A New Life ON THE RIO GRANDE

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Putting up the Yurt

The yurt arrived with an experienced crew of five to put it together and we used three volunteers from the audience who came to watch. it went up in only six hours. The crew unloaded the components, placing them in their tentative positions. The lattice wall went up first, then the doorway. An airplane cable tied the whole thing together at the top of the wall and door frame Next, we erected a temporary scaffolding inside the center of the circle. By this point, we'd already placed the stove, refrigerator and washing machine on the platform, as their size and weight would have made later installation awkward.

Two men, plus the rafters installed evenly around the hub, held the five-foot-diameter, 12-sided polygon "ring" at the top of the Yuri. From the ring's center opening-or "eye of heaven"-we rolled out the roof lining, the insulation, and finally the roof cover. We installed the wall lining and premade panels of insulation, tying them to the top cable, then rolled the outer skin around. The crew emphasized that we needed to Lake great care to make sure all the window openings matched up. We tucked in the windows of the outer wall and excess insulation/lining on either side of the door and clamped them tight. The upper wall was crocheted to the roof using preinstalled nylon loops hidden under the darker roof valence. Then each rafter was fixed in place by a 2 x 4 stud, which bolted to the floor and to special T-braces on the rafters. These extra supports gave my roof a 40-pounds-per-square-foot snow-load capacity and enabled it to withstand gusts of wind up to 80 mph. Finally, we placed the Plexiglas dome over the center opening of the roof. The crew disassembled the scaffolding and took it out through the front door. My dome can be lifted six inches to allow warm air to circulate in and out.

Since I have only 450 square feet, I chose to leave the interior space as open as possible. I built one frame wall perpendicular to the front door to center axis, in front of which is mounted the kitchen sink and counters. The small wedge-shaped space behind forms the utility closet and shower/dressing room.

Outfitting the Yuri

I chose the systems and appliances for my house not by what was the latest in technology, but by what worked and could possibly do double duty.

My stove is a 1927 Home Comfort wood-fired unit. I chose to use a renewable resource appliance not only to provide heat and cook food but also to someday provide extra hot water. This stove turned out to be a tricky choice, as the chimney must pass through the canvas roof. We had to put special braces in between two rafters spaced four feet apart, instead of 18 inches apart like the rest. This seriously compromised the integrity of my roof. To compensate, we inserted a false, slightly raised rafter to return the roof's full function and create a snow wedge to help eliminate buildup at the chimney. To separate the stove from the heat sensitive Pro-Tec wall, I had installed a large, heavy three-layer pad constructed of tile, durorock (cement board) and plywood. It took five men to lift it and set it in place. The chimney was outrageously expensive $900 for the stainless-steel triple wall, roof box, flashing, cap, bracing and slip collar chimney The outer chimney was braced against the wind to two 16' pressure treated 4"x4"s set in cement. With each section screwed together and well braced, the chimney is strong and flexible and able to withstand high winds. The roof of the yurt is a high-tech poly-vinyl laminate that is fire retardant and has a 15-year warranty.

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