Blog Archives

Infrastructure Done

20 March, 202320 March, 2023in Blog, Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin

The dirt work is completely done. All utilities have been run to the Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (CEB) cabin. This includes water, electrical and internet. We are now in full production of the blocks.

This is a sample of the proposed wall section. There will be an outside course of CEB Blocks, an insulation break of polystyrene and another course of CEB Blocks on the interior wall. The wall will be approximately 16 inches thick with a R-Value of about 24.

This is an existing CEB structure in California. This is very similar to our design. The entire south facing side is going to be almost entirely windows.

This is a similar layout to our design. There will be a wood slab bar on the bridging to an island. The island will be capped with locally sourced 2 inch Black Walnut live edge slabs.

CEB Cabin Infrastructure 90% Complete

25 December, 202227 December, 2022in Blog, Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a prosperous and Happy New Year!

We have been hard at work during November and December getting all the dirt work and infrastructure complete for the new Compressed Earth Block (CEB) cabin. We’ve trenched and installed the electrical conduit, water line, and septic tank connections. Now we are waiting for our electric company to install the meter and hook up the service side. At that point, we will have all utilities available to the new CEB Cabin. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to install the conduit for the internet. So that is still on the to-do list.

Here are some pictures of the work we have been doing.

Preparing the base for the electrical meter base — We are preparing the pad for the electrical transformer.

Stem walls with water proof membrane being applied — Stem walls with the waterproof membrane being applied

Testing Compressed Earth Block (CEB) Production

11 September, 202220 March, 2023in Blog, Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin

We have started testing block production using the Hydraform M7 Compressed Earth Block Machine. Since we don’t really have “dirt” here, (only dirty rocks), we have decided to follow the lead of my friend Brandon Gore. He used crushed limestone fines as a substitue for dirt. So we have settled on a mix of limestone fines, white portland cement, hydrated lime, and water as the components of the block material. After some experimentation with the ratios, we have a formula to move forward. Here is a picture of the finished test blocks.

The recommended construction method suggests to securely mortar the first course of bricks to the foundation, and dry stack the remaining courses.

Compressed Earth Block Cabin Foundation is Complete

11 September, 202223 September, 2022in Blog, Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin

We have been working hard on the foundation prep and pour for our new Compressed Earth Block (CEB) cabin. The plumbing stub out had to be completed prior to the final slab pour. Hopefully, this will be the worst task during the CEB cabin build. While my good friend Vince Barnes was visiting #EurekaYurts, I told him I had to dig a 30 foot trench for the plumbing stub out. He asked if he could help. I said sure, but, it is going to be very hard work! He replied “Nah, it won’t be that bad”! Eight hours and two days later, with 3 guys and a hammer chisel, the task was done. At which time Vince said “Please don’t have me help you dig in Arkansas again!”. Thank you Vince for helping!

So after the digging and stub out was complete, this is a picture of the footings, stem walls, and foundation for the compressed earth block cabin.

Groundbreaking for the Stabilized CEB Cabin

22 May, 202222 May, 2022in Blog, Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin1 comment

Ground breaking on cabin 3 has begun. This last week we have been working on removing trees and shaping the lot to prepare for pouring the foundation for cabin 3 (stabilized CEB cabin). The original design was to take out part of the hill and move the dirt forward to create the flat area for a concrete foundation for the CEB walls. In the end we decided to make a walk out basement with the public accessible cabin on top. The rational behind this decision was swayed do to the following.

Decision Factors

This would provide a space for a pseudo storm shelter which Melissa had been wanting for a long time.
This would raise the living area of the cabin about 9′ and would enhance the view.
This will also yield more storage / living area. We are going to stub out shower, sink and a toilet.
And one of the most important. Since this cabin is going to be fully wheel chair accessible, this will allow a “fairly” level entry into the cabin. Nothing is level here.

This was the initial state of the area where the circular drive was going to go.

This is the result of some of the clearing. One long backbreaking day of chain sawing with the help of my friend, Morris Dillow!

It didn’t take long to hit some massive flint and quartz rocks that the excavator could not break. So we had to use the hydraulic hammer to break up the rocks to get where we needed to be.

In the end, our amazing excavator magician finished the pad site, and driveway in 2 days.

Final pad site. The grade drops about 7 feet and the basement walls will be a little over 8 feet. The clearing for the pad is about 46 x 22. The cabin will be about 40 x 16 with a kick out for the bedroom.

Rough-in on the driveway.

Elevation from the main road.

Top of the pad site.

Cabin 3 Teaser

6 June, 202121 May, 2022in Blog by admin

Cabin 3 Is On the Way!

We have started planning on the 3rd cabin. This will complete the name of our business. Eureka Yurts and “Cabins”. You might be thinking, “Why build a cabin? Cabins are a dime a dozen here! How could any cabin be better than the Yurts?” So here is the deal. The next cabin is going to be built out of DIRT! The next reaction I usually get is, “That sound cool, we will stay in the Yurts.” And, that is OK too. But anyone who knows me also knows I am not going to build something less innovating than the previous build.

This cabin is going to be made of Compressed Earth Block (CEB). The blocks are made by a diesel hydraulic block making machine capable of producing a block every 14 seconds.

Stay tuned for more details! This is going to be BIG. I promise.

Thank You!

