admin, Author at Eureka Yurts and Cabins

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.

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

Finish out update

28 October, 201825 December, 2019in Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin7 comments

Front Door

Petrified Wood Sink

Shower

Locally sourced Black Walnut for the countertops.

Dryed in, Finish-Out started

17 June, 201823 March, 2019in Building Eureka Yurts Decisions & Plans by admin

We now have the roof on. It was quite difficult because my harness was made to catch you in the event of a fall. The clip was designed to be in the back. Notice the belt on my back to hold the harness together. We had to retrofit it backwards so we could repel down the roof and pre-drill the holes and then screw it down. In order to do this you had to support your weight with one arm while you worked with the other.

Skylight installed. I only cut my forearm once on the edge of the roof getting it to the top. #superglue

Interior after sheet rock, texture, paint, and fixtures.

Interior looking over the deck to the view.

Kitchen, Bar area, and front door.

This is a sink I found for the bathroom. It carved out of a petrified wood tree log. It is stunning.

This a google earth photo of our property. The far left is our current house. In the middle is Yurt 1 (tarp on the roof) and bottom right is Yurt 2 (the one we are working to finish first). If you look real close you can see us working on the roof.

These are the materials that we have chosen for the finish out. Flat pebble rock shower floor, tile for the shower walls, bathroom and living room paint colors and high-end vinyl flooring (no grout lines and looks just as good as wood due to a lot of variations in the planks).