Suddenly, all seems right with the world.

We spent a full day on Saturday laying in the new flooring in the front half of the yurt so we could place the stove, pan, pipe, and cap. Everything came together on Sunday with the custom installation since they don’t sell pre-fab yurt roof chimney vents at Home Depot.

We covered one of the window frames with sheet metal cut to fit and then added the angled roof jack on top. While we did use adhesive and hardware to mount the sheeting to the frame, we’re planning to add another layer of protection with some Great Stuff fire block to fill all the gaps around the duct at the roof penetration. (Somehow this didn’t make it into the cart during our last trip to the store.) We may also need to add a 24-inch extension to the pipe if we find the hot embers are coming too close for comfort.

Working the urgh, or roof cover, was a little bit tricky with the vent creating an obstruction to the typical manner of closing and opening the canvas flap for ventilation and protection from the rain. Ben decided to reconfigure the points of attachment for the three stabilizing ropes and one control rope so that we can cover the large openings in the toono (domed skylight) without disturbing the vent. We haven’t had any rain to test it out yet, so stay tuned for a status report in the coming weeks!

Inside, ‘Ostaf’ brightened up to be her cheery old self with just a little bit of wood. The inside temps rose comfortably with only a minor episode of excessive smoke when the residual paint and debris were burned off. We’ll be installing a magnetic chimney thermometer soon to help us regulate the fire so we don’t harm the toono wood inches away from the double-walled pipe, and we’ll have a better gauge for stovetop cooking.

Sweet revenge… The mouse house made for nice kindling to start our first fire, and Radar can now finally sleep in peace!!

Don’t forget to check out our Shoppers Guide to read more about the items that have been essential to us starting our homestead.