On Friday May 26 the foundation walls for our Smiling Woods Yurt were poured.  These walls extend 48 inches below the surface per code in climates like ours.  The pour itself took just an afternoon, but there were many days that went into building and setting up the forms. At one point things were not … Continue reading Pouring the Walls

Up until yesterday morning I was under the impression that we the homeowners would be able to rough in the plumbing under the concrete slab.  As the foundation pour became imminent we did the research to understand what this would entail and quickly realized that it is more complicated than a couple simple pipes.  Further, … Continue reading Of Course We Need a Plumber

Here are a couple photos I received of our center ring in the shop.  This will be at the highest point of our ceiling with 54 rafters connecting it to the walls.  It's a work of art!  

Today some work was done on the forms that will be used to hold our round slab of concrete in place while it is being poured.  So, yeah construction has officially started! Backhoes, fork lifts, bulldozers oh my.  Three weeks from now our new house will be sitting on its pallets wrapped in tarps waiting for us … Continue reading Pieces in Place

We now have a permit to build the house we just bought.  What a relief!  Not that there was ever any real need to worry, but I did anyway.  Things are on track. We bought a generator from Amazon, hydronic radiant floor supplies from SupplyHouse.com, miscellaneous from Harbor Freight, Home Depot and Costco.  We are … Continue reading Progress

Building this little round house in the woods is risky business.  Running out of money, overbuilding, water scarcity, a dog rolling in cactus are all possibilities.  These things are mostly manageable for us either through planning and by acceptance.  Where there is high risk there is high reward.  The risk of personal injury to our family … Continue reading Risk

On Saturday morning at 6:00 am Josh left to drive down to our property and meet with the man who will get our foundation work done.  They determined the actual position for the house and marked it all out. We learned that we will need to install and test the hydronic radiant floor tubes and … Continue reading Location and Site Plan

Today I sent a big chunk of cash to the yurt company to begin production on our house.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to embark on this project.  We've been saving for a long time. The kit will be delivered by May 30.  We should begin assembly around June 13.  Josh has … Continue reading Committed

This morning I mailed off applications for permits from the county to get this project underway.  We need septic, water card, and building permits.  Septic must be full-size to meet code, even though our usage will be quite small.  The water card is necessary so that we can haul water from the district to fill … Continue reading Permitting is Underway