Smiling Woods Yurt Kits for Round, Permanent Living

When most people think of yurts what comes to mind are the fabric or canvas options that might feel a little less secure than your average camping tent. While the traditional yurt is made to be broken down, a wooden yurt offers the same spiritual round shape but on a more permanent basis.

Traditional yurts made of canvas are made to be moved regularly.

Smiling Woods Yurts in Methow Valley, Wash. still celebrates the round shape, but with stronger and safer materials. Their handcrafted yurt home kits are made with solid wood walls and solid glass windows. The company works to source environmentally friendly materials and to create as little waste as possible. The structures are made from high-quality lumber, non-toxic adhesives and environmentally-conscious roofing.

Smiling Woods Yurts sells wood yurt kits for permanent foundations.

While the homes are more permanent than a fabric or canvas yurt, each home can be custom designed and engineered for any location. The process does not include the foundation and Smiling Woods does recommend you use a licensed building contractor and obtain the correct permitting for a round home.

The homes come in five sizes from 20 to 41 feet.

Smiling Woods offers five sizes of yurts. The smallest of the yurts is the Birch 20 which is good for a small cabin or retreat. A good size for a tiny house would be the Maple 25 or the Cedar 30. Each of these designs offer enough space for bedrooms and small kitchens. The homes go up in size to 41 feet in circumference with the Sequoia 41.

The homes can have interior walls, lofts, bathrooms, kitchens and fitted cabinetry.

All the homes include a standard 8-foot wall height, vinyl-framed thermal windows, solid wood doors, galvanized metal roof, and a triple pane skylight at the top of each structure. Various options are available for the windows, doors and skylights. French door framing and doors are also available.

Each kit comes with fully assembled walls and all the hardware for an exterior shell.

Each shell kit comes fully prefabricated with fully assembled walls and pre-cut roof components. All trim and hardware for the external shell is included. Foundation, flooring, utilities, plumbing, and electrical can be finished by the owner or a licensed builder.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]