Laurel Nest Yurts

Yesterday morning, a couple who own a bed and breakfast in Texas dropped by to look at our yurts.  They were excited about our yurts and also about sustainable building.  Their bed and breakfast is “green”, and they have a goal of building several structures on their 11 acre plot that involve green building techniques.  One of the insulation ideas they shared with me is papercrete. I had never heard of it, but papercrete is an ancient and modernized insulation.  It’s an exciting idea, to create your own environmentally friendly, sound proof, and inexpensive home with yesterday’s newspaper, and today’s junk mail!  

Every month millions of tons of refuse enter our landfills. A lot of it is not salvageable. But, for office paper, magazines, light cardboard, junk mail and newspapers Papercrete offers the perfect solution, by removing tons of waste paper from the ever-growing piles, while providing useful shelter material. Papercrete is a recently developed construction material which consists of re-pulped paper fiber with Portland cement or clay and/or other soil added. First patented in 1928, it has been revived since the 1980s.  Adding the cement makes the product less “green”, but the relatively small amount of cement is possibly a reasonable trade off for what papercrete can offer.

Some of the qualities of papercrete as a building material include:

• Highly insulating (about R-2 1/2 per inch)

• Involves little cost to start. The materials are claimed to be cheap or free and widely available.
  

• Good shear strength as a block.  Lateral load involves sideways force – the wind load on the entire area of an outside wall for example. Because papercrete walls are usually a minimum of twelve inches thick, and usually pinned with rebar, they may be strong laterally.

• Machinery suitable for small-scale construction is simple to design and construct.
  

• When properly mixed and dried, the papercrete wall can be left exposed to the elements. In its natural state, it is a grey, fibrous-looking wall. For a more conventional look, stucco can be applied directly to it.

• Does not support flames.  The more cement and mineral material that is added to the mix, the more fireproof it becomes.

• Resists rodent and bug infestation

• Holds screws without cracking

As I read about papercrete online and learned some of the properties, I was excited at using “trash” for new home building.  Many people approach us who want to live in a yurt while they build they home. Some of them like the yurt so much, they decide it is their dream home.  Others are researching how to build “green” and papercrete is one interesting option. 

For those of you who want to see how it’s done: check out this YouTube Video!  How To Make Paper Crete From a Tow Mixer

Thank you to these websites that provided me with information and photos:

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/papercrete.htm

http://makepapercrete.com

http://earthbagbuilding.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papercrete

http://www.livinginpaper.com/mixes.htm

Many people ask us if mold is an issue in a yurt.  We live in the mountains of North Carolina, and our lovely yurts are in the middle of a temperate rain forest.

As with any structure in a climate with lots of humidity, it is important to build with good ventilation in mind.

We have some good solutions for ventilation- the skylight dome at the top of the yurt can open and pulls warm air up and out and lets the cool air from outside come in.  You can also leave your windows open, put up a ceiling fan, use screen doors, put in additional doors, and just keep a good air flow in your yurt.

Washing the yurt and keeping it clean will keep mold out.  If you have a lot of moisture, you should keep your fan running at all times.  Some people choose to run a dehumidifier or an air conditioner.  Climate control is typically used in standard homes to keep mold out, and is an option in yurts.  Personally, I prefer a nice fan.

Regular maintenance will help your yurt stay mold free!

If you do use a good fan, you probably will only need to do a general cleaning in your yurt and mold should not be a problem.  However, if mold ever is a problem, there are some natural ways to clean.  I have used lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar for wiping off mold, and then laundry detergent for killing the spores.  The detergent is diluted in water, and then I use it as a rinse.  All-natural health cleaning products can be used to eliminate mold and mildew as effectively as more traditional products, but without leaving harsh additives and dangerous particles behind.

I hope this helps, and feel free to call us if you are concerned about mold in a moist climate like ours!!  With proper maintenance and good ventilation, mold won’t bother you and you’ll love that yurt of yours!

Below is a list from an article I found online about natural cleaning options… (the link follows the list).

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is one of the best antifungal and antibacterial remedies available. In addition to its ability to treat fungal infections such as athlete’s foot, tea tree oil can be added to a mixture of vinegar and water as an effective cleaner for mold and mildew.

Grapefruit Seed Extract

Grapefruit seed extract can be used to cut and kill mold and mildew. It can be used topically as an odorless treatment.

