Sandblasting?

[Orion]

Hello everyone!
I've just started planning my first yurt, however I had a quick question. I live in Northern Nevada which has high wind. The wind I'm not worried about, sand is. The sand gets kicked up here all the time. I'm concerned about the affects of this on the exterior material and more importantly the windows. Will I have to use real windows? And will I be constantly replacing panels from sandblasting?

Thanks in advance I'm super excited!

[Jafo]

Hmm, interesting question. I would think the walls would be fine and the windows too. My worry would be the vinyl roof. It might be worth asking some of the larger manufacturers like

Pacific Yurts

,

Colorado Yurts

, etc., about their experience with that.

On a side note, if you can afford a real window or two, by all means. You will enjoy it.

[Bob Rowlands]

Depot and Lowes sell affordable windows, but you get what you pay for. They would be fine for a yurt, but how well they would hold up in wind blown sand beats me. Speaking of which, I'd guess the cover would hold up fairly well to wind born sand because the material absorbs the impact different then a solid surface. Just a guess though. Good luck with your yurt.

[Orion]

Thank you gentlemen(I'm guessing, it's the internet lol) for the responses! I work at an ACE hardware store so materials and what not will be considerably cheaper for me. Which is super helpful. I'll ask some of the companies and see what they say. I'm mostly worried that over time the windows will become clouded from all the tiny scratches and abrasions. Panels will most likely need to be changed over time anyways.

But again thank you for your answers it gave me some where to start

Also side note can I add windows to the lattice or should I have the company put in the frame and I place windows?

[Jafo]

Yes, you can retrofit a regular window in, but you frame out through the lattice. Here is a video from

Colorado Yurts

on how they do it with theirs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66xcE0-x8M

Have you considered pullaways for the windows such as they have for racecar windshields? Like this:

Mylar Windshield Tear-Offs for NASCAR, commercial, and personal vehicles.

[Bob Rowlands]

Quality window install there by CO yurts. Good job guys.

fwiw as for window pitting, we have one window on our garage facing north towards the prevailing wind. We have lots of wind here and because we have a silty sand as basic soil here in northern El Paso county, it sometimes carries blowing sand. That window isn't pitted at all. It is about six feet up off the ground.

[Pacific Yurts]

I have only seen one of our yurts actually get "sandblasted", but it took a direct hit from a tornado in Oklahoma. The wood doors and fabric windows had abrasions, but were still functional. I did not see damage to the top co9ver of side cover fabrics.

If your fabric windows ever do get damaged by blowing sand or anything else, they are really easy to replace and only cost $55.

[Orion]

Thanks for all the great responses! Everyone of you have been extremely helpful thank you! I feel better confident that the windows will do just fine, and if not you guys have given me plenty of alternatives.
��