Maintenance agreement w/county to remove snow?

[Groovyyurts]

because of the way the authentic ger is made, it is difficult to get good calculation. We had some engineering drawings made here, but the values are quite low. Mani you are welcome to contact me directly on yvesgroovyyurts.com.
We've had yurts with up to 2 or 3 feet of wet snow, but it is very important that the outside circling ropes are very tight. We do recommend removing the snow off the roof when used, mostly for breathing purposes. If you leave the yurt unattended in winter and expect heavy snow falls, you can also add two temporary additional central posts and maybe a ratchet strap circling the entire yurt at the top of the wall.

[jeritchie]

I didn't say or even imply that that a "ger" couldn't handle a snow load or how much of one.

What I said was "calculation of a Snow load" as in the math you need to turn in to City/State to get permitted.

What my point was and is, due to the tightening of building codes around the U.S. It is very hard to get yurts approved without the "calculation" booklet/math on snow and wind loads.

In the old days all you needed was an engineering stamp with the rating on a piece of paper. NOW states like Wisconsin, you not only need the booklet, you must have an engineer from that state wet stamp also.

Due to the fact that not only the type of wood is different than what is used in the U.S., most parts are laced together in a "ger". So simply put no one has bother or done the need "calculation" for snow or wind on these type of imports.

We had 2 "gers" from Mongolia given to us by missionaries. They were great. I was amazed at how tight everything went together and most was done with simple hand tools.

I should point out, that I learned about yurts and started to make them as a member of the Larp group " Society for Creative Anachronism" and my first gers was built on those designs. In fact, I kept some of the 3000 year old design in our current commercial yurts.

MOST don't know, due to commercial yurt designs, that real "gers" have 2 center pole (called Bagana "pillars"). Due to people not wanting to take away from the openness of a commercial yurt a "center" pole is only used when the need of "snow load" comes into play.

So again it's not about if a import "ger" can handle any, but it's about if the city/state will approve it without the needed paper work.


To make this clear, let me give you this example, in Florida you need a "puncher" rating to get a "high velocity rating" for any dwelling. aka hurricane force rating.

What we did at the shop is set up a 20 foot yurt just like it would be done in the field and shot target arrows at it from a 50lb bow and 25 yards. NO arrow went more than 6 inches into the yurt.

This was very cool and showed how the weaves stopped penetration, but it was no way a "scientific" test or any type of scale of what would be required from the state of Florida. I could tell the guy in code enforcement about this, he might even say "dammmmmmn" but he won't be about to take it as "empirical" data for a puncher rating.

If you though I was in any way putting down import gers, sorry I was not, I only was point out, needed building code information.

Ken

[Groovyyurts]

Originally Posted by jeritchie

If you though I was in any way putting down import gers, sorry I was not, I only was point out, needed building code information.

Ken

Not at all !! And quite the opposite actually - your comments make absolute sense! I like the words about "most parts being laced together in a ger" - it proves a good understanding of the structure! :-)

Yves