Humidity and Air Circulation
Day to Day Maintenance
If your yurt becomes damp or wet for any reason, lighting a fire in your wood stove will help dry it from the inside out. Attention! Propane stoves can actually produce moisture and exacerbate existing moisture issues.
Air Circulation
Our Mongolian friends are so ingenious that the very shape of the yurt encourages a natural draft. All that’s needed to take advantage of this is to encourage airflow into the interior of the yurt. Physics will take care of the rest. There are multiple ways to accomplish this, but the most efficient & effective way is to simultaneously:
Open the urgh
Roll up the sides of the yurt.
Open the doors and window(s)
Now, when we say roll up the sides, we don’t mean around the yurt. This method is effective, but the fact is, rolling the felts and vapour barrier up around the yurt is incredibly time-consuming & not always smooth sailing, especially when you have a vapour barrier. The remedy is to:
Simply tie a rope about 2 feet up on the lattice walls.
Slide it underneath all the layers and up through to the exterior in 2 or 3 spots.
When you need to encourage airflow, simply lift up that rope and tie it to one of the outside tension ropes.
Location
Install your yurt in a well-ventilated area to ensure the yurt is getting as much sun and wind exposure as possible. Shade is great, but this could exacerbate a humidity or dampness problem. Since the yurt is highly breathable and the insulating felts also help to keep the yurt cool in warm weather, the sun exposure should not mean it’s going to be hotter in the yurt. It will, however, help to keep the yurt dry! Open grassland is preferred to a forest setting.
House Wrap
In a humid climate, we highly recommend installing a layer of house wrap. If well installed between the felts and canvas, the house wrap will keep the yurt waterproof and therefore significantly decrease the risk of mold. It slightly reduces the breathability of the yurt but so far it is the best compromise for humid climates!
In winter, the snow should be removed regularly from your yurt, otherwise, it will thaw and freeze and prevent your house wrap from breathing.
Absence and Storing
If you are planning to leave your yurt unattended for a long period of time (more than a few weeks), especially during damper seasons, we suggest taking it down and storing it in a dry, secure place.
If you have to leave your yurt for longer periods of time in the winter but do not wish to take it down, we suggest placing two additional 4x4 support posts under the toono.
You should also ensure that your exterior ropes are tight. The horsehair ropes can be replaced or complemented with straps and ratchets to keep everything tight while you’re away. Ideally, you can arrange to have someone light a fire in the yurt at least once or twice a week to minimize any possible issues caused by prolonged humidity.
Custom Ventilation Traps
In extremely humid climates, you may want to encourage more airflow by cutting panels out of your door and putting them on hinges. To protect from bugs, you can also screen this in with netting.
This last solution will require some technical expertise, but if you have the resources and expertise, we have seen some customers create a rudimentary geothermal heating and cooling system through their platform floor. By running a pipe underground from the exterior of the yurt into the interior through the platform, you can take advantage of the ambient air temperatures underground in warmer climates to cool and circulate fresh air.
Ventilation
Install a mesh/mosquito netting on the toono (center dome). We sell custom-fitted mosquito netting for the toono, but you can also do it yourself. We secure our netting with Velcro on the open half of the toono (buy two halves for a full toono); that way it can be opened and closed from the inside of the yurt for access to the roof. Mosquito netting can also be installed around the base of the yurt walls to keep bugs out.
Air Exchangers
Solar fans, air exchanges and dehumidifiers are a luxury addition, but our customers have spoken highly of their effectiveness in promoting air circulation and reducing humidity.
Humidity Spots Caused by Condensation:
During winter and in colder climates, humidity that is created inside the yurt evaporates through the felt insulation and can condensate on the cold surface of the house wrap With nowhere to go, the condensation will accumulate in the felts and will eventually drip back into the yurt.
Make sure to regularly monitor any production of humidity caused by showering, cooking, drying clothes or wood, etc. These can all produce a lot of moisture within the yurt.
Make sure to ventilate the yurt by cracking open the toono or lifting the urgh a little bit to allow the moisture to escape.
If your inner liner shows brown or yellow stains where you had humidity spots, an easy fix is to spray the affected area with a solution of water and vinegar or bleach. The inner liner can also be washed in an industrial-grade washing machine.
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