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Get your zoning answer and size your yurt for free

Call your city or county planning office with your address and ask whether a yurt is allowed on the lot, whether anyone may sleep in it, and which permits it needs. Then put your diameter into a free yurt calculator to see how many lattice slats and rafters it takes.

Your city or county planning and building departmentFree zoning and permit answers for your address
Yurt Notes and Calculator (SimplyDifferently.org) Free build notes, geometry and an online parts calculator

A white Mongolian ger with an open wooden door and a stovepipe, standing among hills and larch trees

Where the yurt comes from

Ger in Mongolian, kiiz uy in Kazakh, boz uy in Kyrgyz

The yurt is the home of the nomadic herding peoples of Central Asia, and it is still lived in today. In Mongolia it is called a ger, which simply means home. Kazakhs call it kiiz uy (felt house) and Kyrgyz call it boz uy (gray house); "yurt" reached English through Russian from a Turkic word. A Mongolian ger has a folding lattice wall (khana), straight roof poles (uni), a wooden crown (toono) held up by two posts (bagana), layers of wool felt, a canvas outer cover and ropes of animal hair that cinch it all tight. A family can take it down, move it by animal or truck and raise it again in a few hours. Turkic yurts use steam-bent roof poles that give a domed profile.

UNESCO lists both traditions as intangible cultural heritage: the craftsmanship of the Mongol ger (2013) and the yurt-making knowledge of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh peoples (2014, extended in 2025 to include the Karakalpak). The fabric yurts sold in North America borrow the structure and change the materials: architectural fabric and foil-faced insulation in place of felt, a steel cable in place of woven bands, and a clear dome over the roof ring. If you build one, you are borrowing a design that people refined over many generations and still make by hand, so it is worth learning the real names and how the original works.

The living traditions, in UNESCO's records

Zoning, codes and permits come first

Start with zoning. It decides whether a yurt may stand on your lot at all and what it may be used for Storage, a studio, guest sleeping or a home. Homeowner associations can be stricter than the city. Get the answer for your address in writing.
Living in one full time is the hard case. Whether a yurt can be approved as a dwelling depends entirely on where you are, and a major manufacturer says plainly that residential permits are harder to get than any other use. Some places approve yurts as homes, many allow them only as accessory or seasonal buildings, and a few refuse them.
Building codes usually treat a fabric yurt as a membrane-covered frame structure. The model International Building Code covers those in Section 3102 when they stand for 180 days or longer; shorter stays fall under the fire code, with looser rules. Your state or county adopts its own edition with local changes, so ask which one applies.
Expect to be asked for numbers. A permanent yurt has to meet the local snow load, wind speed and seismic values, and the cover has to be flame resistant. The snow figure alone can swing widely over a few miles One yurt permitting guide gives the example of a town that requires 25 pounds per square foot beside a ski resort that requires 100.
A dwelling also triggers the rules for any house An approved heat source, emergency escape from sleeping areas, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a septic or sewer approval and the energy code. Insulation is the usual sticking point, because codes rate it by R-value and the thin reflective insulation used in fabric yurts scores low.
Do not count on a shed exemption. The model residential code exempts one-story detached accessory structures of 200 square feet or less from a building permit, and many places set a lower limit. A 16-foot yurt covers 201 square feet, a 14-foot one about 154. The exemption never covers a dwelling, and zoning setbacks apply either way.
Electrical, plumbing, gas and wood stove installations need their own permits and inspections, even in a yurt that needed no building permit.

What to ask a building official

Yurt Info: Yurts and Building Codes Free guide to the questions to ask a building official and how codes classify yurts

Kit or scratch: two ways to build, one way to heat

Kit YurtA manufacturer ships the lattice, rafters, roof ring, cable, covers, dome and door, with engineering documents and a manual. You build the platform and assemble the rest. This is the route that can pass a permit review, and the expensive one.

Start here

Ask two or three manufacturers for a written quote on the same diameter, and ask each for the engineered snow and wind ratings, the fabric flame certificates and the platform plan. Take those documents to your building office before you pay a deposit.

