First Remove the Ropes...
Eight years ago, give a take a few months, we purchased our yurt. Over time we replaced the horse hair ropes on the exterior, and at another time the top cover (urgh). We also attempted to remove the goo that had built up on the exterior by the proximity of the Aspen forest and its seasonal distribution of seeds by using a pressure washer. It helped, but slowly the exterior canvas began to show its age and some wear where the ropes attached to the top cover (urgh) had rubbed. We had no leakage, but this year we decided to give our yurt a facelift and take advantage of Groovy Yurts’ 30% discount on the exterior canvas (brezent) for those who had already purchased a yurt.
Last time, to our amazement, Mr. Groovy Yurts (Yves Ballenegger) brought his huge truck down our driveway which is 1/4 mile long and resembles a 2 track overgrown logging trail into the bush. This time (new and bigger truck) we met him and his helper Pedro (spelling?) at the end of the driveway in our pickup. We were pleased to see Yves and even more pleased to here him say, “Would you like us to help you put it up?”
So, first they (Richard helped, I chronicled) removed the ropes and the decorative skirt (hayavtch).
Then the outer layer came down. At this point a discussion was needed regarding the added layer of house wrap that goes under the canvas in wetter climates. Our climate is definitely proving to be wet, and wetter, and wetter. Although it was in pretty good shape and could have been repaired with tape, it was sure a handy time to replace it, which we decided to do.
Then Yves said, “Does it bother you that the door leans outward a little bit?”
“Well, it bothers me a bit, and my son has noticed it too,” I said.
It turns out you can fix that. I was amazed to watch them remove a few of the roof rafters (huns) by the door and simply push the wall up straight. Then Yves cut a couple inches off those rafters so they wouldn’t keep pushing that wall out and put them back! Magic, a perfectly vertical door!
Some of the felt had sagged a bit so it was pulled up and also tucked into the door, then the new house wrap went on.
And then on went the new exterior canvas and the new horse hair ropes. All completed in less than 2 hours. We are ever so grateful to Yves, Pedro and Groovy Yurts for doing this work for us. Had we done this project it would not have been done as well and would have been fairly stressful for us, since both of us are on the second half of our 70’s.
One last project I did was to wash the decorative skirt (hayavtch) in my washer, then scrub it with bleach and detergent to brighten it up - mostly grass stains from mowing. It looks much better but maybe next year we’ll get a new one.
We use our yurt for a guesthouse, winter and summer, a music room, a party room and a place to chill. I highly recommend yurts for this and even for living in. They are not only beautiful, but the history behind the Groovy Yurts’ company, the people in Mongolia that they employ, the philosophy and respect for Mother Earth that almost oozes from its pores... Well you can’t help but feel the energy.