1 January, 20207 September, 2021in Blog by Melissa Versiga

We are so thankful for a successful first year at Eureka Yurts and Cabins. We started 2019 just renting to our friends and family then in March we had our first guests book on our website and stay in Pine View Yurt. We finished White Oak Yurt and started renting it towards the end of August. We’ve had one engagement that we know of, a few honeymoon stays, and lots of guests celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries. ❤

We appreciate all the nice comments left in our guest books and all the recommendations, 5 star and 10 out of 10 ratings left online. Guests have referred other people to earn credit towards a future stay and you can too! Just tell others to go to our website to book their stay and make sure they tell us that you referred them. Once they’ve checked in we apply a credit to your account worth 10% of their nightly rate. (Credits are valid for stays at Eureka Yurts only, no cash value.) You can also split the referral discount by offering a coupon code so the guest you refer gets 5% off their stay. If you don’t have an account or you would like a coupon code, email your request to [email protected] and we’ll send you more information.

We’ve enjoyed sharing our yurt build experience with so many wonderful people and look forward to meeting you in 2020!

Blake & Melissa

Springtime at Eureka Yurts

17 April, 20195 July, 2019in Blog, Nature by Melissa Versiga

Loving the springtime changes and new bird arrivals at Eureka Yurts & Cabins. We have had some really pretty sunsets lately. Normally I only see the really bright colors in the morning. We have lots of dogwoods all around the property that are blooming and the trees are greening up quickly. It’s almost as if you can watch the changes happening.

On the wildlife front, the coyotes have been yipping and the Barred Owls and Whip-Poor-Wills have started calling at night. The Eastern Bluebirds are preparing the nest box and the male is fetching dinner! We had a first of the season Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrive yesterday and also a bright blue male Indigo Bunting. The Red-headed Woodpeckers also came back to our property this week.

We already have a lot of bookings for the rest of April, but there might still be open dates for you during the weekdays. May is also a great time to visit Eureka Springs. We’ll have some jelly for you so hopefully the Baltimore and Orchard Orioles will visit your yurt while you are here! We look forward to sharing our little piece of heaven with you.

Pine View Yurt is Ready!

3 February, 20197 September, 2021in Blog by admin

The end of 2018 we rented to friends and family to help us prepare for this endeavor, and now we are ready for you! We don’t have the hot tub on the back deck yet, but we are starting to rent our 25′ yurt in the woods! The 2nd yurt is in the works and will be ready August 2019.

The yurts sleep 1 or 2 adults comfortably on a king size bed with a Premium 3 Purple Mattress. There is a well-equipped kitchen so, if you want to, you can stay at your yurt and enjoy the large private deck nestled in the woods. If staying in isn’t your idea of a vacation, then the restaurants, shops, and entertainment of Eureka Springs are minutes away. If you love the outdoors you can bird watch and explore on our property which has 32 acres. For the adventurous, we are only 1 mile from the drop off for the downhill mountain bike trails around Lake Leatherwood. If being on the water is your thing, we’re just a few miles from the crystal clear waters of Beaver Lake and the White River. We hope you’ll enjoy just being in nature, but if you can’t disconnect we offer free Wifi and a 49″ smart TV so you can watch your Hulu, Amazon, Netflix and more.

We are working on the booking website and hope to have it up in a couple weeks. In the meantime, you can send us the dates you are looking at and we will get back with you on the yurts availability. Message us from our page facebook.com/EurekaYurts or you can email [email protected].

We look forward to having you!
Blake and Melissa

Raise the ROOF!

11 February, 201821 May, 2022in Blog, Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin

Winter has arrived. And with it comes the inevitable construction delays.

After the wall were erected on Yurt 1, it was time to raise the Roof. First step was to calculate the height and positioning of the center compression ring. Once the calculations were complete, checked and rechecked, it was time to construct the stand on which the compression ring would sit. After it was build, Gator and I had to figure out how to get the stand on top of the scaffolding. After a couple failed plans and near drops or falls, we finally succeeded.

Next we had to get the compression ring on top of the 14′ 7″ stand. HUM? For this we had to bring in some additional muscle. Much like the stand, several attempts were made using a pulley system to no avail. So, we decided on trying to build a ramp from the top of the wall to the stand. After a couple hours, the Eagle had landed.

The next task was to secure the roof rafters from the top of the walls to the compression ring. Some slight modifications had to be made to the rafters before we could install. After several hours of tweaking we finally had the first four rafters up. Then came the rain.

We tarped the yurt with a 6 mil 50 x 50 tarp. No easy feat on a rocky slope, I will let you know. We though we had the tarp tight enough to slope the water off the roof, but upon inspection the next day we had huge areas on top of the roof holding massive amounts of water. The tarp grommets had pulled free on several of the tie-downs. So, it looked like we had built an awesome rain water collection system. After several hours I got the water siphoned off the tarp and we reinforced the tie-downs.

Then came the snow. The dogs loved it, the production schedule hated it. I was pressing to try and get the rafters up before the weather set in so we would work inside on the ceiling panels, but it did not happen.

That is the update. Next up is getting the rafters up on Yurt 2, building and installing 80 ceiling sections, wiring the interior, plumbing stubbed out, AC lines installed, and finally having the outer ceiling, interior walls and exterior floor spary foamed with insulation, and metal roofing installed.