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Basic facilities
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We now have our basic accommodation and sanitation in place.
The next priorities are to establish washing facilities.
Accommodation
We purchased a 5.8m Mongolian yurt or ger which arrived in the UK at the end of January 2009 and was delivered to Portugal by our intrepid (and recommended) man-with-a-van at the end of April. While buying a yurt from Mongolia might be considered extravagant, particularly with the embodied energy in its transportation from Ulaanbaatar to the UK and then to Portugal, it feels important to acknowledge a major source of this most excellent design of living space and give something back to a culture and way of life that's dying out under economic duress created by the ubiquitous spread of western values. (See Byambasuren Davaa's film Cave of the Yellow Dog.) Ulaantaij, the company manufacturing the yurts, have a sound ethical basis, source their wood from sustainable forests, and support Mongolian social programmes.
They also make really beautiful yurts in traditional style.
The evolution of the yurt
Before erecting the yurt, we built a wooden platfom to keep it off the ground. This makes a huge difference to the longevity of a yurt in the much damper European climate. The challenge with the platform is to construct a solid raised area for the yurt to sit securely on while allowing easy drainage of rainwater runoff. Wooden platforms that extend beyond the circumference of the yurt itself can allow water to pool and lead to damp and mould problems, so we cut the platform to the size of the yurt after it was erected.
We used old tyres (free from a local garage) filled with rammed earth to make the pillars for the platform and preserved the joists and underside of the floor timbers with used engine oil. Not only does this seem to be one of the most effective treatments for preventing insects attacking the wood (which can be a big problem in Portugal), they don't appear to be interested in setting up home anywhere near it either. The upper surface of the platform is preserved with linseed oil.
To prevent wind and rain driving underneath the covers at platform level, we tacked a skirt of plastic about 1m wide around the circumference of the platform, and folded this up between the felt and inner canvas layers. Although this does reduce the breathability of the walls, if the yurt is inhabited there is no problem with allowing evaporation of any dampness into the yurt interior which is then taken care of by natural ventilation.
This proved to be a wise decision given the enormous amount of rain which fell in Portugal in the winter months of late 2009 – early 2010. Despite all our precautions, the sheer amount of rain meant that water eventually soaked through. The only solution in such situations is to make sure the yurt is constantly inhabited and a stove kept running to dry it out as fast as it gets wet. Even so, the felt and inner liner were constantly wet at floor level throughout the winter and early spring. No permanent damage appears to have resulted though.
We also had problems with the door and door frames swelling. By mid January 2010, neither outer nor inner doors would close properly. They dried out during the summer months, but for the following winter we built a porch to protect the entrance and have had no problems closing the doors since.
The latest adaptation is to cover the yurt with shade netting. Perhaps surprisingly, it's not so much the rain that causes problems for the canvas covers as the sun. The strength of the Portuguese sun in summer causes the canvas to rot and covers can last no longer than 2-3 years if not protected.
Cooking
Initially we're using a camping stove and the heating stove in the yurt, but need a better solution for accommodating volunteers and visitors and for more varied meals. The idea at the moment is to construct a kitchen area and bread oven along with the other facilities. We'll be experimenting with solar cookers too.
Washing
At the beginning of 2010, we were aiming to have a solar-heated shower and washing area up and running as soon as practicable.
When Chris and Ema, and then Chris's brother Michael, decided to come and join us for most of 2010, all of that took a back seat. With our 'volunteers' renting a flat down in the village (including shower and washing machine), the pressure was off to provide these facilities at the quinta. With their return to Scotland at the beginning of 2011, we once again need to make these facilities a priority.
In January we managed to divert an old washing machine from the village on its way to the lixo, and with a few runs of hosepipe were able to set up a working arrangement in the unfinished log store.
Work on creating a solar shower began at the end of May 2011.
For winter we've got a wood-burning German Badeofen.
More details once I've thought through the construction and the plumbing.
Sanitation
See the Sanitation project page for more details. We'll be constructing simple collecting toilets (basically a 20-litre plastic bucket in a wooden box with a toilet seat on top) and a couple of compost bins for the processing.
Traduzir esta páginaEspero para fornecer uma versão Português deste site, quando ele é mais completo, e quando eu puder escrever melhor Português. Por agora, o link acima irá dar-lhe uma traduçâo do Google.