunity to test them to the limits. For 3 years we trialled yurts through the winter on our farm (our children have slept in the yurt in -5°C, and still been too warm!) and some of our customers keep their yurts up permanently which means we can continue to monitor how the yurts perform over time in a variety of locations.
We are happy to share what we have learnt about yurts in the UK climate and developing and running a yurt campsite.
We intend a long future in yurt sales and are determined that our customer service will be the best that we can offer. Since the only way we feel confident to recommend something is if we have experienced it ourselves, we have been trying lots of ways of weatherproofing yurts - some methods we have already discarded as completely inadequate for our climate, other issues we have already solved. We are happy to share all we have learned - good and bad - and equally we are very interested in ideas from our customers.
Mongolian yurts in the UK are no problem if you use them daily and keep them warm - they can be left up all year used like this - the problems start when you keep them in unsuitable locations (damp valleys under trees) and only use them occasionally. They will become damp and mouldy in no time - just like a boat. In fact, in terms of care, yurts and boats present similar issues. Damp atmosphere and lack of ventilation will lead to only one thing..........mould.
We treat our yurts very badly.........we are situated in a sheltered valley with a stream and a lake - we don't live in our yurts - and although we do our best to light the stove at least a couple of times a week, we often don't achieve this - if they survive us, we know they will survive the worst our customers throw at them.
And so, the trials..............(click on the topic for a link to the trial)
Now you are probably wondering why I've started this section with a picture of my laundry...............it's because yurts and wet washing need the same things, sun and free flow of air - so if in doubt, put your rotary line up with some dripping socks and check out how long they take to dry. Some locations are fine all summer - but become dank, shaded places all winter. We were told location mattered - and we knew our initial locations were anything but ideal - everything we have experienced in trialling yurts in 8 different locations - including through 3 winters, has confirmed that for a long life yurts need:
So not asking a lot then! In simple terms the worse the location, the shorter the life of the yurt. Of course few people have the perfect location - if you don't you will have to work harder to ensure it is kept warm and ventilated. In the end though, if your location is dank and shaded then it really isn't the place for a yurt - no matter how much you want one.
If you would like to know the detail about our trials of the 8 different locations, please get in touch and we will be delighted to let you have the results.
If you would like to view our various locations we are happy to show you all our different sites and demonstration yurts so that if you don't have a perfect site at least you will know what to expect. Contact us for details
Damp is the real enemy of yurts. Autumn 2006 was exceptionally humid and, complacent after the summer, we didn't keep the top garden yurt sufficiently aired and suddenly the yurt was smelling damp and the lattice walls (khana) started to show evidence of green mould - particularly behind the furniture (just the sort of place you don't check). A good wash down with spray on bleach, the stove lit and the skirt and bottom of the yurt covers lifted up and all was resolved.........but it taught us a lesson - if you want to leave an unoccupied yurt up in damp humid weather then you have to ventilate and heat it. Of course this isn't a problem for most of our customers who only use their yurts in the summer and pack them away for the winter.
To minimise mould it is essential the walls are made of the heart wood not sap wood - generally if it is white it will be more prone to mould. Applying boiled linseed oil helps enormously (utterly tedious job mind) and if mould appears use a spray on bleach to wipe it off. We trialled one unheated yurt for a whole year - it has stood up better than we expected (though it is empty which helps and we do open the door and lift the rain cap reasonably often. We trialled this one on a plastic groundsheet for a couple of months and the lattice walls got a coating of mould. When we moved it I spent a (boring) morning wiping each strut with bleach - in it's improved location on a deck there hasn't been a return of mould yet (could be the title of a horror movie).
Apart from mould on the wood, the other problem in damp conditions is mildew spotting on the cotton covers. We started out with cotton liners but very quickly gave these up - we (and our customers) think the thick white felt is attractive and covering it up is pointless. The cotton seems to be a target for mildew so it seems sensible not to use it inside. Of course the outside decorative cover is also cotton - and it definitely has a tendency to mildew spotting (though we anticipate much less of a problem with a better location). Our advice to customers is to assess both their location and how much it matters if the cover is pristine - so for summer only home use in a good location the cover should last at least 3 years whilst for holiday rentals in a poor location it may be necessary to budget for a new cover every year. Alternative man-made materials are not, we believe, suitable as they do not allow the felt to breathe.
CONFESSION TIME!
When we put our demonstration yurts up last summer we had a queue of people waiting to view - so we put them up the day after they arrived..........without doing any of the preparation work we so strongly recommend - we didn't linseed oil the walls, put extra varnish on the doors, paint the edges of the doors after we'd planed them - so if you come and view you can see just what happens (nothing disastrous but no question that life of yurt is shortened - especially the door).