White Vinegar

Vinegar is the most versatile natural product. It is effective as a mold and mildew cleaner, as well as a grease cutter and stain remover.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is effective for treating mold and mildew when mixed into a paste along with borax and lemon juice.

Regular Maintenance

In addition to regular cleaning, mold and mildew can only be prevented by ensuring that areas prone to dampness are left to dry. Both mold and mildew grow in extremely moist areas. Clean these areas regularly and keep them dry.

Read more: About Natural Cleaning Products for Mildew | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_4869042_natural-cleaning-products-mildew.html#ixzz0w89X9wc2

One of our goals at Laurel Nest Yurts is to have a sustainable business.  There are many ways to do this, and using biodiesel is just one aspect of how we are making progress.  Our Yurtmobiles all run on biodiesel from Blue Ridge Biofuels (check out http://www.blueridgebiofuels.com)

Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting fats (like veggie oil or animal fat) with alcohol.

Biodiesel is meant to be used in standard diesel engines and is thus different from the waste and vegetable oils used to fuel converted diesel engines. Biodiesel can be used alone, or blended with petrodiesel.

Usually, we use B100 in the summer and then when its colder outside we go with B50 or B20.  One of our trucks had 2 tanks, one was the biodiesel tank and the other was a grease tank.  Some of our friends have traveled by bus just on grease cross country! It’s the way to go.

Biodiesel has different solvent properties than petrodiesel, and will degrade natural rubber gaskets and hoses in vehicles (mostly vehicles manufactured before 1992), although these tend to wear out naturally and most likely will have already been replaced with FKM, which is nonreactive to biodiesel. Biodiesel has been known to break down deposits of residue in the fuel lines where petrodiesel has been used. As a result, fuel filters may become clogged with particulates if a quick transition to pure biodiesel is made. It is recommended to change the fuel filters on engines and heaters shortly after first switching to a biodiesel blend.

I found some interesting links about making biodiesel more sustainable.

First off, there’s one idea to use it for cleaning up the oil spill. (see http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=4281 for the whole article)

Some of the same innovators who produce biodiesel are hoping their product could soon be used in the Gulf of Mexico, cleaning up the beaches and marshes ravaged by the BP oil spill.  Methyl esters, the chemical yielded in biodiesel production, can be formulated into a biobased solvent that is federally listed as a shoreline washing agent for oil spill clean-up.
The process starts with crews spraying the biosolvent from shallow draft boats onto oil-covered marsh vegetation or small beaches normally unreachable by land, said Randall von Wedel, founder and principal biochemist of CytoCulture International, a company that pioneered the method in the 1990s.

Randall von Wedel has been working tirelessly to get his biodiesel-based solvent, CytoSol, approved for use in cleaning up the oil-soaked marshes and beaches in the Gulf Coast. PHOTO: CYTOCULTURE INTERNATIONAL

After the biosolvent is applied, it is followed with a gentle “rain” of seawater to rinse the dissolved petroleum mixture off the plants and shoreline for recovery on the water, using small mechanical skimmers.

Another more sustainable source for biodiesel is algae. Check out this article for more information about how they made biodiesel from pond scum…  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2007/01/making-biofuel-from-pond-scum-47237

For industrial production, the researchers are designing enormous growing troughs, wider than two trucks side by side, as long as a football field, and grouped by the thousands around processing plants. In this way, Sears says, algae could supply all the U.S. diesel power on a fraction of the nation’s farmland, just one percent of the 400 million hectares now under cultivation.
“Actually we wouldn’t have to convert any of our arable land,” [Sears] observes. “We could use desert land to grow this algae. It doesn’t require good soil. Just flat land, carbon dioxide and sunlight.”
Carbon dioxide helps algae grow fast and fat, so the team plans to siphon it from fossil fuel power plant exhaust, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And Sears says there are other ways to get the gas. “It would actually start with biomass such as switch grass or wood, where in some countries are the only type of fuel that they have anyway. In that case, the grass, the trees, the wood is pulling the carbon dioxide out of the air, then we burn it as fuel and feed the carbon dioxide to the algae.”
He stresses that no carbon will be added to the atmosphere during all these energy conversion steps, making biofuel from algae is a truly carbon-neutral technology. “It’s essentially solar powered fuel.”
To conserve water, the growing troughs are sealed. The algae grows under a clear plastic lid that allows in plenty of sunlight, but keeps the water the plants are floating in from evaporating. “It is about 1,000 times more efficient to produce fuel from algae than it is from an irrigated crop,” Sears says. “There’s enough water even in the desert from natural rainfall to support this technology.”

