The Yurt Project

The Art(and Science) of Scrap-Fu

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:17:00 +0000

Approach students. Close the circle at the feet of the master. You have come to me asking that I be your guide along the path of ~~tae-kwon-leep~~ Scrap-Fu, but be warned. To learn its ways, you must learn the ways of your own soul. Let us meditate on this wisdom now.

I've gotten several emails lately asking me about my materials collection methods. I've spend years developing procedures to find and sources of economically feasible(read: mostly free) building materials. And now I'd like to share them with you.

Kaden Harris talks about the art of scrap-fu in his book, The Eccentric Cubicle. He coined the phrase to describe the art of knowing what you're looking at in a scrap yard. I'd like to extend that definition to include all forms of materials scrounging, whether it be dumpster diving, cull hunting, or anything else.

There are many methods with which you can obtain materials at less-than-retail prices:

Dumpster Diving
Scrap Yards
Cull Bins
Craigslist and Freecycle
Local Industry
Luck

These are just a start, but they are the main methods I use.

Dumpster Diving

Whether you call it dumpster diving, binning, skipping, or skally-wagging; it's all the same. You go around looking for loot in garbage receptacles.

Nope, you're not too good to root through dumpsters. If you think you are, Scrap-Fu is not for you. Now, most people think of dumpsters as seething cesspools full of used needles, soiled diapers, and angry transients. While this is often true for residential and foodservice dumpsters, it is not the case in your local industrial park. Take a peek sometime in the local cabinet shop's bin. It's likely full of clean, usable hardwood scraps. Not a hobo to be found.

Is it legal? As far as I can determine, yes. In the US, at least, trash receptacles are considered public domain. Use your head. Don't go past locked gates, don't go on private property, and if you can, ask first. Most companies don't mind someone going through their bins, especially if the project is interesting.

Safety is paramount. Industrial dumpsters are full of pokey bits, corrosive bits, and downright dangerous bits. Don't get in a dumpster. Wear heavy gloves. Don't reuse anything, ever, that will come in contact with food. That said, dumpster diving is my main sourcing method. With it, I obtained all of the wood for the yurt walls. ALL of it. FREE.

Scrap Yards

Kaden Harris pretty much has it covered on this front in this exerpt from the Eccentric Cubical. Buy the book. It's good.

Cull bins

Any home improvement store(Lowes, Home Depot) has a cull bin. The cull bin is how they dispose of their damaged lumber. Instead of throwing away a dented piece of plywood or a warped 2x4, they cut it in half and put it in the cull bin. My Home Depot sells these bits for 50 cents apiece. Not bad for a half sheet of 3/4" plywood or a slightly-warped fencepost.

To find this, just go to your home improvement store and ask for the culls.

Craigslist and Freecycle

If you're looking for something specific, here's where you go. These websites are fantastic sources for the used and often free materials that you need. Keeping an eye on these can be tough, though; often the best finds are gone minutes after initial posting. My favorite tool to even the odds is a little known feature of Craigslist: RSS feeds.

You can get an RSS feed for any category on Craigslist. You can then monitor it from you favorite reader, which is awesome. Even more full of win is the fact that for every search on Craigslist, there is also a feed. For example, here's the feed for a search for exterior doors in the materials section of CL.

Local Industry

Local businesses are indeed the trickiest part of Scrap-Fu. Sourcing materials with this method requires patience, diplomacy, and a lot of luck. Never underestimate the power of local companies for providing materials. I was provided all the used billboards I needed to cover my yurt by a local advertising company, free of charge. All I had to do was ask. It's really that simple.

I have a couple strategies that I use when dealing with local companies. The first thing you need to do is find the right person to talk to. To that end, avoid dealing with office staff if you can. They're more likely to say no just to get you out of their hair. Find the person who's actually in charge of disposing of the materials you want and ask them directly.

For example, at the local hardwood store, I asked if I could have(or buy) their offcuts to build the yurt with. I was given a flat "no." A couple months later, I replied to an ad on Craigslist for a huge truckload of free offcuts. The ad was placed by the same company, but by the warehouse instead of the front office. When I picked it up, I found out that had I talked to the warehouse manager to start with, I could have gotten those materials months before. The office staff didn't know, so they just told me it wasn't possible.