Yurt Info: Yurt Companies directory

Scratch-Built YurtYou cut and drill the lattice, shape the rafters, build the roof ring and sew the cover from published plans, in the manner of a traditional ger. Far cheaper in materials and far slower, and it comes with no load rating, which suits a small seasonal or portable yurt better than a permanent home.

Start here

Pick one published plan and build a short test section of lattice first: rip or buy a dozen slats, drill them on a jig and tie the crossings. An afternoon of this tells you whether you want to make the other few hundred holes.

Yurt Info: Yurt Plans

Wood Stove HeatAn add-on to either build for anyone who wants to use the yurt in cold weather. It brings the strictest safety rules on this page and its own permit.

Start here

Before buying a stove, ask the yurt maker or your plan which chimney exit and flashing it supports, then get a quote from a certified chimney installer. Decide where the stove sits before you build the platform, because the hearth and the pipe run fix its position.

Open a card for its first step. Each one also adds its own tools to the raising-day gear.

How a yurt stands up

Platform

A round, level deck the same diameter as the yurt. Manufacturers ask for it to sit at least 6 inches above the ground or any surrounding deck so the wall cover can lap over the edge and shed rain. Traditional gers sit on the ground with a felt or wood floor and are moved before the site gets muddy.

Lattice wall

Crossed slats pinned at each crossing so the wall folds like a baby gate. Stretched into a circle and fixed to the door frame, it carries the roof load down to the platform. On a home-built ger the wall is usually 4.5 to 6 feet high.

Tension band

A steel cable on a modern yurt, woven bands or rope on a traditional one, running around the top of the lattice from one side of the door frame to the other. The rafters push outward on the wall top, and the band is the only thing that resists that push. It is the most important structural part, so never cut it, loosen it under load or hang anything from it.

Rafters

Straight poles that rest on the tension band or wall top at the low end and plug into the roof ring at the high end, typically at a pitch of 20 to 35 degrees on a home build.

Roof ring

The wooden ring at the peak that every rafter presses against. It works in compression, which is why a well-made ring can stay up with no center post. Its diameter is usually 15 to 20 percent of the yurt's. A traditional ger adds two posts under it, and snow-country kits can add a center column.

Cover

On a fabric yurt, an inner liner, insulation, a coated roof membrane, a wall cover and a dome over the ring. On a ger, felt layers under canvas, tied down with ropes.

Choosing a size

Floor area grows with the square of the diameter. A 12-foot yurt has about 113 square feet, a 16-foot about 201, a 20-foot about 314 and a 30-foot about 707. Every step up also raises the roof loads, the price and the permit scrutiny, so a first build is easier at 16 feet or under.

Looking up inside a yurt at red rafters fanning out from the roof ring to a red lattice wall, with cream fabric between them — Rafters running from the roof ring down to the lattice wall

Safety: loads, fire and working at height

Snow and wind: Buy or build for your site, not the catalog photo. Ask the manufacturer for the engineered snow and wind rating of your exact diameter with and without upgrades. One large maker says its biggest model can be upgraded to carry 100 pounds per square foot of roof snow and 142 mph wind, and that takes extra rafter supports, cable blocking and heavier parts that a base kit does not include. A scratch-built yurt has no rating at all: clear snow off the roof early and prop the ring if a heavy fall is forecast.
Anchoring: The door frame and the foot of the lattice are fastened to the platform, and the platform to its footings. In high-wind areas makers add a cable that ties the roof ring down to the floor. An unanchored yurt can lift or rack in a storm.
Call 811 a few business days before digging platform footings so buried lines get marked, and set footings to the frost depth your building office gives you.
Raising the roof ring is the risky hour. The ring is held overhead while the first rafters go in, and it can drop until several are seated evenly around the circle. Use scaffolding or stepladders on the finished platform, at least two helpers, hard hats, and a calm day.
Ladders: Set an extension ladder one foot out for every four feet up, keep three points of contact, and never stand on the top cap of a stepladder. Do not lean a ladder on the lattice or the fabric.
Power tools: Wear eye and hearing protection for every cut, clamp the work, keep the saw guard working and unplug or remove the battery before changing a blade. Drilling hundreds of lattice holes is when attention drifts.
Wood stove clearances: The stove's listing label and manual set the distances to anything that can burn, and they govern. A stove with no label defaults to the old rule of 36 inches, and single-wall stovepipe needs 18 inches. The lattice, the liner, the insulation and the fabric all count as combustible. The stove sits on a non-combustible hearth pad sized by its manual.
Chimney through fabric: Never pass single-wall pipe through a wall or roof. Use insulated chimney sections and the wall or roof flashing kit made for fabric yurts by your manufacturer. A hardware-store roof flashing is designed for shingles and will leak or overheat the fabric. The usual code rule is a chimney top at least 3 feet above where it leaves the roof and 2 feet above anything within 10 feet, with a spark-arresting cap. Have a certified installer do it or inspect it.
Covers: Ask for the flame certificate before you buy fabric or a kit. Officials look for a pass under NFPA 701, and California requires fabric registered with its State Fire Marshal. Flame resistant means slow to ignite and self-extinguishing. It does not mean fireproof, and felt and untreated canvas carry no rating.
Alarms: Fit a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide alarm before the first night or the first fire, test them monthly, and keep a fire extinguisher by the door. A yurt usually has one door, so plan a second way out of the sleeping area, such as an opening window sized for escape.
Electrical and gas: Leave the wiring, the service connection and any propane or natural gas line to licensed trades with permits. Never run a generator, grill or unvented heater inside.

