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Comment by ryacko | Hacker News Reader

This lacks statistics on temperatures throughout the day or estimates on the loadbearing capacity of the roof.

In essence, this house has not been benchmarked.

This is exactly, what came to my mind after adoring the beautiful first and following pictures. The whole setup looks very adorable, with the plants inside the bedroom area and i guess it could be very plesant to stay there for holiday.

But i guess the winters will be horribly cold without anything that could be called decent insulation. And the whole weight of the roof (and maybe snow) is on that little wooden fence. And its better not going to get windy, because as as you can see in https://i.imgur.com/i3o9MBj.mp4 the bars are mostly just hooked into the top of the fence. As someone who learned basic structural engineering, this is giving me shivers. The roof can hold itself pretty nicely like an archway,... but if you get lots and lots of wind from the side, my guts say that it might evolve into a big problem.

It’s white.

The stains on roofs are from mildew. They will likely have to power wash every few months, assuming the water doesn’t cut through eventually.

I’m unclear about ventilation or the ability to do basic maintenance like walking on the roof.

In what picture are stains?

The round shape sould help against wind. I agree with the lack of insulation though. The heating part could be partially remediated with radiant heat. With a heavy masonry stove instead of a simple wood stove.

They are using a wood burning stove which will adequately heat the space. Instead of controlling for a constant temperature like a modern insulated/HVACd house, they heat as needed. Its an older approach but will work perfectly fine. The walls will have zero problem supporting the roof as it is incredibly light compared to modern US roofs.

Traditional yurts were built in areas with high winds and snowy winters, how is this different?

The yurt manufacturer's website has snow loads available on it. I didn't take the time to figure out exactly what model was being used here, but they've definitely done the calculations and have upgrades available for higher snow load areas.

In the project page https://doityurtself.com faq page the faqs talk a little about climate control. Apparently they don’t do great in extreme heat or cold (lacking great insulation?). Not benchmarking but something:

“ Yurts do not do well in extreme heat. It's best to find a location for a yurt that is in a mild climate and in a place where you can build in some partial shade. During the summer months, you can use fans or potentially an A/C unit if you have the power to run it. “

I’ve stayed in Yurts like this in the Sawtooth range of Idaho in February with night time temps of -10F. They fare well when there is a wood fire going, and better if there is a solar/battery ceiling fan to circulate the rising warm air.

In the summer direct sunlight can warm them considerably, but if well placed in shaded areas then the temperature is well moderated. Some units have a vent in the oculus at the top for use in the summer.

There is zero mildew if platformed well and clad properly with water protective barriers.

Ironically, traditional yurts very similar to these are used in places that go from -40C to +40C throughout the year (Mongolia, Tuva... though true, when it’s -40C, hopefully you’ve packed up your yurt and moved it down the valley to the winter grazing location that’s a little less harsh...).

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