No one will return a phone call. Ever. Period. You must go in person if you want to get anything.
Remember that these are businesses that you're dealing with. They're there to make money, not give you free stuff. They are likely to be busy, so be prepared to wait. Most of the time companies will give you scrap materials for free but be prepared to pay(a reasonable price) for them. And be nice. Nobody gives anything to a jerk with a sense of entitlement.

Luck

Sometimes, the universe lines up just right and you know that you're going to score something awesome. I know of a guy who bought some dirty aluminum wire from a scrapyard to make chainmaille out of, and it turned out to be 15 pounds of titanium!

Happy hunting and remember that the path of Scrap-Fu is not a road to a door, but a path leading forever on to the horizon...

Formatting Fixed!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:26:00 +0000

Looks like that with the latest update of Firefox and IE, this page stopped displaying properly. I believe the issue is fixed now.

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:58:00 +0000

Merry Christmas from the yurt!

The Insulation Circus

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:04:00 +0000

When I worked construction, I noticed that insulation crews were often... nontraditional. A panel van would pull up to the jobsite and out would spill 15 old women, 3 dogs, and a goat. So when I went to insulate my yurt, I thought: where am I going to get a goat? As it turned out, we had to insulate sans bovids. Luckily, I do have several friends with acute memory loss, so I'm able to convince them to help me out more than once.

First up was the cotton. I had tired fairly quickly of the black backside of the billboards that were my cover material, and decided that my yurt would look much prettier with a white background. That went pretty fast.

Oh hai!

Then came the actual insulation. If you remember from previous posts, I had decided to use concrete blankets as insulation. They are used by contractors to keep freshly poured concrete from freezing. They are essentially multiple layers of bubble wrap and tarpaulin quilted together. The ones I got were in horrible condition, and needed a lot of work to get them usable. But at ten bucks a piece, they were still worth it. And as a plus, they had a reflective coating on one side!

Fuzzy wore tie-dye, in keeping with the carny/gypsy aesthetic.

It was a relatively painless process, taking up a full day at a more than leisurely pace. I then replaced the cover, this time turning it inside out to make it a little less... commercial. After all, black is the new, um, black. Good thing we got it on when we did, because this happened fairly soon afterward:

But that's a story for another day...

Graywater System

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:22:00 +0000

The next step to habitation after I built the yurt was the graywater system. I needed drainage from my shower, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen sink. The toilet is a dry system, so no drainage necessary there. Looking around at the different options for graywater, I realized that most are designed for the typical four person household output of 50-75 gallons(190-280 L) a day. My output is drastically lower: somewhere around 15 gallons(57 L) a day. So I'm yet again stuck designing a system from scratch. Here's what I came up with:

First, you dig a hole.

Cut a 50 gallon drum in half and drill holes in the bottom.

Put the barrel in the hole, layer with large rocks, small rocks, pebbles, and sand to create a filter. Put the top back on the barrel.

Dig your trenches. In order to drain properly, the slope needs to be 1/4 inch to the foot. Yes, that's a microwave in the picture; and no, I have no idea why.

Here's the barrel buried and ready to be plumbed.

That's 2" ABS pipe.

I put a p-trap outside in case I lose anything important down the drain. Don't want to be digging that barrel back up if I don't have to. Insulated the access box with hay so it doesn't freeze.

Here's the pipe inside buried. From left to right, we have bathroom sink, kitchen sink, and the bottom is the shower flange.

This system should be able to handle all my drainage needs. I'll take care not to wash too many food particles down the kitchen drain so as not to clog up the system. I will also be using biodegradable soaps whenever possible.

Yurt Raising!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:05:00 +0000

It was a gorgeous day, and we started early. My yurt was finally assembled and ready to put up. I had run into issues acquiring enough recycled lumber for the deck, so I decided to build the yurt on the ground. I had previously raised the height of the yurt site about a foot, then used a transit and plate compactor to level it. I then put a layer of billboard material(fiber reinforced PVC) down as a moisture barrier.

After that, we laid out the khana(wall) sections and assembled them.

That's 850 10-24 1&1/4" bolts!

After that, we stood the wall up, expanded it, and attached the door.

Then came running the support cable and building of the scaffolding for the roof ring.

By this point, our supervisory task force was at the peak of their game.

What you don't see in the pic below is the 3 people holding the scaffold up. I built it from memory, and was about a foot short in height. Sorry, guys!