How’s that for inspiring a sustainable, green energy?  There’s lots of articles online about making your own biodiesel from Waste Vegetable Oil and Algae… and the more of us that work towards a cleaner, greener earth, the better for all of us!

Thanks to the websites I used for the information! I pasted and paraphrased, and I encourage anyone who is interested to go to the links in this blog entry.

We just finished a project in Swannanoa, NC.  This yurt is a 24′ yurt that has solid walls, and is well insulated.  It’s right on a river, and it was so peaceful listening to the water as we worked.

We put 4 real windows and 2 doors in the yurt.  The yurt was painted with a Therma-insulated paint.  It was much like many of our other yurts, hand-crafted and the owner of the yurt participated in the building process!

We used the wind/ snow load kit as a frame for putting tongue and groove wooden walls.  2″ thick insulation went behind the wooden walls, in an effort to make the yurt have a higher r-value.

The view on the river was so beautiful, so we made it easy to relax in the yurt, and enjoy the water.  We connected 3 real windows and 2 doors as one panel, which made up about 25′, almost 1/3 the circumference of the yurt.  The owners chose to have all real windows, and no vinyl windows in this project.

There is lots of benefits to using real windows.  The biggest one is that you can open them from the inside.  We recommend them when you are building your deck on a steep hill, and you will have challenges in opening your windows from the outside.  Some people have done this for yurts placed on a 2nd story, and built a usable space underneath.  People who want all natural materials choose to have yurts with glass windows as well.  We love them, they add elegance to the yurt!  

Have you met my new pet yurtle?

This weekend we went to a 4th of July Party at Deerfields, our neighbors’ land.  It was a fun-filled weekend of swimming, camping, fireworks, and good ol’ fashioned fun.  We all wished each other a Happy Interdependence Day…  isn’t that what the world needs?  All of us people coming together for what is right and helping make the world a better place.

We had a blast camping in our “Yurtle”.  We got a 12′ trailer and made a beautiful round cedar deck on top of it.  We then put a 12′ cedar yurt on top of the deck and “glamped out at the 4th of July party.

My favorite part was sitting on the steps of the yurtle eating chocolates with my friend Lisa. “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get…” We’re one step closer to our dream of returning to the classic Mongolian lifestyle– our style…. Think biodiesel van (to haul our veggie oil and a complete kitchen) and lovely peaceful round yurt space for sleeping, meditating, and portable shelter!  All we need is some land we can hunt and gather from…

I thought I’d share some interior pictures, to give you an idea of how nice it feels inside our traveling yurt…

This year, our garden has a lot of food in it, but we’re still learning.  We decided to participate in a local CSA at our friends’ farm.  It’s been great. I just had the most mouth-watering lunch: kale and chinese cabbage salad with fresh corn, braggs, apple cider vinegar and tomato tahini dressing. Yum!

What is CSA?

CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture. It is an opportunity to bring together local people with local farmers. Members of the local community make an annual commitment by purchasing a “share” of the anticipated harvest. Payment is made in advance to help purchase seed, fertilizer and soil amendments for the upcoming season. In exchange, the farmer plants, cultivates, harvests, and prepares boxes of fresh organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs each week throughout the growing season.

Local

A typical carrot has to travel almost 2,000 miles to reach your dinner table. An enormous amount of energy is wasted and valuable nutrition is lost during this transit time. Local food is fresher because it is picked and delivered the same day. Our produce doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles before it gets to your plate. The 3,000 mile salad just became the 3 mile salad.

Growing organically is more in line with the way nature intended food to grow. Organic practices ensure that the produce is healthier for the farmer, the consumer and the environment.  Compost, crop rotation, and cover crops are all used to prevent erosion, reduce the risk of plant disease, and fix valuable nutrients into the soil. This provides healthier, more nutrient-rich soil and food. 

Thank you Gladheart Farms for the wonderful food and community you bring to us!!

http://www.gladheartfarms.com

Over the last couple of years, we have been crapping in a composting toilet. Did you know that the average American uses 7,665 gallons of water each year just flushing the toilet? It makes me so happy that my poop doesn’t waste water and is a useful compost for our trees, shrubs, and potatoes.   It’s a great alternative for people who want a green toilet or who are living off-grid and not installing a septic system.

