Roof (and dome) vs. wind...the wind keeps winning!

[CoachM]

We have a 30' Nesting Bird Yurt that has only been up for about 3 months. In that time, we have had wind gusts lift the roof off 3 times, twice damaging the

dome

. We now have a new

dome

from Rainier. Today was the third time the roof lifted off. With each roof incident, we have added additional reinforcement.

After the first one, I added four DIY wind kit pieces (wire rope through the wire rope on the roof attached to the bottom. After the second one, I added 8 more DIY wind kit pieces and put a ratchet strap around the circumference of the roof. I added 4 more DIY wind kit pieces and reattached the ratchet strap.

With this particular design, I do not know how to get the roof airtight so that the wind won't get under it. I don't see any way for the roof to fly off with the wind kit pieces but at the same time I don't feel like our wind battle is over.

We expect much bigger gusts than what have done damage so far as the winter progresses. Our current yurt-busting gusts have been between 30 & 40 mph. I have not seen any posts regarding others with similar difficulties and would love suggestions to secure the roof further. This roof has been difficult to pull over the wall to my satisfaction. It is honestly hard to see how this particular roof was intended to stay on outside of tension.

Any recommendations, suggestions, and experiences others have had are appreciated.

[Jafo]

Wow, well that seems like a poor design to me. Most yurts have grommets along the edge where you can either attach the roof to the deck with straps, or attach it to the side walls be weaving a cord through accompanying grommets on the side wall (which are anchored to the deck).


It doesn't look like you have any grommets at all and I can't speak to how to add them after the fact.

You need to anchor the roof to SOMETHING, or this will keep happening.

[Drunken hobbit]

Yes, as Jafo said, you need to anchor it somehow. The problem is not that the wind is getting under it and lifting it off, the problem is that the roof of the yurt is acting like a wing surface; fast air flowing over the yurt is at a much lower pressure than the still air inside the yurt. So you get an enormous lifting force.
I live in a very exposed position in the middle of a windy field, and my solution was to fill five- gallon containers with water, and tie them to each other via ropes thrown over the roof. I have a total of about 600 pounds or 300 kilos of water weights holding the roof down. It works very well. Sure it is a little ugly but I'm confident you could find an attractive way of doing it if you perhaps tied good-looking ropes to buried anchor points or something like that.

[Drunken hobbit]

Looking more closely at the pictures it seems like the roof cover has been designed very very badly. There's no way to tie it on! Is it still under warranty? Who designed it?
it wouldn't be too much money to get a industrial sewing place to sew a 2 foot extension onto the lower edge of your roof and to put eyelets in that extension so you can tie down. Or you could do it yourself because it's a very simple sewing job, being just one very long straight seam. that's what I would do in addition to anchoring it in the ground or with weights.

[trihartsfield]

Try some of these stick on grommets. I have used a similar type and they seem very sticky.

If it does not void your warranty they would be worth and try and they are inexpensive.

I bought some off of Ebay in the past.

https://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/g...elet-pack-of-4

https://shop.hamiltonmarine.com/prod...ck--46026.html

[Pacific Yurts]

When zooming in on your photo I see that the side cover clips have been fastened to the lattice wall using cable ties. Those white clips (jib hanks) should clip onto a cable or cord installed in the top cover. I would recommend that you call Rainier (they produce the product formerly produced by Nesting Bird). They should be able to help you resolve the problem.

[Jay Aimes]

Greetings CoachM.
I have a 30 ft pacific yurt. I too became a little nervous with the " humping" my roof was doing in the strong winds. I agree with everyone else regarding the poorish design. I resolved my lifting with rope. Not sure how well I can explain what i did but here goes. I spliced a rope together to make a circle that sits halfway down the slope of my roof, from it I attached 12 equally spaced ropes that run down the roof and over the eaves and attached them to my deck with "I" bolts. It kind of resembled a spiders legs. and just cinched them down as tight as I could. working my way around to keep the ring rope centered on my roof. It has withstood 112kms sustained winds aprox. 65 mph. during a particularly nasty winter storm. It all but stopped the Whomping or humping however you want to call it. Don't get me wrong it's still nerve wracking in here at anything over 80kms. but I know it can take it. Hope that helps. Sorry if my explanation is inadequate. Cheers. Good Luck

[Drunken hobbit]

Originally Posted by Jay Aimes

rope together to make a circle that sits halfway down the slope of my roof, from it I attached 12 equally spaced ropes that run down the roof and over the eaves and attached them to my deck with "I" bolts. It kind of resembled a spiders legs. and just cinched them down as tight as I could. working my way around to keep the ring rope centered on my roof.

That's exactly what I did too! Except instead of tying the 12 ropes to bolts, I tied each to a 30 liter water container, for a total of 360kg of holding-down weight. That's ... I don't, 750 pounds?
Works well.

[Wintergreen282]

Wow. That REALLY sucks. You haven’t heard about this because it is not typical.

I’m sure it can be fixed - just what is the best, easiest, fastest, cheapest way to do it. I hope Rainer can help (though sounds like not originally their issue.). Good luck!!

The yurt roof should have an edge - the whole way around - that extends over the walls. Mine is about 10” (of a different color - not sure if it’s a stronger material). It has thick webbing loops every 16” that a cinching rope runs through. I think 40mph is about as high as I’ve experienced, but no luffing.