After we got a few in, the scaffold could be removed.(set down?)

From there it was easy going, one rafter after another, until we reached the magic number of 42 rafters(no joke!). Had to be careful to keep the roof ring level.

The crew at the end of day 1.

The cover went on super fast the next day!

Next I'll cover the insulation!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the yurt

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Lately, things have been a bit dry around here when it comes to new posts. I've been a little busy... putting up my yurt!

I know, I know - What about 'the making of'? I'll be doing step-by-step how-to's on each step of the yurt later on. In the meantime, I'll take you through the yurt raising.
'Till then,

Bees!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:10:00 +0000

A couple weeks back, a good friend of mine's feral honeybee hive on his property swarmed. If you didn't know, this is how honeybees reproduce. When a hive gets too crowded, a new queen is born and she leaves, taking about half the worker bees with her. The swarm gathers on a branch near the main hive while scouts look for a new hive location. This stage is where I found them. The sun had just come out after a rain, and the bees were still tightly huddled together and relatively docile.

After my first shot, I decided that I should get a little closer. I grabbed a 10-foot stepladder and climbed up.

Being up in a tree with several thousand bees is quite an experience.

Yurt Plans, Part 3: Water and Sanitation

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:08:00 +0000

The next question to consider once I decided on shelter and power was twofold: Where do I get water for bathing, cooking, and drinking and what do I do with it when I'm done? The first portion of that is relatively simple. I can get a used food-grade 50 gallon barrel for relatively cheap, so that will be my storage. But then what to do with wash water when I'm done?

That leads to another, more difficult question. What do I do with my, erm, gastric byproducts?

{disclaimer: from this point forward I will be discussing the composting of human excrement, that is to say, poop. There may be attempts at low-brow scatological humor. If this subject makes you uncomfortable, it's okay. I'm not extremely comfortable with it myself. Fecophobia is very common in western culture. Let's step right in, shall we?}

My first thought was, ewww, I really don't want to be up to my elbows in... hard work trying to dispose of my wastes. I was hoping to find some magic solution to just make it go away; but as my old boss used to say, you can wish in one hand and... Oh, never mind. What I ended up learning was that there are only a few ways to have an off grid toilet.

The first one most of us are familiar with- the latrine. Just a hole in the ground that you do your business in. Smelly, cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and, as it turns out, horrible for the environment. Latrines don't actually treat the waste, they just wait for anaerobic decomposition to take place. In the meantime, pathogens are leaching into the surrounding soil and can travel up to 50 feet laterally. In addition, when it fills up, a new one needs to be dug or the old one scooped out. No thanks.

Another method is incineration. There are commercial toilets that use an electric element to incinerate your deposits. Periodically you remove a sort of dust from a tray below the toilet and discard that. This method works well, but requires an obscene amount of energy and can stink.

The third method is composting. I started looking at commercial composting toilets, and found that, while efficient and odorless, they cost around $2000 each. That's more than twice my yurt budget! I was starting to think I was up a creek and out of luck, but then I found The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins.

This self-published 250-page volume outlines a composting toilet system in which the actual composting takes place in an outdoor compost pile, and the toilet is simply a receptacle that gets emptied periodically. But that's not the interesting part of the book. Jenkins makes a carefully researched, well-supported case for large scale 'humanure' composting. He points out that all creatures in nature form a nutrient cycle with their environment and nothing leaves the system. He then contrasts that with our current nutrient cycle:

Interesting point, but what about smell and disease? Jenkins says that, done properly, this system has no odor and the composting temperature will kill all harmful pathogens to the point that the compost can be used to grow food. Cool.

Jenkins' book is available from Amazon or the publisher's website: www.jenkinspublishing.com. The first edition of the book is available for free on the website.

Whew!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Man, the last month has been busy! Maker Faire was so fantastic with so much to see that it's taken me a while to go through all the pictures. Here's a small sampler of what was at Maker Faire:

Cardboard composite surfboards-

3d printers-

Steampunk bands-

Folks with mechanical faun legs-

And robot builders of all sorts-

It was definitely worth going to, and I think I'll go next year.