Official safety guidance, free to read

Sunlight on a lattice wall and a painted wooden double door inside a ger, a woven band running above them

From first phone call to finished yurt

Tick these off as you go

What you can get done in your first month

A zoning answer in writing

An email from the planning office saying whether a yurt is allowed on your lot, what it may be used for and which permits apply.

A night in a yurt

Many state parks and private campgrounds rent yurts, so you can learn how one sounds in rain, holds heat and feels to move around in before you commit.

A staked-out footprint

A circle marked on your site with a center stake and a string, with the door, stove and bed positions paced out at full size.

A test lattice section

A dozen slats drilled and tied into a folding panel, which shows you the repetitive heart of a scratch build at small cost.

A white yurt with an open orange door and a stovepipe at the end of a wooden boardwalk in green hills

What it really costs, and what trips beginners up

The kit price is where the bill starts

The kit price is the start of the bill. One long-established maker listed base prices of around $8,600 to $19,500 across its six sizes as of September 2024, before the platform, freight, insulation, snow and wind upgrades, stove, utilities and permits. Owners on the main yurt information site report totals well over $20,000. Get current quotes, because these figures move.
Scratch builds are cheap in cash and expensive in hours. Owners report home-built yurts for under $1,000 in materials, but a lattice wall means hundreds of drilled holes and tied crossings, and the cover is a serious sewing job. Nobody publishes a reliable hour count Allow a season of evenings and weekends, not a week.
Assembly day is fast and misleading. A manufacturer says a small kit goes up in a few hours and a large one in a weekend, and that a good carpenter with helpers needs a day or two for the platform. A first-time crew should plan on longer for both, and the weeks of planning, permits and waiting for a made-to-order kit come before any of it.
The platform is where first builds go wrong. A deck that is out of level or an inch off in diameter makes the lattice stand unevenly and the cover fit badly, and it is far harder to correct after the yurt is up.
Do not buy before asking. A yurt bought ahead of the zoning answer is the most expensive mistake in this hobby, and "it is only a tent" does not persuade an inspector once it has a stove and a bed.
Fabric is not a wall. A yurt is loud in rain and wind, loses heat quickly once the stove dies down, and can drip with condensation in cold weather unless you ventilate through the dome.
It needs upkeep. Fabric covers wear out and need replacing after some years in strong sun, mildew grows where air does not move, and the cover and cable need rechecking every season.

Where to learn

The best free starting point is the Yurt Info site, which indexes published plans, books and build write-ups, lists hands-on workshops and explains how to talk to a building official. Its sister forum is where owners post platform drawings, stove installs and permit stories from their own counties. For a scratch build, a calculator that turns your diameter into slat, rafter and ring dimensions saves a lot of arithmetic, and a printed book of plans is worth having at the bench. For a kit, the manufacturer's installation manual is the document to read twice before the truck arrives: ask for it when you request the quote. A weekend workshop where you help raise a real frame teaches the ring-raising step better than any video.

