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Wind and yurt!

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yurt4seven

New member
I recently moved my family into a yurt, and things have been great until last nights wind storm. I woke to flapping and noise and came out to see the compression ring shift (to my sleepy eyes) dramatically! It freaked me out. I have been researching this morning and I plan on putting 2x4 studs under each rafter as it says to do on Colorado Yurt Co's website. Any suggestions? Will this take care of the movement? What can be done about the flapping of the roof against the rafters?

Thanks




Sorry to those who might have received this message in duplicate. I sent it out to the forum before I found how to post a new thread. (newbie mistake)
 
While I've never had to do this as I live in a hollow that get's no straight line wind, I've seen pictures where nylon rope is thrown over the roof of the yurt and secured to the yurt on the bender board. It doesn't go directly over but sort of around the top, and you can do multiple strands to cover the flapping. It does no harm to the yurt top from what I can see and it can be removed when you want very easily.
 
I use those dog things that screw into the ground and run a cable up through the kahanna and hook it onto the tension cable when it's on the ground or tie it down to a copper two hole strap screwed to the deck.
 
Something sounds wrong here. Do you have the metal brackets installed? I guess I am finding it hard to picture the center ring shifting. Can you post a pic?
 
You should check your walls for plumb. The yurt may have shifted in the wind and actually be leaning to one side a bit. If this is the case you should correct it prior to installing the studs or other tie-downs.
 
I am guessing that the central ring rotated ??? I have found a good solution that I have not seen elsewhere....I used 30" pieces of Locust.....and triangulated at each of the four directions with timberlocks into the rafters.....Four of these pairs of struts.....one pair at each quadrant and I have had NO further rotation....for years....this is a homegrown 24 ft diameter....w/2x4" rafters....in the Hollow....but in a very windy part of the country.....
 
With no pics I'm gonna guess a simple solution to ring rotation. How about attaching t shaped 'Simpson Strong Tie' construction connectors to the rafter/ ring joints? (cheap and available at all Lowe's, Depot, lumberyards) They can be bent in a vise to fit your yurt geometry, and screwed into place. The connectors have holes punched in them for nails. But use drywall screws. Be sure you drill pilot holes or the wood will split or screws shear off.

Regarding roof flapping, I've had that on my 16' yurt. To cut down on the amount of flap, I took a 60' length of old 11mm climbing rope and knotted it into a large loop. Then I formed five small anchor loops equidistant around the perimeter of the big loop. I centered that big loop up on the roof cover, and anchored off the five loops with short ropes to my ground anchors. I sized it such that the loop is about halfway from ring to khana. That really cut down on the flapping.

I've seen pics of Mongolian yurts where they simply flip a few ropes over the cover and anchor those to the ground. That cuts down on flapping and also anchors the entire yurt.

Good luck.
 
I re-iterate My actually much simpler TIMBERLOCK fastened "four corners"/4 Directions( - of a round yurt....no less.....) approach.....also visible....is My approach to the FLAP......I have used this with my 16 ft....and my 24 ft yurts...I splice a Polypro threestrand line....larger diameter on the larger yurt and with clove hitched bowlines I run 12 evenly spaced lines down to either the rafter ends( Larger yurt....) or to the cable around the flooring on the Chuck and laurel 16 footer....fastening with a truckers slipped hitch...that can be tightened...when needed.....My low-tech roof covering ( both are DYI yurts that I have been using for nearly 30 years on my smaller one....and over 10 years on the 24ft-er....This Rope ring tends to chafe the cover...after a coupla years...when it is usually time for me to sew/make another cover...($100 in materials) (oh ....for the $ for enough Sunbrella fabric to cover....and the time to sew it up!!!)
 

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Thanks for the help.

I installed perimeter studs and that has helped a lot. I would be interested in the triangle braces that someone mentioned.
 
as shown in the photo ...posted..on my 24 foot diameter yurt roof....the rafters actually extend past the wall by.4ft...i installed 8 Locust struts.....maybe 30: long....in the form of "points" at the four quadrant locations..around the central ring...drilled and fastened with TIMBERLOCK 4" hex screws into the central ring AND the rafters where they landed. By stabilizing the rafters at 4 points around the roof...the others have stayed nicely in place....no more rotational movement.....easy and quick with a safe stepladder...and a screw gun....ch Cole on Cape Cod....
 
I've survived nearly 2 years and several 90 + MPH winds including some of the worst storms on record. My yurt has never been tied down.

It gets really scary, sometimes what I imagine being on a small boat in a storm might be like. Sometimes the wind whips right through the yurt causing the whole thing to jump and the roof moves like a giant speaker cone at a rock concert. I particularly like it when the wind rifles around the roof living up the felt layer and dropping it down again in a circular motion. Keeps me on my toes. I'm about to replace the horse hair ropes that are holding the crown cover on though because they are rotting. I have to keep going outside in storms to check the ropes, which is fun.

Which is really good, because I don't the yurt would stay together if it were too rigid. I suspect what is happening is that due to the way the structure moves it absorbs the energy well from the wind.
 
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