Stay Tuned for Maker Faire Updates!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Hey folks! I'm heading to the Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay area next weekend. Kind of like a science fair, but instead of baking soda volcanoes and styrofoam solar systems, you get musical Tesla coils and crocheted elder things. Each night I'll upload pics and commentary. Until then, have a video of a musical Tesla coil:

De-grime-ification System Update

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:12:00 +0000

I now have a shower! Picked up a fully enclosed fiberglass shower stall. It, of course, went on the Subie:

The drive home was, to say the least, interesting. It got a bit windy, thought I was going to blow off the road.

Insulation: Accomplished

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:05:00 +0000

Picked up a lot of ten concrete blankets for $100 at ReSource. Stacked all ten on top of my Subaru:

Got a lot of funny looks on the way home, for some reason.

W00t! Wood!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Sears Trostel was kind enough to donate some of their straightlining offcuts to the cause:

It's a mix of different hardwoods, mostly poplar and alder (I think). There were some pretty big pieces in there, some up to 2 1/2." This should be enough for the khana wall sections and possibly the rafters (with the bigger pieces). If it's not, they have lots more.

Cool thing about Sears Trostel: I thought that sawdust just gets thrown away, but they let me know that theirs gets sold as animal bedding. It's good to see industry repurposing their waste materials.

A Heated Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:54:00 +0000

Hi folks! Today, I'd like to talk to you about something that I think is a very important matter: the annual seal hunt conducted in Canada. Each year, over 300,000 baby harp seals are killed for their fur. This is unacceptable. After careful consideration, I believe I have stumbled upon a solution to this wasteful practice. As you may know, the harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) has a very high lipid content, and has been used in the past for lamp oil. I propose that this be repurposed into a heating oil of some sort.
Many homes already burn fossil fuel oil as a means of heat. Seal blubber could be employed in a similar manner. This method, Combustion of Liquefied Unwanted Blubber (hereafter referred to as CLUB) could be implemented with a simple retrofit. Not only would CLUB use a waste material, but it could also reduce our dependence on fossil fuels! Seals are a sustainable resource, replenishing their numbers quickly and reliably. Harvesting can be done in an environmentally friendly fashion, on foot using only hand tools. Those little fellas need not have died in vain, for they can keep us all warm during the winter. We can make a better, greener world - one CLUB at a time.

Now please put away your shotgun, stop writing that letter to CNN, and don't bother warming up your armored tugboat. Check your calendar and have a chuckle. It's okay. Seriously. Happy April fools.

Yurt Plans, Part 2: The Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:34:00 +0000

After people get used to the idea of a yurt, one of the first things they ask me is what I intend to do for electrical power. Usually followed by, "You will have electricity, right?" Oh, I shall have electricity. I will have my dual-core gaming computer and I will have my 720p DLP projection system with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. There are some things that I am simply not willing to give up. But how? That, dear reader, is where I have an idea. Wind power, but not in the way that most people think of it.

I considered three power generation methods as I was designing the electrical system: solar, wind, and hydroelectric. There aren't many sources of flowing water around here with enough of a drop to be effective, so hydro was out. Solar power is wonderful, but expensive. Major breakthroughs in solar panel manufacturing are being made by companies like Nanosolar and AVA Solar, but their solutions are years away from the consumer market. That leaves wind power. There's plenty of wind on the Colorado front range, and quality wind turbines can be built on the cheap by the determined DIYer.

I then got to thinking about the de facto power storage medium for off-grid residences: batteries. Batteries are expensive and full of toxic chemicals. They wear out after a few years, and must be repurchased. I decided that I don't like batteries. So I started searching for a better way to store energy.

Back to the basics: energy can be stored in several ways. This can include chemical (batteries), mechanical (reservoir for a hydroelectric dam), or thermal (geothermal plants). Utility companies in Huntorf, Germany and in McIntosh, Alabama have been storing energy mechanically in a process known as Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). This is done on a massive scale, with excess grid electricity being used to run gigantic air compressors that pressurize an entire underground cavern. The compressed air is then used to run air-powered generators when demand is at its peak. This process is inherently inefficient, with electricity being converted to mechanical energy then back again with all sorts of heat losses in the process.

[image from Wikipedia]

What if the process of storing energy in compressed air was streamlined? I think a process that uses a windmill that converts mechanical wind energy to electricity that is used to run an air compressor to store compressed air that is then used to make electricity all over again (whew!) is perhaps a bit complex and wasteful.

