confused, do most ppl just forego insurance?

[Jafo]

A testament to good workmanship. I was at my yurt 2 weeks ago the day the blizzard was starting here in some pretty big winds. You couldn't tell inside. That round shape really does help.

[Bob Rowlands]

Thanks Jafo. Yurt is fine just checked it this AM. Yurts ARE king of tents no doubt. For mine to have survived this record breaking storm is absolute proof of that.

Hopefully all our highways will be cleared today, and the stranded motorists will get back home to their families. I've certainly seen bigger snow packs around here but the wind was absolutely killer. You literally can't see the road to plow it. More later.

[Bob Rowlands]

OK so I promise this is my last post on someone else's thread. lol

A day and a half after the storm started it has passed. The yurt was likely close to collapse if the storm hadn't abated when it did. I found two of the twenty eight rafters had popped out of their slots in the yurt ring. I reinstalled those. Ten of the twenty five screws anchoring the lath hardware to the deck had busted off, that was on the windward side of the yurt. I got them all rescrewed to the deck, but they are somewhat bent. The wall cover got shredded in a few places, but it was very old and ready to rip. The stove pipe screws attaching it to the collar on the wood stove had backed out, only two were holding down the pipe. Two of the ropes surrounding the yurt wall securing the cover to the lath had stretched and dropped down onto the deck.

Got all that repaired. Need a new cover. I think this yurt probably sustained 80+ mph wind, which is EXTREMELY impressive. Anyway there's my report. That yurt is one tough mo to survive this storm. Later. Bob

[Pacific Yurts]

@groveladderfarm, we can offer you some contacts for folks that have insured yurts for our customers. Just email a request to us [email protected]. My personal yurt is on the same property as my site built house in Oregon and it is covered under my home policy as an accessory building.

Also, I wanted to let you know that with our snow & wind kit and perimeter blocking installed our yurts have been engineered for an ultimate wind load of 142 mph, but to meet this rating your platform has to be well anchored to the site.

[Wintergreen282]

All great information! Glad you weathered the storm, Bob. Whew! ��

Pacific Yurts

- or anyone else. If you don’t mind me asking. What does a “well anchored” platform look like? Cement tubes with that embedded hardware?

Last year I really beefed up my platform (2’ to 4’ off the ground) and was very pleased with the sturdiness. But no in-ground cement. Just big, rock filled holes, those pre-made cement footings, and lots of angle bracing.

I’ve been thinking about things I could do to make my yurt even stronger - as storms keep increasing. I know some people put outside tie downs - though not sure how much that would actually help. (Or how to do it!). Mine is a 24 White Mountain Yurt with the winter package. Metal plates on either side of the vertical side wall 2x4’s and an L bracket at the bottom. I’ve seen chocking on the roofs of some yurts and wondered if that increases the yurts sturdiness. But maybe my platform is the weaker link here. And I should not mess with the yurt’s factory engineering.

Any thoughts on wind? Snow not an issue as I’m here and the heat clears the roof. Is it better to keep under the platform clear - so wind slides through?

I also just took down a bunch of trees around the yurt for fear of one blowing over. Thinking they probably broke the wind somewhat too. Lol. Which concern to attend too. Still. Love the life!

Thanks! - Cindy

[Bob Rowlands]

About exterior tie downs.

My

yurt platform

is 16' dia. I dug ten equally spaced holes in the ground around the outside of the platform. No hole is in front of the door. I filled each hole with a single bag of sackrete flush with the ground, and while the mud was still wet embedded a large eye bolt in each pad. The eyes face the two adjacent bolts on either side. I actually made my eyebolts from steel rod, but that isn't necessary, you can just buy them. Later after the mud was set, I threaded a plastic coated cable through the eyes, snugged it tight, and clamped with vice grips. I clamped the tag ends together with three cable clamps.

That resulted in a solidly anchored cable encircling the yurt at ground level, that you can attached the cover or a roof bridle too.

Another easier way is to just add four or five similar anchors around the pad, and individually tie off your roof bridle to those. In fact I really overkilled the anchors and have both systems, but that's a big reason why my yurt is still there after this last storm. I lost my first 14' yurt- that was eight full days of work- to wind. Never again. lol

[Bob Rowlands]

Anchoring the lattice to the pad is good in milder winds. In an area that gets real wind it's absolutely necessary to anchor the roof to the ground, via bridle or other. In addition to a roof bridle that is anchored to pegs around the perimeter of the yurt, Mongolians hang a heavy weight off the ring inside the yurt, which helps keep it from lifting in heavy wind.

Even with all that anchorage I built, the wind was sufficiently strong I had about a third of the screws that anchor the wall 'ell' brackets to the deck break off. As a result two adjacent rafters of the twenty eight popped out of their slots in the ring. Roof collapse was imminent. It's a VERY good thing I checked it when I did or I probably would have lost the yurt. That wind was killer. I really doubt there is another tent design that can withstand wind like a properly anchored yurt.

Good luck with your plans.

[Bob Rowlands]

OK one last point lol.

When I built my platform, I located one of the concrete support pads under the deck framing, directly under the focal point of the

yurt platform

. I embedded one of those eyes in it. Later, when the yurt was erected, I screwed fifteen of those screw eyes into the bottom of the ring. I had sewed tabs in the edge of the roof hole in the cover, and laced the cover to those eyes with rope.

In addition to anchoring the cover directly to the ring, I also rang cable through those eyes and ran that cable down and anchored it to the pad under the deck, just behind the stove. That anchored the ring to the ground. An additional benefit was it allowed me to tie wire my stove pipe in the center of the hole so it won't flop around in the wind.

Now, even with all that anchorage, that pipe vibrated so much in the wind several of the screws attaching it to the stove rattled loose and ended up laying atop the stove. Yeah I know, mind blowing overkill anchorage but I'll be damned if it didn't work as planned.

[Wintergreen282]

Thanks Bob! Good info. Plan for the worst, hope for the best!

Any thoughts on chocking the rafters. (If that’s the correct word. Putting small, perpendicular pieces of wood between the rafters.) I’ve seen photos of yurt roofs with that.

[Bob Rowlands]

I know zip about yurt rafter blocks. One of the fine yurt manufacturers here might answer that.