Wiring a yurt

For a while I ran an extension cord up under the edge of the canvas of the yurt. This works but doesn't let you seal that edge to keep warm air in. So we decided to wire up the yurt.

First, I dug a trench from the subpanel to the yurt. Hand digging this soil is hard, and I don't put up with much of that sort of thing. But a machine wouldn't help, because of the close quarters. I got a little over a foot below grade. The specified frost depth for footings is 12" here, so I figure I'm doing fine. I laid down two runs of conduit - one to the subpanel, and one for telephone.

There are well-known ways to wire a conventional house, but they don't apply well to yurts. In a house, wires are run through the walls, through holes in studs, to boxes mounted to studs. A yurt doesn't have enclosed walls or studs, so what to do?

One option is floor outlets with covers. These cost about $50 each, and I'd want quite a few around the yurt. Also, plugging in to the floor is annoying if they're in the wrong spot - everything bumps in to the plugs.

Instead, I decided to add studs. An optional feature on the yurt is the "Snow and Wind Kit", with these parts:

• 2" x 4" studs under each rafter
• angle brackets to attach the studs in to the floor
• tie plates to attach the studs to the rafters
• brackets to attach the rafters to the center compression ring
• 2 wires that zigzag through the rafters to spread loads between them and keep them from shifting
• a screw through the lattice in to each stud

We don't get high winds through here, nor heavy snows, but those studs sure provide a convenient place to attach junction boxes. 

I picked over the 2x4 pile at the lumber yard, picking some that were straight and looked nice. I bought angle brackets and tie plates to fasten the studs to the floor and rafters, but skipped the other elements of the kit. 

We installed one each at 12 O'Clock, 3 O'Clock, 6 O'Clock, and 9 O'Clock. I only did 4 spots for now, to get the most bang for the buck. Later we'll come back and add a a bunch more + ceiling lights and a light switch.

EMT tubing comes up through the floor in to a metal box on the stud. Romex is stapled to the underside of the joists in the "crawlspace".