My system will use a windmill that directly drives an air compressor instead of a generator. The air will be pumped into storage tanks. When electricity is required, the compressed air will run an air motor/generator and supply the needed current.

This will take a considerable investment of time, research, and testing to properly implement, so for the first year I will be using a gas generator (possibly converted to run on cheaper propane) to supply my electrical requirements. If anyone out there manages to beat me to it, let me know how it turns out. Until next time(water system).

Yurt Plans, Part 1: The Structure

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Now to get into the details of the yurt. First, some vital stats:

Diameter: 24'
Area: ~450 square(round?) feet
Wall height: 5' 8"
Peak ceiling height: 10' 2"
Volume: 3259.9 cubic feet (I can't fathom how this would be useful info, but oh well)

After a lot of thought, I set 2 main design goals for the yurt:

It needs to be as inexpensive as possible(notice I did not say "cheap")
It needs to be as sustainable and low-impact as possible

Fortunately, those two things happen to intersect in several ways, the most obvious being recycling. Thus, my yurt will be made of reused, recycled or recovered materials whenever possible.

Here's the design so far:

The yurt will be built on a wooden deck of standard construction, but of reclaimed wood. I intend to get this from demolition sites, but other sources may reveal themselves...

The lattice-like wall sections(the khana) will be made from the rough edges trimmed off boards during milling. These are typically ground up and sold as animal bedding or simply thrown away.This is a plentiful resource available across the States.

The rafters(uni) will be made from standard 2x4's. I hope to get these at the same time as the deck material.

The center compression ring(tono) that the rafters fit into will be made from scrap lumber scrounged from construction sites.

Insulation will be concrete blankets. These are used by construction companies in cold climates to keep concrete from freezing after a pour(this would ruin the concrete). Most companies throw these out as they get tattered and worn by heavy use. They have an r-value of anywhere from 3-8, and should be sufficient if doubled up. These are readily available in northern US states. If you can't find them where you live, you may not need insulation! :)

The outer weatherproofing will be discarded billboards. Billboards are made of a very strong fiber reinforced vinyl that should be perfect for this. They're also designed to be UV resistant and last many years exposed to the elements. Again, billboards should be plentiful and easy to obtain.

Finally, I will also line the inside of the yurt with a natural fabric of some sort, the purpose of which is twofold. First, it should take care of any condensation issues I have; second, concrete blankets are ugly. I would rather look at a nice, natural fabric than a tattered black tarp

Next time: the electrical system!

Coming Full Circle, or: To Build a Yurt

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:30:00 +0000

In my composition class, we were required to write an essay describing a pivotal point in our lives. Following is the account of my decision to live off grid in a yurt:

My dog greeted me enthusiastically as I dragged myself through the front door of my house sore, dirty, and physically and mentally beaten. I paid her no attention. I flipped on the computer, grabbed a beer, and plopped down to shoot some zombies. I then paused for a moment to consider my life. My wife had left me for her now girlfriend. I was working a job that, while lucrative and challenging was unfulfilling and slowly destroying my body. Sure, I was going to school to become an engineer and finally do something that I liked, but that was far off and I had no way to pay for it. My plan to work while my wife went to school and then switch off when she graduated had a flaw or two in it now. I was stuck in a lease for a two bedroom house that was far too big, full of too much furniture and unnecessary possessions. I was living the wasteful, foreign energy dependent life that I had always been so vocal against. I was floating through life, simply existing, with no direction. My life was bloated and fat. Something had to change.

I needed a miracle diet for my life. So I contemplated my options. I considered moving to Alaska and repairing airplanes, moving to a big city and getting lost in the crowd, and moving to the mountains and being a hermit. There were problems with all of these, though. I despise repairing aircraft, I can't stand big cities or crowds, and I actually like most people. I realized that I couldn't simply run away. Anywhere I moved, my problems would remain.

This needed to be a lifestyle change, a slimming down of sorts- a going back to the basics. I didn't need that much space. I didn't need all those possessions. I thought perhaps I could get a small apartment or roommates. I then remembered that I hate apartments and am far too independent for roommates. I needed somewhere cheap, somewhere small, that I could have my workshop to build projects while I was in school. I suddenly remembered my best friend Fuzzy, a short bearded man who more than a little resembles Gimli from The Lord of The Rings. We were at the Sustainable Living Fair shortly after my divorce, wishing we could afford to live sustainably. "Hey, you could live in a yurt!," he told me, "Nothing holding you back now."

