Emerging

Well, here we are at the other end of winter and the jury has returned the verdict on the need for a woodburner.....it isn't!  The oil filled rad has managed to keep things toasty and was never over 3/4 of full capacity.  I have to say that if you're a part timer, you'll either need to fathom out how a mains timer works, or have splendid friends who will turn the heater on for you before arriving because it does take a few hours to get from ambient temperature (let's say 5c) to something approaching comfortable.
That's not to say that the yurt will be fire free, just that a smaller, less obtrusive fire might be more suitable.

This summer's insect of choice is.....drumroll.....the whitefly.  Where they are coming from is beyond me but the little buggers are annoying and if you get one in your ear it sounds like a Messerschmidt.

General report, the canvas is holding up well despite green stuff on the south side where it doesn't get any sun.  The new waterproofing layer of DPM is still proving to be of value and not causing any damp or condensation, it also means water drains off faster and doesn't gather at the skirt bottom and fester, the crown is still waterproof but the windows are suffering a little UV damage and going very slightly milky, hardly surprising really.

Electric heater update.

So far so good, the last two nights have hovered around zero degrees C and the heater has done the job admirably, but I suspect that it may struggle at minus numbers.  Time will tell.

Condensation and damp has failed to make an appearance, even with the plastic walls, so I'm proclaiming this a win.

The garden has been very quiet this year, not so much hooting, squawking or general shuffling around, well apart from the squirrel who decided to soak up some rays while sitting on the windows of the crown cover, made my day that did.

Brrrr! v2.0

I think we got lucky with the warm (and wet) weather persisting so long into November, normal service has been resumed, it's 1:30am and outside it's 1c while inside it's 0c.  Not quite sure how that works.  Good news is that the DPM wall upgrade seems to be working very well indeed, right now the external humidity is 87% and inside it's 64%, with the canvas walls that would have been much higher when left for a week.

Finally got round to jetwashing about half of the outside last week before the washer packed up.  IT was surprisingly effective but it probably would have been wiser to make jetwashing a regular maintenance fixture rather than waiting for green mould to take hold.  Reason being that the green mould seems to come in three layers, the green bit which blasts off really easily, a cream undercoat which takes a little more determination to remove, and a nasty black stain that will only lighten with the use of bleach.  If you're planning on having a yurt, read and follow the location instructions, keep them away from trees and try to put it in a place that gets good all round sunlight if you don't fancy a 3 monthly jetwash session.

Meanwhile, the paraffin heater is languishing at the end of the bed, it was a wee bit smelly, probably good in a larger room but in the confinement of a yurt, it became a little pervasive.  The low odour paraffin totally eliminates the smell but it's VERY expensive and the paraffin overlords seem to have an agreement on price because it's pretty much the same everywhere.

Electric Heating Checkpoint.

This is just to track the effectiveness and cost of heating the yurt with a DeLonghi Dragon 3 oil filled radiator (Chinese made, bit shonky).

Looking good so far, I would have spent £9 on coal over a similar weekend and is far less controllable.


Average external temp 11c.
Average internal Temp 20c.
Entire weekend heating cost @ 10p per kwh, £3.
External humidity 96%
Internal humidity 52%

Things may well change as the temperature drops below zero.  Time will tell.

Impermeable Wall Update

Well, it looks like my concerns about the new plastic membrane walls creating condensation were unfounded, on average the internal humidity has been 30% lower than the external humidity and there have been no instances of water running down the crown cover or any feeling of damp or ickyness at all.

The average temps this weekend were between 5c and 10c outside and a pretty stable 17c inside, only using a fan heater, I will be upgrading to a 3kw oil filled rad at the weekend.  I wonder if I could get through winter with just electrical heating?  I will be measuring the electrical consumption and gauging it against what it would cost to heat the yurt using wood or coal.  It would be great to leave the fire alone until it gets really cold, it's not the cleanest or greenest way (assuming coal usage) to keep warm.

Survival Blanket Insulation.

I bought six of these from the £1 shop, they are the same metallic silver cellophane sheets that they wrap round marathon runners or people who are losing heat.  Apparently they reflect infra red radiation and are good retainers of heat, so on that principle they should do well as a new ceiling liner for the yurt.  Took about half an hour, but I now have what looks like a radio telescope for a ceiling.  The crinkling sound will take a little getting used to, but it's no worse than being kept awake by something akin to an ostrich stomping around on the roof.

So far, the combination of additional insulation and the reflective sheet is pretty impressive, right now it's 14c outside and 18.8c inside with the only heat coming from me and the 12v fridge.  I'm hoping to be able to get away with less coal and wood burning this year and lean more towards more controllable forms of heating like an oil filled radiator or fan heater.

Also, the yurt has a new veranda, I fell through the old one and nearly broke my leg.  This time it's been done with decent wood from a pallet place in Wisbech run by a lovely chap from Holland who also sells timber.  It's been treated with epoxy varnish so should last better than the bare wood that was used previously.  To be fair, the old steps didn't do too badly, they've been there from the beginning of the build.

Ditching the Canvas, Adding a Cosy Jacket for Winter.

Looks like a good weekend so I've pulled my finger out and got stuck in to the thing I have been putting off for some time now.  Initially today's project was to get under the felt, put some additional insulation in the form of carpet underlay, and put it all back together again.  It all went a bit wrong when the outer cover was removed and I found this...

Presumably this is as a result of the wettest year in the UK since the Stone Age, followed by very few opportunities to dry out between showers.  The canvas wall that is intended to keep the yurt waterproof had rotted at the bottom where it has been perpetually wet, and there are some fungal stains on the felt.

Fortunately there are still a few layers between the mould and the inside of the yurt so I don't think any harm has been done.  The picture above also shows the first of three sheets of underlay to be placed on the roof, the following picture is of the additional wall insulation (held on initially with gaffa tape, this features heavily in the upgrade).

Once that was out the way, it was time to think about replacing the rotted canvas wall.  I decided on damp proof membrane from B&Q, a single 15x4m roll was more than enough, cost about £40.  I sliced off a strip 150cm wide and worked my way round with a roll of gaffa tape and ended up here.

I know what you're thinking, "what about condensation?", I look at it this way, I reckon the weather creates more incoming moisture than I create outgoing moisture.  I'm planning on a mushroom vent for the crown cover soon, so it won't be a problem wither way.  There's a solar powered fan at the door pumping air in all day.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll be jetwashing the whole thing.