Wind and the Yurt

[Robo]

Thanks Jafo I'll give it a try. Gotta borrow the wife's digicam.

[Wildflower]

No offense to anyone here but I have a 30ft yurt professionally built platform etc. French doors the whole nine yards with the snow and wind kit and yes the structure itself might be able to handle high winds but the side cover the

dome

the roof etc is literally not. I live on the open Mojave desert winds reach 100mph sometimes my yurt doors were flying open and side cover ripping out of the door frame in literally 40 mph winds. Our

dome

only a matter of time until it gets ripped off even with extra springs. I’m not sure they even actually test these things in high winds and I’m not sure how the hurricane lady had such a great experience but I’m giving it to you straight. I don’t even feel comfortable leaving my yurt when it’s windy.

[TSRalex]

Originally Posted by Wildflower

No offense to anyone here but I have a 30ft yurt professionally built platform etc. French doors the whole nine yards with the snow and wind kit and yes the structure itself might be able to handle high winds but the side cover the dome the roof etc is literally not. I live on the open Mojave desert winds reach 100mph sometimes my yurt doors were flying open and side cover ripping out of the door frame in literally 40 mph winds. Our dome only a matter of time until it gets ripped off even with extra springs. I’m not sure they even actually test these things in high winds and I’m not sure how the hurricane lady had such a great experience but I’m giving it to you straight. I don’t even feel comfortable leaving my yurt when it’s windy.

Thanks for sharing these experiences.

For me is the conclusion of your lines, that Mongols & Kazaks did right to reduce doors and windows on a minimum.

The design of modern Yurts has to make compromises for increasing comfort & living atmosphere.

And nearly each building has its weaknesses in wind situations or with snow loads....

[Wildflower]

Our door was actually off in our frame while our frame was perfectly square and level so a new half door is on the way to fix the one that is not lining up hopefully this will fix our problem thanks to

Pacific Yurts

for being quick to catch this and offer to send us a new half door. Hopefully this resolves all the problems.

[Jafo]

Originally Posted by Wildflower

thanks to

Pacific Yurts

for being quick to catch this and offer to send us a new half door. Hopefully this resolves all the problems.

I tend to think that is one reason why they lead the pack for architectural yurts. Not only do they have an outstanding product, but they realize that is only half the game. They go above and beyond to take care of their current and future customers.

They are by all means not the only ones who do that, but it my years of experience watching people buy yurts on here, they do it the most consistently from my angle of view.

[Wildflower]

I couldn’t agree more it was a matter of sending a picture of the door and they pointed out the problem and offered to replace the half door to get the proper seal. So simple, so easy, great customer service they know their product well.

[Bob Rowlands]

That's good to hear.

You could build a 90 degree ell shaped wall to the windward side of your yurt. Face the 'point' of the ell into the prevailing wind, and run the walls out far enough to form a barrier. Of course this would take time and money, but a barrier would protect your yurt from being destroyed by 100 mph wind.

I estimate my 16' yurt probably survived 80 mph wind but 100 would surely have destroyed it. Fortunately our neighbor built a 30x40 pole barn about 50 feet from the yurt and that acts as a wind break.

Good luck.

[mbear]

I live in a high wind area. Wild arctic storms come through frequently. I have ropes over my yurt to tie it to the platform. I have large U-bolts that connect the lattice to the platform. Both were suggested to me by the yurt manufacture. They also suggested putting in rebar posts down below the frost line and running guy lines from the bars to the yurt. I haven't done that nor felt the need to do that. My plan should a larger than usual wind storm come through here is to do run cable from the

center ring

down to jerry cans of water or directly to the floor.

[TSRalex]

Originally Posted by mbear

My plan should a larger than usual wind storm come through here is to do run cable from the

center ring

down to jerry cans of water or directly to the floor.

Interesting idea.

Maybe some "weight bags" looks a little bit more "elegant" than jerry cans....

[Bob Rowlands]

I lost my first 14' yurt in a blizzard due to not anchoring it. Wind picked the yurt up and pitched it 25 yards. Eight full days of work blown to smithereens.

Next yurt, the 16'er, was solidly anchored to the ground. I dug out and poured ten concrete piers flush with the ground, equidistant around the outside perimeter of the yurt wall. Each pier has an eyebolt embedded in the concrete. 3/16ths plastic coated cable runs through the eyes. The cable ends were clamped together just like the upper wall

tension cable

.

The perimeter cable allowed me to anchor the yurt bridle solidly to the ground. Our lot is basically sand and stakes don't hold here. I also lashed the loops I sewed into the edge of the cover, to the cable as well. All that lashing looked stupider than hell, but the yurt didn't budge in the wind.

Then within a year I built a 16' platform and ell bracketed the yurt wall lattice to the platform. That was definitely the best system of all. The online photos show my 16' yurt anchored in that configuration.

Now I have a 10x12 barn shed with small loft on the platform. Much as I liked my yurts, I like that shed a whole lot more. Way more practical for me now.