Sugar Shack, A 20th Century Yurt

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Some of the boulders on the bottoms of the walls were so large that we had to chain them to our four-wheel-drive Scout, and drag the titans into place on the wet mortar.

We saved all the flat talus we found, and used those slabs on the tops of our walls, leveling as we worked. After we mortared in the last layer, we drilled holes into the stone and inserted the bolts that would anchor the wood framing.

We finished the rock walls by laying 2 X 4's (sealed to prevent absorption of moisture) over the stone and positioning the boards with enough mortar beneath them to make them level, as determined by a "split image" transit. (The instrument looks like a box camera, and contains two mirrors with marks that align when whatever you're working with is trued up. Years ago I obtained one, but I haven't seen another since. However, a level transit-a surveyor's instrument used for alignment and height reference-would also have done the job.)

Once the rock walls were finished, we borrowed a mini-dozer to level the floor (to grade) and to berm the outside of the house. The berming soil-which came from our excavation for the footings, septic system, etc.-was mostly boulders, gravel, rock, and sand ... and no special effort was made to provide drainage near the foundation or walls.

In our "spare time" we built frames, using 2 X 4 lumber, for the panels that would form the top half of the walls. While we were at it, we framed in the windows, too, and then covered the panels with sheathing (for strength and insulation).

We marked each component (specifying "dining room", "kitchen", etc.) ... hauled them all to the site in two pickup trucks ... and-with the help of a friend-got the panels bolted down and braced in place in about two hours. Very little bracing was required, however, because the frames butt up against one another, and the top plates (2 X 4's) overlap the corners, thus tying the frames together. (We also put flat metal plates on the corners for added stability.)

Next, we poured the floor, using five cartloads of concrete. After the floor had set, we tackled the job of installing a roof.

RAISING THE ROOF

Since any interior partitions in a yurt are not load-bearing, the side walls must support the entire weight of the roof. This is accomplished by using strips of steel to strap the rafters to a center ring at the apex of the cone-shaped roof, and by installing a shape-retaining 1/2" steel cable through the rafters and around the outside of the house.

When the cable is tightened, it raises the roof slightly ... and the rafters are then anchored to the walls. 

For our building's center ring, we used a piece of 10" well casing, about 7-1/2" long, that a friend gave us (a bigger yurt would need a larger ring, of course). Another acquaintance contributed the steel cable we needed ... and the 2 X 8 lumber for our rafters was donated by a brother-in-law in the furniture business. The 1/8" X 1-1/2" strapping steel was a bit more difficult to come by, but a company in Phoenix finally delivered the few required pieces to our door, by truck, atop their regular commercial orders.

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