As much as building the frame involves, I suspect it is nothing compared with making the cover.
Traditionally a yurt is covered in layers of felt, each layer averaging half an inch thick (that's very thick). I too would like to use felt to cover my yurt, but since it rains so much here in the winter, I also plan to cover the felt layer(s) with cotton canvas.
Each yurt is slightly different and it's important that the cover is custom fitted to the yurt. A felt only cover is said to last from 5 to 10 years before it needs replacing - only it's not necessiarily replaced, the old felt is often included either as another layer of insulation around the yurt, or even better, use the old felt as the centre and build the new felt around it.
Generally the estimate for a 16 foot yurt is 70 square yard of canvas. That's not taking into account variation in roof pitch and other things. Canvas usually comes in 60 inches. Canvas also shrinks when wet, but pre-shrinking that much canvas in the washing machine is far too daunting. So Pre-shrunk canvas would be my first choice. I really like this Organic pre shrunk canvas from the Big Duck people.
60 inches across, is 1.6 yards. 70 square yards divided by that means I need at least 43.75 yards. Round it up to 50 yards. With the bulk buy discount and shipping, the website says it comes to about 535.00 usd. That's about 578.00 CDN with today's exchange rate, but does not include the tax bill that customs sends when you buy large amounts of something from another country. Let's say for the cotton canvas, $600 would be a good estimate.
Now for the felt. I would love to make this myself, only that much felt is daunting. So what's better than making felt myself - making it with friends. If I can get everything set up and a feast cooking, I wonder if a day of felting would be enough to entice a large enough hoard to come and make felt.
The fleeces first have to be acquired. There are a lot of fleeces and fibres out there that go to waste every year because they aren't good enough to be processed into yarn. Now, to find a way to acquire it.
There are a few fleeces available but not many farmers seem to consider that their wool would be suitable for crafting simply because they have 'meat sheep'. I need to find some way to put the word out that I'm seeking fleece. I've placed ads on UsedAnywhere with limited success, perhaps this campaign will help people spread the word.
As much as I would like to believe that people will just give away their extra fleeces for free, it's not the most realistic situation. It usually costs the farmer about $10 to shear a sheep, so if I offer to cover shearing costs, it would encourage more farmers to part with their wool.
According to the book Yurts; Living in the Round by Becky Kemery, a traditional yurt requires between 60 and 190 fleeces to make enough felt. That's a lot of wool. 'Though if we are making the wool 1/2 inch thick, I can believe we need that much. So how about different layers of 1/4 inch thick instead? Starting with one layer of about 40 fleeces. Assume 1/4 of the fleeces are donated, the remaining 30 fleeces at $10 per fleece = $300
I would also like to make a layer of felt from alpaca/llama fibre. Alpaca and llama, though not traditional fibres for yurt building, are about 4 times as insulating as wool on it's own. Sheering costs are a bit higher, but let's assume the same number and price for fleeces, so another $300.
Of course, I hope it won't costs anywhere near that much for fibre, but it's hard to know how things will go.
Then the price of a felting party - I'm going to need a crew of at least 10 people, 20 would be better, for the felting. If I pay them with deliciousness, assume $10 a plate, maybe a delicious dinner cooked over an open fire with homemade perry, cider and mead, for those who aren't driving, and maybe encourage people to bring their tents and camp overnight so they can drink without worry - but then I need to provide breakfast as well. At a guess, $200 for a felting party.
Canvas - $600
Wool - $600
Helpers - $200
total estimated cost for covering = $1400.
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