Q: Thickness of polyacrylic domes?

[TSRalex]

Originally Posted by Jay Aimes

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Jay!

[Bob Rowlands]

Jay, that's a good point about using a rope to stop the roof cover from ballooning up in heavy wind. I made a rope bridle for my 16' yurt out of a fifty foot piece of retired 11mm climbing rope. It encircled the rafters about half way up the span. I preformed five equidistant loops in it (the circumference of the roof half way up the rafter span, divided by five) and anchored those loops with cordage to ground anchors.

That not only cuts the ballooning but also helps anchor the yurt to the ground if it isn't attached to a platform. Mongolians do this as they travel various pasturelands. My first 14' yurt was destroyed from being picked up and tossed 25 yards in a massive blizzard. Sticks and canvas aftermath looked like a crashed WWI plane.

It's all a learning experience. That one was particularly tough to take. Eight full days of work blown to smithereens in seconds. Just like everything else, you figure it out as you go. Experience is the REAL teacher.

[Jay Aimes]

Funny. not the haha kind. we got hit with a wicked wind storm the day we were putting the roof on and ended up chasing it across the field. it twisted everything but thankfully and luckily nothing was actually damaged. it was definitely a learning from doing type of project. but we couldn't be happier. i built and installed real windows a few years ago. walk in glass shower, loft. composting toilet. livin the dream.

[Bob Rowlands]

Good job. Thanks for the post.

A few years ago I was in our house, when suddenly out of nowhere there came a very loud noise, like a jet was about to crash nearby. As it turned out the noise wasn't a jet, it was a large whirlwind, with all manner of debris blowing around within it, just like in the movies.

It went screaming over our house, trashing shingles in the process. I ran from the office to the back slider and looked out and saw the whirlwind hit the back yard, and head directly towards my yurt. I just couldn't believe my eyes. Sure enough it hit it dead center. The split second it hit, the cover inflated like a bomb went off inside, cover way off all wood lath and rafters, it looked like a balloon. A second later after it passed over the cover deflated to normal size. I thought I was gonna have a second yurt destroyed by wind.

The only damage was some laths broke. If that yurt wasn't solidly anchored to the platform and by the bridle, it would have gotten wasted. Moral to story, anchor your yurt.