So this year, I am going to do it all right. We took the 12' and 16' yurts down in December and I have just started linseed oiling the walls. Peter is going to do some work on the doors and we will see what a difference it makes.
We didn't put the 6K, 23' up at all last year as we didn't have a deck big enough but the deck should be finished this week so I am going to give this one the full makeover treatment and see what happens.
It will be quite interesting to see what the long term effect is as we will then have one up (the 20') that has never been treated, two that were treated after being up for 6 months and one that will have been treated from day one. Not that I am promising not to have a go at the 20' - I am rather ashamed of the way we are treating it and once we have sufficient evidence I think I just won't be able to resist sorting it out.
In Mongolia the crown is half covered with felt all the time and a felt cover is pulled over when necessary - completely covering the crown. This is a problem in the UK because it reduces the light. The original yurts we had came with a cotton encased felt crown cover - these were hopeless - fine in the dry climate of Mongolia but once wet they became heavy and impossible to manoeuvre with the tags and ropes unable to take the strain. We quickly abandoned these.
Our second solution was Perspex segments in the crown - with two as removable 'windows' to provide ventilation - these too proved unsatisfactory - quite simply if they are tight enough to keep the rain out, they are too tight a fit to get in and out easily. Then you have an airless yurt. A second problem was insects getting trapped under the crown and having no means of escape. Because the Perspex was only rain resistant - not completely waterproof, you had to use a canvas crown cover as well - fine at night but in our climate of long rainy periods you could be sat in a dark yurt for weeks.
Our latest solution is a canvas 'rain cap'. We are making ours in-house to ensure a really good fit - including a specially adapted segment to fit around the chimney flue so that you can still have a fire when it rains. There are drawbacks - you have to remember to put it on to start with! There is also a tendency for moisture to condense up on the plastic and drip down if there is insufficient heat - and for mould to occur on the underside of the canvas where damp is trapped if you don't ventilate it sufficiently - but it does seem to be a workable solution (though we continue to keep an open mind and keep dreaming up new ideas the latest including an automatic opener similar to a greenhouse ventilation systems...........)
Keeping rain from coming in under the sides
We have found that leaving the felt slightly long makes for a good windbreak - it does get wet - but because the felt we use is 100% wool, it only seems to draw the water up a couple of inches and seems to act as both a wind and rain excluder. Assuming you are siting your yurt on a wooden deck, then it also helps to nail a simple batton around the outside of the lattice walls - and seal it with floor sealer. This is possibly belt and braces but costs next to nothing (we are happy to give our customers the batton free as we use offcuts from the timber we mill for the decks). So for the price of a tube of sealer and a few nails, you have an extra barrier.
We frequently get asked how warm the yurts are - so I thought I would undertake a trial - so on a perfect February day with a deep frost and no wind, I decided to log how long it took to get the yurt up to a comfortable temperature.
Tuesday 6 Feb 2007: Trial in 6m yurt by lake - sited on wooden deck with gaps between boards - no rugs. Thick rugs and possibly a second, close boarded floor (the wood in this deck was bought in and shrank badly) would make this yurt much easier to heat and keep warm.
Starting temp externally -2°C, yurt not heated since previous Saturday. After a slow start because stove cold, temp rose to +5°C in one hour, +10°C in 2 hours and +15°C in 2½ hours - thereafter it stayed at +16°C burning fairly large lumps of seasoned oak in a fairly slow way. The temperature could have been boosted fairly easily if I had burnt some faster burning wood but that would have involved more frequent loading (so I felt, not a fair trial).
Conclusion: Yurt a whole heap warmer than the house!
Summary Table
Item |
Plus points |
Minus points |
Un treated canvas |
Breathes - helps reduce condensation |
Has to be thickest quality (24oz) so it is very heavy. In prolonged rain this becomes |
Waterproofed canvas |
Keeps all rain out |
Chemical treatment - smell? |
Cotton decorative cover |
Keeps ultra violet off yurt |
Susceptible to mildew spotting |
Nylon cover |
Some waterproofing quality |
Doesn't breath |
100% wool felt |
Naturally fire retardant |
Quite bulky in storage |
Polyester mix |
Less bulky than wool
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Backing very flammable |
Heat trial |
-2°C to +16°C in 2 1/2 hours |
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Linseed oil trial on the walls |
Looks gorgeous |
Hard work! About 45 minutes per wall section. Very boring job |
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