Human poop and pee have high percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, carbon, and calcium. It is equal to many fertilizers purchased in garden stores. It further prevents the pollution of ground water by controlling the fecal matter decomposition before entering the system.

Humanure may be deemed safe for humans to use on crops if handled in accordance with local health regulations, and composted properly. This means that the humanure must be heated sufficiently to destroy harmful pathogens, or enough time must have elapsed since fresh material was added that biological  activity has killed any pathogens. To be safe for crops, a curing stage is often needed to allow a second mesophilic phase to reduce potential phytotoxins.  (Thank you Wikipedia for much of this information!!)

We currently have a Biolet toilet, and it works great! All the comfort and convenience of a typical bathroom— with no water, sewer or septic system! These toilets don’t use water to flush waste away; instead, they use nature’s composting process to reduce and change the waste into humus.  Our process when we go to the bathroom: pee, poop, flush with compost (specially made for the Biolet toilet) and close the lid.  Easy!

Several months ago, we were having some issues with our toilet.  I contacted Biolet with a few questions and found out that we were actually not using the toilet correctly.  The Distribution Manager gave us his personal phone number, spoke with us at length for a long time to give us some pointers and suggestions, and reminded us of proper use.  It turned out that our misuse was causing the toilet to malfunction.  The biggest problem we were experiencing was keeping the temperature of the toilet at 64 degrees or higher.  (We don’t heat much, if at all, during the winter.)  We also were primarily pooping in the toilet, and saving our pee for plants and trees.  We found out that the toilet was too dry, and it needs a good amount of liquid to work well.

A few weeks ago, we cleaned out the toilet (thank you Zack!) and started from the beginning.  The toilet is amazing… no problems, works like new.  So I am just sharing that while there are many options for composting toilets, I am impressed with the Biolet.  I loved their help when we were having problems and how with proper use, this toilet is really wonderful.

If you are on a tighter budget, you can create your own smaller composting system.  One suggestion is the Loveable Loo.  You can order this from humanurehandbook.com or just make one yourself. They are simple and work great for an “emergency toilet” in your yurt.  You pee or poop in a bucket, and then you add the bucket’s contents to your humanure composting system.  Check out the Humanure Handbook for more information.  It is a great resource!

We are also currently building a large capacity humanure system. We have already built a lovely “throne house” and are working on installing the proper “plumbing” for our barrel system.  I’ll post pictures in the next few weeks, along with a description of our actual project.  In the meantime, hope you have a crappy day!

Dear Laurel Nest Yurts,

Our Dream Catcher railings

It is important to me To Live as Lightly and Simply as I may Upon this Precious Earth.  Yurtful living helps me to do just this.  YOU ALL help me to do just this!  I have been Living within a LN 15 foot yurt for 15 months Within the mountains of Western North Carolina.  Knowing that I am using a minimum of Earth’s Resources for my shelter helps my Conscience to be a little bit more Free.  I am Doing, Being and Living Earth Friendly!!

Living lightly in a yurt...

For me, Living in the Round is not only about Living Lightly WithThis Land but it is also about Being Closer to Nature…nearly Inseparable.  I wake in a Dream every morning Sensing Beauty so Calming…Leaves Blowing Within Winds, Squirrels Playing, Rains Dancing, Clouds Passing, Birds Singing, Coyotes Howling and a Sun Shine Soul Shine Radiating Through windows and dome!!  And a Moon and her Stars…lying in bed Observing this Earth as she spins…never resisting, never forcing…always working Together with Complimentary Congruence…

Asia, Scott, and Christina working the gardens...

What is more and perhaps most Agreeable of all (in my opinion) is how the circular structure represents my personal Understanding of Life.  I have met only One Truth throughout an on-going Exploration which Consistently Exists as Truth on all levels of spectrums…Everlastingly Changing…the Continuum…Constantly in a state of flux with a matter which may not be destroyed or created…without a beginning or an end…a symbol of Wholeness and of Infinity…A Process of Interconnecting, of Evolving, of going deeper Within, and of Expanding…the Spiral of Life!…Circularity!

The colorful liner we made for our yurt kitchen!

And then there are diamonds (to me, a symbol of Balance) Co-created by the Crisscrossing of  khana.  Every diamond Adjoining with the next Collectively Bringing into Being a Safe and Comfortable Haven for me to Relax and Rest my body…a terrific way to Integrate Healing!

