Why a Wall Tent?

The idea of owning a portable house is very appealing to me. It frees me from having to own land and allows me to rent land instead. And full home ownership and portability meet two of my main requirements for housing. So I began searching for ideas on portable housing.

And a great way to get some ideas is to do a Google Image search for "portable housing"! Wow! (Give it a try, seriously!) I spent hours looking through the images. Running through the various pros and cons in my mind. Imagining what it would be like to actually live in some of those structures.

As I browsed and let my imagination go, I found myself attracted to one type of structure in particular: the tipi.

Tipi

I just couldn't get away from the idea of living in a tipi! It's very portable, very economical, and to me it's very aesthetically appealing. And the more I thought about a fabric house, the more I liked it! From a maintenance standpoint, I could just replace the outer fabric every few years for a few hundred dollars and a few hours work. And the lack of insullation was both good and bad. It meant that I would stay very close to nature, hearing the morning song birds and evening raindrops (which I love!) and that I would immediately feel Winter's cold and Summer's heat (which is not so good)

But the tipi has some design problems. The opening at the top means that rain will enter and heat will leave. And the inside space is less than ideal for the human form. What was needed was a sealed roof, straighter walls, and a lower ceiling. Something like...a yurt!

Yurt

Now we're talking! (And I sure do like the idea of an actual door!) But man, those yurt kits sure are expensive for what you get. And building one is kinda tricky with everything being round and all. Even building the circular platform seemed more complicated than it needed to be. Too bad it's not all square like...a wall tent!

Wall tent

Yep, a wall tent. A square tipi with straight walls, a sealed roof, and a low ceiling. I'll take it!