Inside a furnished ger: painted orange chests and a low table set with tea in front of the dark lattice wall — A lived-in ger, with painted furniture against the lattice wall

Plans, workshops and the builders' forum

What is on the list, and what is not

The three biggest costs are not products you can add to a cart: the permit, the yurt itself (a kit, or the lumber and fabric for a scratch build) and the platform materials. They head the list so the total stays honest. Everything below them is the tool kit and safety gear that both routes need to build a round platform and raise a frame: something to measure, cut, level and fasten with, a stepladder, and protection for eyes, ears and hands. Choose Kit Yurt to add the wrench set a bolted frame needs, or Scratch-Built Yurt to add the tools for cutting a roof ring, drilling lattice and stitching canvas. Wood Stove Heat adds the two small instruments that keep a stove burning cleanly; the stove, insulated chimney and yurt flashing kit come from a stove dealer and your yurt maker, sized to your yurt. If you already own a drill, a saw and a level, switch those lines out.

Seen through open wooden doors, a yurt interior with a clear dome over the roof ring, dark rafters and a lattice wall around a small arched door — Roof ring, rafters, lattice and door in a finished yurt

Gear for raising day

The first three lines, the permit, the yurt itself and the platform materials, are not things you buy online, so they carry no products. Every other general line starts in the kit. Tools for a Kit Yurt, a Scratch-Built Yurt or Wood Stove Heat stay out until you add that build, here, in the cart or from its card above. Clicking a card selects it, and clicking the selected card takes that line out.

Zoning answer and permits

essential · Planning and permits

Nothing else here is worth buying until you know a yurt is allowed on your lot and what the building office wants to see.

Not sold on Amazon · arrange it locally

Not sold on Amazon. The zoning answer is free from your city or county planning office. Permit fees vary by county and by whether the yurt is storage, a studio or a dwelling, and a dwelling may also need a stamp from an engineer licensed in your state. Ask for the fee schedule in writing.

Yurt kit, or lumber and fabric for a scratch build

essential · Core structure

This is the yurt itself: the lattice wall, rafters, roof ring, tension band, door and cover.

Not sold on Amazon · arrange it locally

Not sold on Amazon. For a kit, get written quotes from two or three manufacturers that include freight, insulation and any snow and wind upgrades, and ask for load ratings and flame certificates. For a scratch build, buy straight-grained lumber from a lumberyard and cover fabric with a flame certificate from a fabric supplier, in the quantities your plan gives.

Platform lumber, footings and hardware

essential · Core structure

Every yurt on this page stands on a round, level deck, and the frame is anchored to it.

Not sold on Amazon · arrange it locally

Not sold on Amazon. Buy pressure-treated framing, decking or plywood, concrete footings and connectors from a lumberyard, to the platform plan from your kit maker or your published plan. Prices swing with lumber markets, so price the cut list locally.

Safety glasses

essential · Safety gear

Sawing, drilling and driving screws overhead all throw chips at your face.

budget

DPG54-1C Safety Glasses, ANSI Z87.1+ Impact Rated, Clear Lens

4.7(11.4K)

$5.25

Yurt Building

Get your zoning answer and size your yurt for free

Where the yurt comes from

Zoning, codes and permits come first

Kit or scratch: two ways to build, one way to heat

How a yurt stands up

Safety: loads, fire and working at height

From first phone call to finished yurt

What it really costs, and what trips beginners up

Where to learn

What is on the list, and what is not

Gear for raising day

Zoning answer and permits

Yurt kit, or lumber and fabric for a scratch build

Platform lumber, footings and hardware

Safety glasses

Hearing protection earmuffs

Leather work gloves

Hard hat

Cordless drill and impact driver kit

7-1/4 inch circular saw

Heavy-duty extension cord

25-foot tape measure

4-foot level

Speed square

8-foot fiberglass stepladder

Exterior deck screws

ABC fire extinguisher

Combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm

Yurt building book

Socket and ratchet set

Jigsaw

Brad-point drill bit set

Braided nylon cord

Sewing awl

Magnetic stovepipe thermometer

Firewood moisture meter