The ratchet strap is probably popping up and off when the wind blows. Do you have the vertical 2x4’s (on mine called the “wind and snow package”) circling the inside and firmly attached to each rafter at the top and at the bottom to the floor? Chocking between the rafters? (I don’t have that. Have wondered if I should add it.)

If not, maybe something to consider. Others with more experience might weight in. I would think if the yurt frame shifts too much, that might cause problems. (Well. It does, but not sure if it would cause your problem.)

Whatever solution, you don’t want to stress the components. Like maybe you could add grommets and tie the roof down, but if gusts of wind are still getting UNDER it... nature is a beast. You don’t want the canvas to just rip.

Again I hope your yurt company can help you - and fast. Maybe a different (new) roof is what is needed.

If on my own, I’d do everything. I’d consider what everyone suggests, and probably double it. Keep a very close eye on whatever I did - for potential issues.

Definitely contacting Rainer for help is first on your list. With lashing the roof down like others have discussed a close second. But if the roof is too loose and/or short and/or not sewn right and/or substandard AND your location wilder than most, you may have to do extra.

Some (maybe crazy) thoughts I’d look into if it were me and I wasn’t getting help from my company, a bead of (the right kind) of glue between the roof and wall. Ratchet it down while drying. Yes, desperate and last resort, but this is a bad problem.

Or maybe some sort of wind break you could build?

Again, good luck! Know we are all pulling for you and hoping for the best. Keep us posted. We all learn from each other. XXOO - Cindy

[jeritchie]

Ok, Ken here from

Yurts of America

.

have a few things I will ask and point out.

Nesting Bird yurts was sold to Rainer about 12 years ago. So this yurt isn't 3 months old, more like 12 or more. Nesting Bird sold to Rainer because of retirement not lack of skill or craftsmenship in their yurts.

I would need to see a closeup of how the yurt attaches to the roof.

From my point of view and 30 years making yurts it look like the wall is hanging on the compression cable.

IF this is the case the yurt is setup wrong. All major companies have a second attachment system under the wind flap. That is the cable & hook or grommet and rope lashing, that the outer wall hangs attaches to the roof. Reason for this is that the roof and wind flap creates a pocket the keep water and rain out.

The second problem that happens is the roof is put up upside down. if this is the case, then its not right and should be changed.

If you do have the outer wall attached under the wind flap, then how did the yurt roof fit before the wind got to it? Did it seem to small didn't go over the edge of the rafters? In most yurts you have a 6 to 10 inches overhang and the wind flap have another 8 to 10 inches. Again, this is to create a pocket for the outer wall for wind and water.

Last, did the wind flap have it's own cable to pull tight to create a seal around the outside of the wall?

Being a 12 or older yurt did you see the yurt setup?

Did you order a new cover for the yurt?
did you make any changes in the compression cable?
who setup the yurt, did they have instruction, did they know what they was doing, did they make any changes in the frame?

All these questions need to be answered before you or anyone else should be bashing the company.

So things to check is the following: I am assuming all parts are original and no changes have been made in the yurt.

1) is the roof the correct size, I am assuming you purchased a used yurt.
2) is the roof right side out? YES this makes a difference.
3) with roof right side out, is there a cable to attach the outer wall to the roof with wind flap on the outside of yurt?
4) is this the cable you outer wall is attached to? IF the cable is to long, it will change the diameter which makes the roof to small at the outer edge.
5) if all above is correct did you seal (cable/Velcro or glue) wind flap to outer wall?

Any one of these could have cause your problem.

As for the dome, the main reason they fail is the stops on the opener are not set correctly. They either let the dome open to much (causing to much stress) or the lower one isn't set, it permits one to crake down the dome to much and again causing to much stress.
If they are fail when the roof itself fails, then I would say, no one designs the dome to take the force of the roof trying to come off, only to stay on the attachment points.
Here is a helpful hint. IF the wind comes mostly from the west, then have the opener on the east. This will push down the dome and not try to lift it.
Most companies say if the wind is over 10-15mph shut the dome.

Domes are the one thing on a yurt almost all companies have problems with. There are to many things that can go wrong and I hate to say, almost all of them are due to install, not quality of materials. If installed correctly they will give you years of service. But that's the rub, "if", if not, they will most likely have issues.

Here is a short story on domes: I was flown into Hawaii to help finish her yurt the builder simply didn't want to follow the instructions. When I got there 1 of the 2 yurts was up and the 2nd was almost ready for cover. ( should point out they had taken 6 weeks to get to this point) When I got there the dome on the 30' yurt had a chunk blown out of it. (where the opener was). IT was pointed out to me and first thing I said was " did you set the stops correctly" We got a ladder and sure enough, will I should say, it wasn't they were set incorrectly, in fact, they wasn't set at all. When I asked who open the dome, guy said I did. I asked how far was it up before it broke, he said "about a foot". They only open about inch and half to two inches. They are vents not windows. This mistake cost the customer 1200.00 cost of new dome, but another 1340.00 in shipping cost. (we don't profit off of shipping, that was the real cost to ship)


I hope this helps some.

ken