Maintenance agreement w/county to remove snow?

[seanhbailey]

Hey guys, we are 10 psf away from meeting the code for snow load with a Pacific Yurt with its apline package. Super disappointing. Pac yurts told me that they had clients sign maintenance agreements with the county saying that they would remove the snow if it got past a certain depth. Has anyone here had success with that? I would like to know how I should approach this with the building officials. The lot we want to buy is 7500 feet and is located in Oakley, UT. Help on the matter would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[Bob Rowlands]

My advice here is based on building one house and also regularly dealing with inspectors at work.

Know what you want when you walk into their office. Look the 'officials' in the eye when talking with them and be clear and firm while stating your case. Listen to what they tell you as well. You need to know exactly what it is you want from them - a bipass -while discussing your needs. Be 100% honest and upfront as well. Remember these guys are just doing their job, they aren't the enemy.

These guys deal with experienced builders all the time, and those guys walk in the door prepared with a plan. Wishy washy "Can you help me out here?' talk probably insn't gonna get you anywhere. Good luck

[jeritchie]

about your "down load" or "pounds per square foot";

what is the min they are looking for? do you have a center pole installed, there are a few questions needing to be answered here to get proper help.

All yurt companies have basic "load" ratings, there are things you can add on to or after market that would increase these ratings.

If you start with a basic yurt and basic snow and wind kits, here are things to increase this.

rafters; most yurt companies only go up to 2x6, others you can op for 2x8 or even 2x10s

vertical supports. most only offer 2x4 you might be able to get 2x6; most only will do 2x6, if that. With this are they just screwed together or is there metal for support?

perimeter blocking; this adds support around the circumference of the yurt where the rafters meet the lattice. This is important for those that have large amount of snow on sides pushing inward.


rafter blocking; this adds support to the rafter system. In stead of the cable peventing rafter warping, the blocking does. It also changes the load on the rafter from a single point to mult point.


Center pole. This changes the load from 30' across to only fifteen, this makes a major difference in the "psf" count.


Last would be inside walls that reaches the rafters. Just like on a stick-framed house, if you have the rafters supported by the inside walls, then your "psf" changes.


With all this being said. I have to ask you: Did you ask the county code what the PSF was before you contacted the company you got the yurt from?


IF you said I need 65psf for my area and they said yes and you have it in writing, then you have something to "bit*ch" about. But if you bought the yurt and then found out that it wasn't right, then you should have done more home work.

I am not saying you might not have been mislead, but it's the salesperson job to get you to say yes and when it comes to yurts anyone that claims they know the code for everywhere and everything, well lets just say, they don't and leave it at that. When we are asked, the answer is "yes, no, maybe"

Code enforcement, changes every freaking year. It changes from city to city county to county, state to state; and even if you get this right, you could end up fighting your HOA, some environmental group or just a pissy neighbor that just doesn't like you.

So before you put the blame on the yurt company, did you do your homework first?

[Bob Rowlands]

Very good post. Thanks.

[HawaiiYurts]

I enjoyed that very much, Ritchie! Looks like you've been around the yurt permitting block since I saw you last Isn't it a *lovely* block? lol.

Basically, what he said.

If you don't have a central post, you can add a post, but I'm pretty sure PY's winter yurt would have that. There are always ways to bulk up, it's up to you whether you remove said 'bulk' later after passing the sometimes silly codes. 10 lbs psf doesn't seem insurmountable. Ask Pacific if they can talk to their engineers to help you devise a way to meet that. Often times code enforcement is all about minimizing their liability. Help county code enforcement do that and you'll probably be good to go.

M

[Jafo]

Pacific Yurts

does offer a steel central column. That should get you where you need to be.

[Mani]

Roof load....needhelp
Hy there, i am from austria and i got a 9m diameter original mongolian yurt!
Now with this size of a yurt i need to know the load which could this yurt take for the registration in town!
Here in europe and also in mongolia they have no idea or calculation how much it can or could take?!
Thats the only thing i need to final the registration!
I am in Salzburg & it will be the first registered yurt here, also the biggest

I hope u can help me!!

Here r the specs:

9m diameter original mongolian yurt;
128 poles from the wall to the

center ring

which is 2m diameter;
3 poles are carrying the

center ring

;

Need the load in kg/m2

������������Hope theres somebody out there who can help!!

Thanks, Mani

[Jafo]

Well, I would be surprised if anyone could give you the exact load without knowing anything about the yurt. Traditional Mongolian yurts are not all made the same. I would imagine your best bet might be to contact the guys over at

Groovy Yurts

as they build these for a living and might be able to tell you what THEIR yurts are rated for.

[Mani]

Originally Posted by Jafo

Well, I would be surprised if anyone could give you the exact load without knowing anything about the yurt. Traditional Mongolian yurts are not all made the same. I would imagine your best bet might be to contact the guys over at

Groovy Yurts

as they build these for a living and might be able to tell you what THEIR yurts are rated for.

Great, cheers my friend!
I dont need an exact load, if it is an example or a calculation of another yurt it doesnt matter, it should be a mongolian yurt and a calculation with it! Just that the building department in austria get an idea about it u know!

I contact the groovies straight away, these yurts look like mine

Thanks a loot!!

[trihartsfield]

Originally Posted by Mani

Great, cheers my friend!
I dont need an exact load, if it is an example or a calculation of another yurt it doesnt matter, it should be a mongolian yurt and a calculation with it! Just that the building department in austria get an idea about it u know!

I contact the groovies straight away, these yurts look like mine

Thanks a loot!!

I have a groovy Yurt set up in North Idaho and last year it got between 12-14 inches on it and it seemed to hold up ok but I would not want to leave it up without removing the snow.

I am not in the yurt full time so to be safe I built a structure over the yurt so I would not have to worry.

My guess would be that they are designed to have someone in them and either removing the snow or having a fire in the yurt all the time so the snow melts.

Chris