Why would I want to live in a portable Mongolian hut? The thought was both jarring and absurd. Where did that come from? I glared accusingly at my beer, half empty, and checked the alcohol content. I considered other things, and each time, I came back to the yurt. Each time it made even more sense. A yurt is small, but round, so there is no wasted space in corners. Well insulated and built to withstand Siberian winters, it would be more than cozy in the winter. It would be a perfect test bed for my chemical-free wind power system that I was developing. I could get wireless internet service and stay connected. Not only would this be a cheap way to live while going to college, but it could also be entirely sustainable! I had already done the research. I already had the skills to build it. I was going to live off grid in a yurt! I then got a grip on myself. This was insanity. I tried to convince myself that the idea was purely a knee-jerk reaction to the divorce. Finally, I dispelled the notion, drank the rest of my beer, and shot my zombies.

In spite of this, I found myself daydreaming more and more about the yurt over the next several weeks. Each time I thought of it, I jumped one more obstacle, solved one more problem. Eventually, I had a fully-formed and workable plan. The idea had persisted long enough that I knew that it could not simply be a knee-jerk reaction. I had to tell someone, to see if I was crazy or if it really was a good idea. So I ran it by my dog, Cider. She listened intently, one ear perked up and head cocked to the side, while I spelled out my plan. She paused for a moment when I was done, then ran out of the room and brought back her tennis ball as if ready to move in that instant. The rest of my friends were not as easy. I got reactions ranging from enthusiastic agreement and offers of help to quizzical silence, as if they were waiting for the punchline. All eventually came around and supported and assisted me as I worked out problems, drafted plans, and researched building and health codes.

It is now four months ETY(Estimated Time to Yurt) and counting. I get home from work, still tired, but no longer beaten. I still grab a beer but this time settle down with a building code book, Walden, or a tongue-in-cheek volume about composting gastric byproducts. I reach down to pet Cider, patiently waiting with tennis ball in mouth, and reflect on the changes of the last few months. From an outside point of view, my situation has actually gotten worse. I have even less money, only a part-time job that's even worse that the last, and yet somehow I feel at peace. No longer do I drift through life aimlessly and unaware. I'm focused, driven, and conscious of how I affect my world. I look forward to my next busy day, whether I'm going to school, working, or scrounging for materials. I view each day not as simply another day, but as a potentially better one. I now have a plan, and am going to be all right.

The next several posts will detail my plans for the yurt, system by sytem. I'll start with the main structure, then move on to the internal bits(electrical, plumbing, etc.). Till next time...

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Carlton) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:45:00 +0000

Hello, world! Welcome to my first ever blog post. I've started this blog to chronicle my progress while I build and live in an off-grid yurt. The yurt is a portable dwelling consisting of a circular wooden structure typically covered in felt. Here's a picture of a traditional Mongolian design:

My yurt will be made with more readily available materials(I don't have an entire flock of sheep on hand to make a yurt cover, for example), but I'll get into that later.

I hope, over the course of the next several years, to provide a viable alternative to the traditional Western idea of a home. One that is as comfortable and convenient as tradition dictates, yet places less strain on its surrounding environment, and is much less dependent on fossil fuels.

I believe that we as human beings possess the intelligence and ability to either destroy or preserve the earth we live on. I also believe that, as creatures with a limited life span, we cannot own the earth. Sure, we may stake our claim and hold it close, but the simple fact is that when we're long gone that piece of earth will still be there. We're all just stewards, when it comes down to it. And for my part, I think that it is our solemn responsibility to be good stewards.

Part of that is planning for those who will take over when we're gone. It is irresponsible and an example of bad stewardship to base an entire civilization upon a finite fuel source(fossil fuels). Whether we're running out now, or will in a couple hundred years, it does not matter. The simple fact is that we will run out, and when we do, we need to be prepared as a matter of necessity. I understand that the technology simply does not exist to fully transition today. Or tomorrow. Or in a decade. That's why(in part) I am doing this.

It is possible to live sustainably in today's culture without being wealthy. It is possible to greatly reduce your need on fossil fuels without being a hermit, or crazy. These are the things that I intend to demonstrate over the next few years. I hope that you, dear reader, will follow along and share in my triumphs(and failures) over the next several years.