Hal, Asia, Scott and Fellow Crews, I am truly Grateful for Your Efforts in Educating me as well as Others about Alternative ways of Living that are more Environmentally Sound.  I am Adoring You All for the ways in which you are Choosing to Live.  I am Admiring the ways in which You are Choosing to Give to Others.  You are Helping Human Beings To Live more Aligned Within this Web of Life.  Thank You so much for Sharing Your Time/Company, Your Explorations, Your Resources and all Your Yurtful Knowledge with me!

With Continuing Fortune, Blessings, and Care

Christina Lynn

March 2010

Whether you are planning on building your own yurt or buying a kit, it is important to consider what material the cover will be made of.  Factors like fire resistance, longevity, intended use(year round or occasional setup), climate of setup location, cost, availability and natural vs. synthetic fiber all have to be weighed into the decision.  It seems that many times it is a little give and take to find a fabric that will work for you.  
The natural cotton duck canvas is durable and strong but is quickly stained and deteriorated by moist mildew filled climates.  It works well for a yurt that will be moved and set up many times, as long as it is not put away wet or left exposed for mice to chew on and build houses in.  Also, if set up for permanent use, the wear and tear on this fabric require it to be replaced within 3-5 years.
Vinyl is the most commonly used fabric in the yurt industry due to its durability vs cost ratio and it also is fairly highly rated for fire resistance. However, it is also the most harmful to the environment because of its production process, it’s lifespan and the breakdown of its fibers. It off gasses for a period of time and emits an odor that has been shown to be harmful. To learn more you can look at the site for Red Sky Shelters makers of the yome, a dome and yurt mix. Peter Belt owns Red Sky and has a good bit of experience with fabric and has done a great job of presenting the information and developing solutions to provide the world with natural sustainable fabric.
Here at, Laurel Nest Yurts we prefer to offer the natural cotton duck canvas.  Even with its limitations, It has a fairly low cost, nice look, is paint-able (to extend its’ life), and is relatively inexpensive to replace.. We also provide a poly-cotton blend that has a vinyl coating; this fabric is required in certain states because of fire retardancy regulations.  This fabric must be seam sealed or painted.

This canvas has been primed, and now we are painting the first coat of paint on it.

We snowed ourselves in this weekend to paint a yurt.  We are painting the yurt cover with a ceramic/acrylic coating. We did a primer coat, and then 2 coats of paint on the roof, and then we’ll paint the inside to create an insulative liner.  This should make the yurt last much longer and it should make it much more insulative.  We’re happy about painting yurt covers because it offers a more natural option to increase  the insulation value, provide durability, and you can choose whatever color you want your yurt to be. I always joke with Hal that we’ll have to paint our daughter’s yurt pink for her 3rd birthday.

Painting a yurt is a fun snow day activity!

During these cold winter months, my friends often ask me if we are staying warm in the yurt. We definitely do our best to keep warm and cozy, and also to take advantage of the fresh crisp air.

This is the time of year that we need to remind ourselves about being safe and making sure to prevent fires. There are many options for heating a yurt, from wood stove, to propane, kerosone, or electric heat.

At our home we generally prefer to use propane heaters, and we keep the propane tank outside the yurt. We run a cord through the bottom of the yurt (a great place to run your electricity, too). We like propane because you just turn on the heat, and it heats the space pretty quickly. Yurts do not hold heat for long periods when the heat is off, so we only heat our spaces when we are in them.

Some of our friends use wood stoves, and all of our yurts come with the option of having a wood stove panel in them. If you do get a wood stove, make sure to be very careful with disposing of the ashes. Dispose of them in a metal bucket, and pour some water over the ashes. You always want to make sure the ashes are cooled to prevent possibility of fires. Never leave propane tanks or kerosene around as it could cause a terrible fire.

The silver panel in the yurt is where the wood stove will go in this yurt.

Electricity is sometimes a good option for heating a yurt. You want to make sure that you have an efficient heater, like an infrared ceramic heater. These heaters can be run with minimal electricity or even on solar power. We don’t use electric heat because we find that it is less energy efficient for our needs than propane.

When a yurt is set up for temporary use, like camping, kerosene heaters work just fine. Usually, kerosene is set up temporarily, with space heaters. On that note, I feel a little chilly…. I think I’ll go make myself some tea. All this talk about heat makes me want to warm up!