Yurts: from Traditional to Modern Sustainable Housing

A yurt is a round tent-like temporary or semi-permanent house. They have a circular footprint with a wooden frame covered in fabric. The roof is domed with a center opening where the roof poles connect to a heavy center compression ring or wheel.

Yurts originated in Central Asia. In Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia the yurt is the traditional portable house of nomads. Many nomadic peoples now live a more settled life in towns with access to schools and hospitals. Still, yurts have a traditional place in Central Asian culture.

In some areas those caring for sheep, cows and horses still live in traditional yurts at least some of the year.

They are used for festivals, too. Traditional Mongolian yurts are set up temporarily in Sükhbaatar Square in the capital of Mongolia for the Winter Festival and Deeltei Mongol Naadam Festival.

Yurts are used as stores or cafés because tourists like them.

You can stay overnight in a yurt. They are increasingly used in tourism as eco-friendly accommodation, allowing visitors to experience traditional lifestyle firsthand.

Modern

In western lands people have promoted the yurt as a practical less intrusive environmentally friendly housing option.

Mother Earth News had a Build Your Own Yurt foldout as early as 1976.

Some modern yurts are very similar to traditional Asian yurts. But, in many cases more high-tech materials are used in their construction. Traditional yurts are temporary dwellings, easy to erect, take down, move and reassemble. Modern yurts are often built to be more permanent structures.

Some Asian herdsmen and shepherds use more modern materials for yurts, too.

This yurt in Kyrgyzstan combines the advantages of modern technology without abandoning historic skills.

You can buy small yurt tents.

You can buy larger tent yurts.

Some people live year round in a yurt. The family we rented an RV from live in a yurt near us, in Mills River. Like many modern yurts, it had electricity, heat and air conditioning, all the modern conveniences. The doors and windows were just like any other more traditional house.

New and preowned yurts are listed on eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

24-foot Barely Used Yurt

• AC/Heater + Propane Heater — stay cool in summer + warm and snug all winter
• Elegant French Doors
• 7 Light-Filled Windows
• Heavy-Duty Deck perfect for stargazing, yoga, or morning coffee

Beautiful Handcrafted Outhouse: charming + functional

Must be disassembled and moved.
Land is not included.

24-foot Barely Used Yurt on Facebook Marketplace

Authentic Mongolian Yurt

Authentic, fair-trade Mongolian Yurt including wood stove, chimney piping, circular floor, drip edge, insulation, and layer of house wrap.

Ready for your all season retreat, air bnb, or minimal living dreams.

Authentic Mongolian Yurt on Facebook Marketplace

I have found complete finished yurts ready to live in for sale on Facebook Marketplace, too. A wooden deck under the yurt extends to create usable outdoor space.

This is the kitchen in a permanently set up yurt.

Traditionally heat is provided by a little stove that vents through the center opening. Yurts I have seen locally opt to have a chimney stove pipe vent through a wall.

This log yurt combines the advantages of a yurt with the benefits of a log home. It is not a new design. Eight-sided wooden yurts were used by Western Buryats, a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia.

If you want to try a yurt to see if it is an option for you, you can find yurts on Airbnb and Vrbo. Other rental sites like Glamping Hub, Hipcamp specialize in glamping and other unique outdoor stays like yurts.

Here in western North Carolina, we have a local business that makes yurts. The featured image on this page is one of their yurts.

Pisgah Yurt Craft 16′ Premium Yurt

• Cherry Frame and Traditional Rafters
• 48″ Hardwood Crown with Bronze Tinted Dome, w/ Concentric Venting System
• 4-Season Insulation Package, including felt liners and 4x soft windows
• Cover set is Carhartt Grey and Hemp Beige

Platform is a modular 2×6′ framed system, assembled on site.  It is perfectly round, so will disappear beneath the yurt for a gentle presence on the land.

This Turnkey Package includes full delivery and installation fees (within 100 miles of Asheville). All you need to do is provide us with a cleared site, reasonable access, and a small grid of foundation posts!  On-site process is less than 5 days.  We’ll need 4 weeks heads-up, about the same timeline it takes to prep your site.
Pisgah Yurt Craft 16′ Premium Yurt on Facebook Marketplace

If this is something you are considering, look at the quality of their work!

Featured Image Pisgah Yurt Craft

Pisgah Yurt Craft
America’s only traditional yurt maker
Based in Asheville, NC

We craft heritage structures by hand, infused with care and innovation.  PYC features : 4-season insulation, all-weather covers, regional hardwood frame, custom doors, and the best venting dome system in the industry!

Our yurts are everywhere from Vermont to South Carolina – sometimes holding 8” of snow or facing hurricane winds.  Every one of our regional yurts survived Helene!

We’ve worked hard to design these classic old-world structures to meet the demands of our mixed-climate southeast mountains.

10 years of experience has proofed our product as economical, unique and resilient.

24’ Hybrid Premium Yurts are $26,800 + applicable tax.  Platforms and Installation Fees separate.

Timelines are running 6-8 months.  500-mile Regional Delivery and Turn-key Installation by our Insured and Expert Team Available!  We ship freight to anywhere on the continent.

Visit our website for more information and to book a consultation!

www.pisgahyurtcraft.com

Asheville, NC ~ est. 2016